
India, with the second largest electricity customer-market size in the world, represents the best smart grid market opportunity among all emerging countries. With the recent 2020 budget announcement, the Government of India has proposed an outlay of Rs 22,000 crore for power and renewable energy sector, starting with the shift to smart meters to minimise human intervention.
swissnex India focuses on key market segments to realise potential collaborations between Swiss and Indian energy sector stakeholders. This year, with a focus on Grid technology exchange, swissnex India curates Gridtech Week to facilitate fact finding and networking opportunities for Swiss startups, researchers and innovative companies. During the week, delegates will participate in bilateral meetings and exclusive sessions at India Smart Utility Week 2020.
Know more about the delegates, their company and specific objectives in India.
Delegates
Meet the experts
Mr. Jean-Christophe Füeg – Ambassador / Swiss Federal Office of Energy: Jean-Christophe Füeg joined the Swiss Federal Office of Energy in 2001. He is responsible for negotiations for an electricity agreement with the EU, representing Switzerland at the Governing Board of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Energy Charter, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and bilateral energy relations. He participated in Climate Change negotiations.
Dr. Christian Schaffner – Executive Director of the Energy Science Center (ESC) / ETH Zurich: Since September 2013, Christian Schaffner is the Executive Director of the Energy Science Center (ESC) of ETH Zurich in Switzerland. Before that, Christian Schaffner was with the Swiss Federal Office of Energy as head of the grid section, responsible for the development of a grid expansion strategy and a smart grid road-map.
Veronica Garcia – CEO & Founder / Bitlumens: Veronica Garcia was an investment consultant at Credit Suisse and UBS for Latin American Asset Managers. After finishing her graduate studies at ETH Zurich, she joined the IBM Research Lab. She has also worked as a consultant for the World Bank, IADB and Castalia.
Dr. René Schumann – Professor / HES-SO Valais-Wallis: Dr. René Schumann is currently leading the Smart Infrastructure Laboratory, which is a research group of the institutes ‘Energy and Environment’ and ‘Information’. He and his team are working on the application of innovative ICT technologies, mainly in the energy sector.
Daniel Rüffer – Business Development Manager / Sensirion AG: Daniel has been with Sensirion since 2014 in various roles. The company is based out of Staefa, Switzerland. He earned his PhD (Physics) from EPFL, Lausanne (Switzerland) and a Master’s in Physics from the Technical University Münich (Germany).
Dr. Patrick Favre-Perrod – Professor / University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland: Prof Perrod had previously managed projects with SIEMENS, Germany in Global Development Network Strategy where he was responsible for innovation management and collaborative R&D in the HV substations business. Prior to that he led R&D strategy and collaborations definition and management at Alstom Grid Research and Technology.
Mr Jagdish Achara – CEO / GridSteer: Jagdish has a Master’s and PhD in computer science and is specialised in computer services, security, privacy, and networks. Since Jan 2017, he is working in the energy sector to digitise our future electric grids by applying his IT expertise.
Mr Philippe Bieri – COO / Gilytics:Phillppe has held management positions with Ernst and Young and Merz + Benteli AG and is currently a core member of Gilytics. Gilytics provides a cloud-platform that allows fast and simple identification of new routes for linear infrastructures. Using GIS-data (digital maps) and satellite images, our algorithms enable users to identify routes with the lowest impact on the environment and humans including also economical and technical elements.
Mr Gianluca Corbellini -CEO & Co-Founder / Hive Power: Mr Corbellini has deep expertise in mathematical modelling and numerical simulations applied to the energy sector. He managed and worked on different projects, starting from oil & gas to renewables, specialising in photovoltaics.