The Seventh Conference on Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT2016), sponsored by the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES), will be held September 6-9, 2016 at the Radisson Blu Minneapolis Downtown hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Conference will be a forum for the participants to discuss issues and effective strategies for grid modernization given the changing electric industry landscape due to the advent of information and communication technology and the emergence of renewable and distributed energy resources (DERs). The Conference will feature plenary sessions, panels, technical papers, industry exhibits, and tutorials by experts on smart grid applications and systems integration. The theme for this year will be “Transformation and Advancements for Grid Modernization,” and will include an emphasis on advanced distribution management systems, the integration of distributed energy resources, the seams between distribution and bulk power operations, and the needed approaches for both planning and operations.