Energy systems are on the cusp of a rapid technological, economic and environmental evolution. The marriage of information and communication technologies with traditional energy production, delivery and distribution systems, aims to create a more reliable, efficient, environmentally friendly and resilient smart grid. Furthermore, energy system stakeholders expect better consumer centricity and more open and flexible business models. At the heart of many of the technological challenges underlying this vision for a smarter grid is the need for optimization. New problems also arise that will benefit from big data analytics to process data streams from smart meters, smart building sensors, and phasor measurement units amongst other data acquisition systems. In addition, classical signal and information processing algorithms are adaptive to support changing system requirements and grid characteristics. By the same token, the increased penetration of renewable energy generation, distributed storage, and controllable loads such as plug-in-electric vehicles, calls for novel optimal resource management methods that respect user privacy while yield consumer-centric and system-wide benefits. Last but not least, computational and physical constraints within this new technical landscape must be assessed. Hence, it is clear that the study of innovative signal and information processing for optimizing future energy systems is of timely societal importance. This symposium aims to bring together researchers and experts in the field of signal and information processing for improving future energy systems. Emphasis will be placed, in part, on cutting-edge optimization techniques, approaches and theory for cyber-physical energy systems, as well as new analytical insights for traditional and modern power grid problems.