Plenary Session P1 – Monday
Bridging the gap: most promising technologies to invest in the future
24 June, 10:30-12:10
Room: Conference Room “Carassa Dadda”, building BL28 (streaming: BL.27.0.1 and BL.27.0.2)
(IEEE N3XT Affiliate Event)
Session Chair:
Vincenzo Piuri, IEEE Past Vice President for Technical Activities
Keynote speakers:
Saifur Rahman, President, IEEE PES
Adel El Gammal, Secretary General, EERA – European Energy Research Alliance
Allan Tear , Venture Capital Fund
Carlalberto Guglielminotti, CEO, Engie EPS
Marco Gazzino, Head of Innovation and Product Lab, Enel X
Topics:
Power and Energy Systems will play a crucial role in the 21st century as major driver of economic growth and sustainable development. This Panel will discuss the most promising technologies to invest in the next future with a medium term view. Governments can promote the electrification of end-uses in all sectors with benefits on climate (energy efficiency and de-carbonization). Electricity will establish itself as the global leading energy source by 2050 increasing shares in buildings, transportation and industry. The panelists will discuss innovation opportunities and technology trends which will be able to enlarge the current domain of efficient electric systems, bridging the gap between research and markets, potentially providing great return on investments and new companies. As outcome of the Plenary 1 we expect a future strategic roadmap reckon with the context of R&D, venture capital, corporate finance, EU regulation and policy issues.
Short biographies:
Vincenzo Piuri
Vincenzo Piuri is Full Professor at the University of Milan, Italy (since 2000), where he was also Department Chair (2007-2012). He was Associate Professor at Politecnico di Milano, Italy (1992-2000), visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin, USA (summers 1996-1999), and visiting researcher at George Mason University, USA (summers 2012-2017). He founded a start-up company, Sensure srl, in the area of intelligent systems for industrial applications (leading it from 2007 until 2010) and was active in industrial research projects with several companies. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, Italy. His main research and industrial application interests are: intelligent systems, computational intelligence, pattern analysis and recognition, machine learning, signal and image processing, biometrics, intelligent measurement systems, industrial applications, distributed processing systems, internet-of-things, cloud computing, fault tolerance, application-specific digital processing architectures, and arithmetic architectures.
Saifur Rahman
Professor Saifur Rahman is the founding director of the Advanced Research Institute at Virginia Tech, USA where he is the Joseph R. Loring professor of electrical and computer engineering. He also directs the Center for Energy and the Global Environment . He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and an IEEE Millennium Medal winner. He is the president of the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) for 2018 and 2019. He was the founding editor-in-chief of the IEEE Electrification Magazine and the IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy. In 2006 he served on the IEEE Board of Directors as the vice president for publications. He is a distinguished lecturer for the IEEE Power & Energy Society and has lectured on renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grid, electric power system operation and planning, etc. in over 30 countries. He served as the chair of the US National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for International Science and Engineering from 2010 to 2013.
Adel El Gammal
Adel El Gammal is the Secretary General of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA).
EERA is the strategic pillar of the EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan and coordinates Research activities between 250 Research Organisations and Universities across 30 countries in Europe. Adel El Gammal is a recognized expert and a senior EU Affairs professional in the fields of low carbon technologies, energy transition, and climate change.
Before joining EERA as Secretary General, Adel was active for the last 10 years in the EU climate energy debate, notably as Director of the Becquerel Institute, a consultancy providing advanced research and intelligence on the role of PV in the energy transition, Executive Director of LowCarbonFacts (an ECF funded programme) and Secretary General of the EU Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA, now SolarPower Europe), where he launched the SET-Plan Solar Europe Industry Initiative (SEII), and conducted several major studies on the future of PV and renewables in Europe and Worldwide.
He also worked on several urban planning projects, notably the Sustainability Master Plans for the city of Rome and the Principality of Monaco, as member of Jeremy Rifkin’s Third Industrial revolution CEO roundtable.
Before focusing his activities on renewable energy and the energy transition, Adel held various international executive positions in blue chip companies active in the field of IT and Management Consulting.
Adel is civil engineer from Ecole Polytechnique of Brussels, holds degrees in Business Administration from Solvay Business School (Belgium) and Insead (France) and later specialized in Environment Management (IGEAT, Belgium).
Website: http://www.eera-set.eu
Allan Tear
Allan is co-founder and managing partner of Betaspring, a startup accelerator based in Providence, Rhode Island. Through Betaspring, Allan has worked with more than 80 high-growth startups and managed a portfolio of companies that has raised more than $27M+ in follow-on funding. As a technology entrepreneur, Allan has founded three venture-funded startups. He has served as an advisor and in board leadership roles for more than a dozen startups across the U.S. Allan is an active angel investor in early stage technology companies and advises national, state, and local government on nurturing high-growth startup ecosystems. He is a lead partner in the Founders League, one of New England’s premier co-working community and entrepreneurial support platforms. In 2012, he was named an inaugural Rhode Island Innovation Fellow by the Rhode Island Foundation. Allan T. is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, with B.S. degrees in Electrical & Computer Engineering, and Public Policy.
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
In 2013, he was appointed CEO of Electro Power Systems, a research center of the Polytechnic of Turin in financial distress, to manage a Chapter 11. In less than 5 years he spearheaded a financial restructuring, with a court proceeding successfully completed in 2014, several private and public rounds of financing raising €90 million in equity and debt capital, which have led to an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2015, an acquisition and a merger in 2016, as well as a Mandatory Tender Offer in 2018 launched by the largest energy player worldwide, bringing EPS to a market capitalization of over €180 million.
Carlalberto has formerly been a serial entrepreneur, venture capital investor, business lawyer and investment banker. He co-founded Blackshape Aircraft and Restopolis, now called TheFork, a TripAdvisor company.
Born in Turin in 1983, he graduated as JD summa cum laude in international law from Université Paris V in 2005 and magna cum laude with a master’s degree in law from the University of Turin in 2006. In 2012 he received an MBA with merit in Financial Risk Management from the Bocconi School of Management. He also specialized in philosophy at the University of Haifa (2005) and in Economics in New York (2007).
After becoming a qualified lawyer, he consolidated the first years of his career between London and Milan, specializing in structured finance. In addition, he is a regular lecturer and visiting professor in leading European Polytechnic universities and Business Schools.
Marco Gazzino
Marco Gazzino is Head of Innovation and Product Lab at Enel X, Enel’s advanced energy services business line dedicated to new home, industry, urban and electric mobility solutions. Marco manages open innovation activities at Enel X and the Product Lab developing and testing new products and services.
Formerly, Marco was appointed Head of Partnerships and Innovation Intelligence at Enel, managing a portfolio of over 130 innovation partnerships at global level. These spanned, amongst others, battery storage, vehicle-to-grid and electric mobility, supply chain partnerships supporting SME’s innovation and advanced energy services for smart agriculture. As innovation intelligence, he also carried out market analyses continuously seeking new businesses widening Enel Group’s opportunities.
Marco joined Enel in the R&D department, where he was in charge of establishing large joint research projects co-funded by industrial partners and supported by public funds. He has also led the redesign of Enel’s innovation portfolio FY2013 and FY2014.
Marco holds a Master on Corporate Innovation from ESADE Business School, a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and has been visiting scientist at MIT. He published more than 30 papers and has been invited lecturer at LUISS Business School, with lectures on innovation strategy on 2013 and 2016.