The third meeting of the International Consultative Team of the Silesian University of Technology
Meeting was opened by Prof. Paweł Sowa, PhD, DSc, the Rector’s Plenipotentiary for the International Consultative Board. He welcomed the Vice Rector for Science and Development Professor Marek Pawełczyk, PhD, DSc, present at the meeting and then he invited the new members of the board to present information on themselves and others to provide their comments on the topic and information on their experience with the cases of this type of cooperation.
- Professor Marek Pawełczyk has been introducing new academic year to the participants of the meeting and shared some of the latest University updates . He shared great news related to extraordinary event in the history of University - awarding the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the Silesian University of Technology to a Nobel Prize winner, prof. Brian Kobilka for Stanford University.
- ICB President Miroslav Saban stated that partnerships in the technology and research and development sectors are essential. Technology gets more complex every day, and it becomes impossible for academic institute of a single company to keep up with all these developments. It is therefore essential for companies to come together to reach further and form different format of partnerships. We are very pleased to witness how Silesian University of Technology has been forming platform for partnership amongst a number of renown world academic and technology centers in a very efficient format. We are also pleased to acknowledge that members of ICB of Silesian University of Technology do contribute in disseminating of ideas of partnering among other international organization and connecting it across geographies. In that positive light we have been starting our ICB Team meeting on 8th of September 2023.
- Meeting was continuing with introduction of the new members of the board : Mr John Moroney, Professor Masharu Isii and Professor Raj Vadigepalli.
- Prof. John Moroney, is new member of the board, and is representing University of Limerick and Claire County. Prof. Moroney presented University of Limerick as well indicated its 50th birthday. University of Limerick status as per 2023. Number of students in current academic year is 18200. Size of the plot of the campus is 316 acres. University has 255 programs. Most significant initiative in Irish higher education since 1966. University of Limerick response to key international industry requirements: Academy Model, Industry Lead, efforts towards Talent acquisition and retention. Strong base in UL for Innovation and Research. Significant efforts invested towards Connectivity among student community and externally towards other universities. Project represents Europe's new University town. There will be special effort/focus towards Aviation and Life Sciences. Project to be designated by Government of Ireland as a Strategic Development Zone. Immediate Priorities of University is establishment of Coalition of University Partners.
- Professor Masaru Ishii has acting as Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Professor Ishii has been elected into the academic role in 2013 as Professor, Institute of Industrial Science, UT. From 2007-2008 he was acting as Vice President, IEE of Japan. Professor Ishii was acting in role of President, Institute of Electrical Installation Engineers of Japan in period from 2015-2019. At present he is Visiting Professor, Chubu University, Aichi, Japan. Professor Ishii specialty is High Voltage Engineering. His special field of interest and Research: Lightning, Lightning Protection, High Voltage Measurement. The University of Tokyo was established in 1877 as the first national university in Japan. As a leading research university, UTokyo offers courses in essentially all academic disciplines at both undergraduate and graduate levels and conducts research across the full spectrum of academic activity. The University aims to provide its students with a rich and varied academic environment that ensures opportunities for both intellectual development and the acquisition of professional knowledge and skills. To learn more about the University of Tokyo, please visit the pages below.
- Professor Raj Vadigepalli Professor and Vice Chair of Research at Thomas Jefferson University. Over 20 years of experience in Systems Biology, Network Modeling, and Bioinformatics. Professor Vadigepally developed novel bioinformatics software, pattern analysis algorithms and visualization tools. He also built and led a multi-functional team with skills in engineering, computer science, and biology. His efforts are done towards leading cross-disciplinary collaborations with research groups across five countries. Professor Vadigepally has two decades of experience in educational outreach and talent development in bioinformatics. He has strong community engagement through organization of symposia at international meetings. Raj has been working at Thomas Jefferson University currently as Co-Director, Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine PhD Program, as well as taking the role of Co-Director, Scholarly Inquiry in Digital Health Co-Director, Scholarly Inquiry in Digital Health. Raj is also holding functions of Vice Chair of Research as well as Professor
- Miroslav Saban, President of International Consultative Board was sharing his experience with topics related to Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. At Philips, we believe the value of AI is only as strong as the human experience it supports. That’s why we combine the power of AI with deep clinical knowledge to create solutions that integrate into the workflows of healthcare providers and people’s daily health routines – supporting them at every stage of the health continuum. From diagnostics to acute patient monitoring and self-management of chronic disease, AI has shown strong potential to support healthcare providers and patients at every stage of the care continuum. But for AI-enabled solutions to take hold, they need to integrate into the workflows of healthcare professionals and people’s daily health routines. And only by combining AI with deep clinical knowledge can we glean the most relevant insights from data that truly make a difference at the point of care. That’s why healthcare professionals and patients need to be at the heart of AI innovation in healthcare. Philips envision three ways in which AI can enhance the human experience in healthcare:
- AI can augment the expertise of healthcare providers and support their decision-making, allowing them to do what they do best: detect, diagnose, treat, and monitor disease. For example, AI can aid radiologists, cardiologists and other specialists with the segmentation and quantification of medical images, for enhanced diagnostic confidence and consistency. AI can also enable acute care teams to keep a caring eye on patients and spot early signs of health deterioration, based on an analysis of multiple vital signs, for timely intervention and reduced risk of readmission.
- AI can improve operational efficiency to help healthcare providers focus on patient care. For example, workflow automation in radiology can alleviate the burden on time-pressured imaging technologists, allowing them to focus on obtaining optimal image quality. AI can also enable predictive maintenance of medical equipment to prevent avoidable and costly disruptions that frustrate staff and patients alike. And on an enterprise level, AI can help forecast and manage patient flow from admission to discharge, ensuring the right care gets delivered in the right place at the right time.
- AI can empower people to take better care of their health and well-being by offering personalized and actionable insights that help them develop and maintain healthy habits. For example, in oral healthcare, AI can analyze an individual’s brushing behavior through sensors embedded into a smart toothbrush, and – through a mobile app – offer personalized recommendations for improving one’s oral hygiene. Similarly, AI can motivate people with chronic disease to take an active role in their therapy, promoting a shift from reactive to preventative care.
As special topic of interest was related to following question: need to understand how the Universities approach the industry (and vice versa) in regard to the common cooperation and innovation development and what are usually the sources of project funding? (Tomasz Grabiec). Topic was elaborated well by professor Raj Vadigepalli.
The meeting ended with closing remarks made by the Vice Rector Prof. Marek Pawełczyk on further cooperation. Prof. Paweł Sowa also mentioned that the topic of the next meeting will be determined through a consultation between the president and all members of ICB.
The second meeting of the Team
On November 21, 2022, the International Consultative Board held its second session. The International Consultative Board features 32 members (as of November 21) - 4 from North America, 5 from South and Central America, 12 from Europe, 5 from Africa and 4 from Asia. 21 members represent industry and 11 come from academia.
The session was held online with the use of the Microsoft Teams platform.
The topic of this meeting concerned the cooperation between universities and the industry. The meeting was opened by Prof. Paweł Sowa, PhD, DSc, the Rector’s Plenipotentiary for the International Consultative Board. He welcomed the Vice Rector for Science and Development Professor Marek Pawełczyk, PhD, DSc, present at the meeting and then he invited the new members of the board to present information on themselves and others to provide their comments on the topic and information on their experience with the cases of this type of cooperation.
Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, a re-appointed member of the board, mentioned in the meeting that his five-year term as Rector of the University of Johannesburg (South Africa) is coming to an end and that he will be leaving the University of Johannesburg to join the United Nations University as Rector and UN Under-Secretary-General on 1 March 2023. He will be stationed in Tokyo. The United Nations University has many campuses in Europe. He started the discussion talking about the importance of international education.
Miroslav Saban from Croatia, Government and Public Affairs Leader for Philips Central and Eastern Europe, spoke of the partnership between his company (Philips) and academia, which is targeting meaningful innovation. He has not only referred to the topic of the meeting, but also told some general information about his company. He first mentioned the challenges in healthcare organization that his company targets, concerning global resource constraints, aging populations and the rise of chronic illnesses, increasing consumer engagement and, finally, on challenges in digitalization. The role of Philips in the innovation domain has also been mentioned, where he mentioned over 130 years of innovative achievements of Phillips and over 100 years of their activity in Poland. He also presented their impressive results from recent years in the R&D department. He gave examples of their broad partnership with academia and their various approaches to innovation. Next, he spoke of their High Tech Campus located in Eindhoven in The Netherlands, which started as a closed scientific unit and has since grown in an amazing rate, currently housing 235 high-tech companies with over 12,000 innovators, researchers and engineers. Regarding their partnership with academia – he gave an example of a smooth collaboration across different institutes: e/MTIC, which is a large-scale research collaboration between various healthcare units, Philips and the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). As another example of an innovation partnership, he spoke of their agreement with Karolinska University Hospital, which comprises of R&D, an innovation program and education, and the procurement, installation, maintenance, upgrading and replacement of most of the medical imaging equipment. The key achievements of this partnership have also been displayed. In his presentation, he also mentioned the role of Philips as a strategic partner for the European HealthTech Innovation Center. He mentioned the joint implementation of the project entitled „Silesian Center for Engineering Support of Medicine and Sport”. There was also a mention of the selection of Philips as industrial partner for the Silesian University of Technology. He also presented their ongoing cooperation plan for the near future. Finally, he presented some concluding remarks and additional resources.
Dr Mana Hassan, from University Ferhat Abbas of Setif in Algeria, where he has been working for 20 years until today, was the next speaker. He gave a brief presentation on his background, where he acquired his PhD specializing in measurements and electromagnetic compatibility. He spoke of his membership in a research lab of quality of electrical power and EMC. He also spoke of the problems of partnerships between Algerian industry and universities and little interest of a majority of the industry in his country in research universities. Also, he mentioned, that there are problems in the financing of projects in universities. There was also a mention of how the Algerian Researchers are often free to choose their research topics but also this rather results in cooperation with the foreign laboratories rather than the industry in Algeria. There is also a problem when it comes to the practice of a second activity beside teaching when it comes to university teachers, as it has some problems when it comes to the legal part. He mentioned that when it comes to universities, the most funding is received from the government. He mentioned, however, a few cases of organizations of conferences and projects that have been made at the level of the universities of at the service the oil companies as well as in the field of renewable energies, where many agreements have been signed between some universities and the companies, with the financing of the Algerian state. Also several investments in the field of agriculture and chemical fields were mentioned.
Christian Sturm, Regional Manager CEU of the Austrian Company OMICRON, recalled some information on his company. He mentioned protection and power utility communication testing solutions in the medium and high voltage grid. Another domain in which the company is heavily involved is primary testing and diagnosis of e.g., power transformers, circuit breakers, instrument transformers and generators. The company is also scientifically involved in cyber security. He presented some examples on their already very good cooperation with the Silesian University of Technology, mentioning the company’s visits in 2018 and 2019 involving protection tests and partial discharge measurements with the use of professional OMICRON equipment.
Jean Mahseredjian who is a Professor at Polytechnique Montreal, also the CEO of PGSTech, a company that is developing and commercializing the well-known software EMTP. He spoke of the many challenges including the urgent needs for training highly qualified personnel and the alignment of studies with industry needs. He also spoke of the challenges for universities when it comes to hiring graduate students. Some of the research project funding opportunities in Canada have been displayed, including those funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and by the industry. NSERC Alliance Grants, MITACS internship grants, Innovée grants have also been mentioned. Next he spoke of Research and Development Contracts and the details on research costs. The Professor also mentioned a well-established unit since 2001, called IGEE: Institute of electrical engineering, which is a special institute fully funded by several industries, where the teaching is organized according to industry needs, there are regular meetings with industry members and several industry members even participate directly in teaching.
Edson Guedes da Costa, PhD, from Brazil, who works in the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), presented the mechanisms and agencies for public and non-public funding in Brazil. He explained that the main research funding agencies at Brazilian universities are the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations, the Ministry of Education and BNDES – the National Bank for Economic and Social Development. He also laid out the details on the units in the mentioned funding agencies. Here, above all, he provided detailed information on EMBRAPII, a private non-profit organization, whose projects aim at research, development and innovation. He explained how their funding model works and how they are involved with his department. Their EMBRAPII Projects included studies of e.g., analytics and big data, embedded, mobile apps, instrumentation and control, industrial automation and home automation.
Jeff Blake from the USA, representing Dontech Innovating Optical Solutions, briefly presented his background in business developments, sales marketing, mainly in the technology sectors that include equipment for optical measurement, optics for cameras and display systems, vacuum thin film depositions. He briefly presented his past cooperation with companies such as Ezassi, which deals with SaaS software for Medical & Pharma Innovation; Datacolor (a Swiss Public Company), manufacturing spectrophotometers for measuring color that are used in color formulation and quality control for building different types of plastics and textiles; Dunmore, a company manufacturing large format coded films for packaging, reflective insulation, aerospace and other types of industrial applications. He also gave a brief summary of his achievements in the mentioned companies, which resulted in their growth. He also mentioned his current job for Dontech, which is a manufacturer of different products for medical devices, aerospace and industrial applications as well as for optics, camera systems, new technologies for self-driving cars and surveillance optics. Referring to Dontech, he gave some examples of leading technologies and business development innovation solutions that have been introduced by the company as well as the specifics for their market segmentation and business expansions for aerospace, precision optics and displays, imaging and electronics.
Gert Henschel, who is the Technical Solutions Director at ALSTOM Grid GmbH, presented some examples of a cooperation with the Technical University in Dresden, Germany. He mentioned the close cooperation with the Institute of Electrical Power Systems and High Voltage Engineering. He explained that because their company is an engineering company, not one with an R&D department, that rather than focusing on long-term research contracts and basic developments, the cooperation is focused only on applied engineering. This involves case by case cooperation (project specific contracts), but must reflect the institute’s current research focus and the skills and knowledge of the scientific staff. He gave some examples on such projects, e.g., investigation of disturbances, equipment faults, insulation coordination studies and overvoltage protection. Additionally, he spoke of their company’s support for the National Arc Research Center based in Dresden, where they have been supplied with containers with low voltage equipment and low voltage batteries; he also spoke of their studies involving low voltage DC-arcs.
Ayay Patel from India, had some questions to the Vice Rector Marek Pawełczyk. They concerned promotion of the Silesian University and a potential student exchange program, short term certification programs and special technical courses; he also asked about possibilities of the Indian industry collaborating with the Silesian University of Technology; he also mentioned the Electric Vehicle and the Solar, Hydrogen car charging and cell manufacturing future of India and whether there are online or offline programs for these industries. The Vice Rector Marek Pawełczyk mentioned that India is one of the countries with which the Silesian University of Technology has a strong collaboration, he mentioned his visits to a few universities with which we have scientific agreements and visiting PhD students from India in no small part thanks to the attractive PhD studies program the Silesian University of Technology provides. He also gave some information on the scholarships for students from abroad. He mentioned that the university hosted a delegation from India, from West Bengal at the European Congress of Medium and Small Enterprises. As for further cooperation he mentioned that he would keep in touch along with Prof. Paweł Sowa and said that a collaboration model developed with Chinese universities could be considered.
Alejandro José Dubón Balladares from Nicaragua, working for the National University of Engineering, joined the meeting as a reappearing member of the Board. He mentioned two projects they are working on, concerning a cooperation between his university (at the Faculty of Industrial Engineering) and the industry: Operation Excellence and Pro-Kaizen Project. He gave some details on the Pro-Kaizen Project first, which is a large project involving industrial services, forging companies, recycling companies, food companies along with bars and restaurants; he also mentioned the project path with applications and trainings, which goes on through the creation of official documents (handbooks, procedures, guides and technical sheets) in the various improvement areas and then proceeds with the implementation of a continuous improvement team. Then he mentioned some details on the Operation Excellence project, which started through a cooperation of his faculty with 10 companies. The project aims at an exchange of experiences between the companies with different items, a look for the way of Industry 4.0 and the establishment of a process of business correlation.
Theo Hendriks from the Netherlands, CEO and Founder of HyMove, a company involved in fuel-cell technology mentioned that they are currently a part of a larger ecosystem of several companies in renewable energy transition. He has presented examples of two cooperation instances concerning renewable energy and hydrogen. The first is called Connectr, which is a public-private partnership, where apart from the authorities and several companies in energy innovation, also universities are included. It is an open cooperation, hence available for parties interested in joining the project, including international companies and universities. The goal of Connectr is to create a powerful energy ecosystem in which innovation can flourish; the core organization of Connectr works on three blocks: an innovation lab, shared facilities and an innovation program. The ultimate goal is to accelerate technical innovations and with that, increase the speed of the energy transition. It has three focus themes: power systems engineering, electrochemical energy storage and sustainable drive systems. Key focus markets include inland shipping and cruises, heavy duty logistics, industrial and business parks and construction sites. He mentioned the shared facilities of the project, which aim at the support of the innovation process, including the Energy Demo Field (a test and demonstration facility for energy storage technology) and H2LAB (educational facilities for vocational and higher education training and projects). The second major project he mentioned is called SPRONG decentralized hydrogen. The mission and vision of the project is to grow within 4 years into a leading knowledge institute that is nationally recognized and seen in the field of decentralized energy and hydrogen applications. It involves several universities and is focused on the complete supply line of hydrogen from production to utilization. He mentioned the many companies involved in the project, all with various obligations, e.g., sharing practical knowledge, theoretical knowledge development, the transition from theoretical to practical knowledge and facilitating knowledge development.
Tomasz Grabiec from Germany spoke next. He is working at the German subsidiary of the Iljin company (South Korea), which manufactures products for the automotive industry, especially wheel bearings. He himself deals with the product innovation of wheel bearings and brakes. He mentioned that at his company they do not have many possibilities to work with universities, mostly because this is handled by the headquarters in Seoul, while the European branch in Germany mainly works with customers. However, he mentioned his experience when it comes to cooperation between universities and the industry that he obtained while working at the Ford Motor Company, where he took part in a European funded project, specifically subject to the Horizon2020 program. The project was called “a LOW environment impact BRAke SYStem”, hence its abbreviation: LOWBRASYS. The project aimed at demonstrating a novel and low environment impact brake system that would reduce micro and nanoparticle emissions by at least 50%. The companies that were involved in this project came from various countries in Europe: the coordinator, being BREMBO SPA, an Italian company, and others, e.g., from Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Czechia and Sweden. He also shared some technical details on the project realization.
Ralf Weiser, from the USA, Director of Operations at DVIRC (Dellaware Valley Industrial Resource Center) in Southeast Pennsylvania gave some information on his company and his role in it. DVIRC deals with market research , lean manufacturing training, Six Sigma training, strategic planning and executive networking. Through his experience and work with several universities, he mentioned the top reasons for working with universities, including work with top tier talents on capstone projects, access to new technologies and new ways of thinking, work with talented students who may become part of their workforce and the opportunity to influence adaptation of their tech and services.
The meeting ended with a few closing remarks made by the Vice Rector Prof. Marek Pawełczyk on further cooperation. Prof. Paweł Sowa also mentioned that the topic of the next meeting will be determined through a consultation between the chairman of the next meeting and the Rector. In the near future the chairman of the next meeting will be appointed by the Rector of the Silesian University of Technology.
The first meeting of the International Consultative Team at the Silesian University of Technology
On November 22, 2021 the International Consultative Board held its first session.
The session was held online with the use of the ZOOM platform.
The meeting was opened by Prof. Paweł Sowa, PhD, DSc, the Rector’s Plenipotentiary for the International Consultative Board.
On the first meeting, representing the Silesian University of Technology, along with prof. Sowa, present were: His Magnificence Rector of the Silesian University of Technology Professor Arkadiusz Mężyk, PhD, DSc and the Vice Rector for Science and Development Professor Marek Pawełczyk, PhD, DSc.
The board features members that are experts of a wide range of fields, representing various units with common interest (industry, commercial units, universities).
Apart from the three mentioned Polish representatives of the Silesian University of Technology, the International Consultative Board features 28 members from 5 continents: 3 from North America, 6 from South and Central America, 13 from Europe, 3 from Africa and 3 from Asia.
His Magnificence Rector of the Silesian University of Technology Professor Arkadiusz Mężyk, PhD, DSc introduced the background of the Silesian University of Technology. Introduced its history, relevant information on its location, its structure (basic units and their placement), information of the faculties, the study courses, along with a range of possibilities of studies in English. He also told about recent developments and commitments (like the European Universities Initiative and EURECA-PRO), along with the recent significant achievements. The priority research areas of the Silesian University of Technology have also been mentioned along with the idea of implementation doctorates, bringing science and industry closer together. The Silesian University of Technology is one of the biggest and best technical universities in Poland. As the only one in Silesia it holds the status of Research University (these statuses have been awarded in 2019; only 10 universities in the country have this status).
Vice Rector for Science and Development Professor Marek Pawełczyk, PhD, DSc mentioned about the importance of the Board and its role to support the university in its strategy, in particular in the pursue of excellence in scientific research, modern education, internalization and increased recognition. The board achieves its goal in particular by carrying out actions that support the university in establishing relations and cooperation with native and foreign universities, scientific and economic organizations and enterprises. He mentioned that the role is also to support the university in establishing contacts with outstanding scientists from abroad and that it is important that the board draws attention to current topics in which the university can play a leading role – here the Vice Rector mentioned, in particular, the (mentioned earlier) priority research areas of the Silesian University of Technology.
After the introduction made by members of the Silesian University of Technology, as this was the first Board’s session, prof. Sowa asked the members of the board to introduce their background and that of their represented unit.
First was Professor Jean Mahseredjian, CEO of the company PGSTech, who is also Professor at Polytecnique Montreal (University of Montreal). PGSTech are responsible for the development and commercialization of the well-known EMTP software (where prof. Mahseredjian is the creator and lead developer). They also have a lot of consulting activities concerning power system analyses including very large scale systems with renewables (renewable energy sources).
Christian Sturm, graduate of University of Applied Sciences, FH Voralberg and University of Limerick, now Regional Manager CEU of the Austrian Company OMICRON. The company is characterized by its multinationality as they currently employing people from 45 different countries in 25 offices worldwide, serving customers in more than 160 countries. Their R&D (research and development) rate is above 15%. They specialize in the areas of protection and power utility communication testing solutions. He also mentioned of their business unit called Primary Testing and Diagnosis, focusing on power transformers, instrument transformers, circuit breakers and motors and generators. Relatively not long ago they also got involved in the area of cyber security, where their Intrusion Detection and Grid Monitoring system has been mentioned.
Gabor Lakner from Hungary, environmental engineer, mainly involved in the water treatment industry, commercial director of Hidrofilt Ltd. The company is a designer, manufacturer and operator of water treatment systems for industries, municipalities and agriculture. They comprise of 170 employees. They are also involved in a wide range of industries e.g. in the pharmaceutical and microelectronics industries (in particular in High Purity Water Treatment due to these industries demanding special water quality) and in food and beverage production and containerized water treatment systems.
From Netherlands, Theo P.M. Hendriks, PhD in High-Speed Aerodynamics, Co-Founder of HyMove B.V. (supplier of Hydrogen Fuel Cell systems in the Netherlands) and Co-Founder of Buses4Future GmbH (supplier of Fuel Cell buses in Germany) who has special interest in transition modeling towards renewable energy supply, global production and logistics of green hydrogen and local and regional eco-systems of hydrogen supply and applications.
From the German subsidiary of the Iljin company (South Korea) Tomasz Grabiec, PhD Eng, mainly involved in Wheel Baring R&D, Brake Technology and Product Innovation Manager. The company itself has 22 global production plants, around 6000 employees; their main area of products is related to chassis components, bearings and robotic components like strain wave gears, cross roller bearings and smart actuators. They have lots of worldwide automotive customers such as BMW, Volksvagen, Audi, Jaguar, Renault, Nissan, Hyundai, Ford and many others.
Knut Johannsen from Germany, from the Eurovia company, which has around 500 business units and 15 countries (54% of those in France, 27% in the rest of Europe, 19% in North and South America). He represents Eurovia Germany and the Technical Director responsible for research and development; they have around 1700 sites and projects around Germany with 3706 employees and 275 trainees. They are in touch with a lot of universities around Europe and together are involved in R&D projects.
Libor Klimpar from Czechia, representing LaborTech, a developer and manufacturer of testing machines, equipment and automatization. One of their goals is to continue to provide customers with modern technical and technological solutions in the field of material testing. He told about the comprehensive portfolio of the company, penetrating all fields of research and development, contributing significantly to the quality assurance in more than 20 industries (e.g. engineering, nuclear energetics, automotive, building and aerospace industry).
From an office in France Thierry Deschaux, general director of EDF, a world leading electricity company, covering all electricity-related activities i.a. electricity generation (in 2020: 501.9TWh worldwide, 90% of which was carbon-free electricity), transmission and distribution, energy supply and optimization and trading. The company employs around 165 thousand people with 38.9 million customer sites worldwide. They have a long partnership in Poland (e.g. involved in the Polish Nuclear Power Programme and renewable energies).
Next, Thierry Doucerain from France briefly introduced his background, where for many years he was also involved with EDF (EDF Polska in particular), where for many years he took on management (e.g. he has been Chief Executive Officer in 2014-2017); from January 2018 to March 2019 he was Advisor to the Vice President for International Affairs in EDF Group: in charge of coaching of Project Managers and Business Developers. Currently he is working as an expert in energetic topics, mainly in Poland, for the French Ambassy, French-Polish Chamber of Commerce in Warsaw and for investors in Poland.
Christine Lemaitre, representing DGNB, the German Sustainable Building Council. It is Europe’s biggest network for sustainable building, it is an association that represents Germany in the World Green Building Council. Their aim is to introduce the topic of sustainability in the building environment. They have more than 8000 certificates in around 30 countries worldwide. She explained that the topic of knowledge sharing is a significant part of their work; they collaborate with around 70 universities and colleges of higher education.
Prof. Gert Hentschel, PhD, from Technical University Dresden, Germany; he is also Technical Solutions Manager of Grid Solutions renewable energy consisting of different sectors, production of onshore and offshore wind turbines, battery and energy storage devices. The company has over 13 thousand employees worldwide. They provide solutions for the full scope transformation of the energy system, power electronics devices and high voltage equipment.
Mark McGranagham from Ireland (representing the Electric Power Research Institute in the USA) who has a long history of working with some of the distribution companies like PSE, Energa, Tauron in Poland. EPRI itself is an non-profit international collaborative research organization that organizes and does research for the electric power industry around the world. Their values are in objective, scientifically based results, chartered to serve public benefit. They have a substantial European project portfolio including recent projects concerning i.a. cyber security assessment and metrics, EMF modeling, energy storage valuation and demonstration, assessment of distributed energy resource hosting capacity with DSOs.
Next: Ralf Weiser, Vice President of Operations at Alexanderwerk Inc located in the United States (subsidiary of the German Alexanderwerk company). The Alexanderwerk Group is a supplier of high-quality machines to the Pharmaceutical Industry, Chemical Industry, Life Science and Food Industry and the Nuclear Industry. They are a market leader for compaction and dry granulation machines. They have international research partnerships with well-known international universities i.a. in the USA, the UK, Germany and China.
Joining the board was also Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg (South Africa), who cooperates with the Silesian University of Technology’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering ever since he began his cooperation with prof. Sowa several years ago. He spoke of the vision of the University of Johannesburg being an international university of choice anchored in Africa, dynamically shaping the future. He mentioned that the mission of his university is to inspire its community to transform and serve humanity through innovation and collaborative pursuit of knowledge. The University of Johannesburg is a diverse, inclusive, transformational and collegial institution with a student population of over 50 thousand, of which over 3 thousand are international students from more than 80 countries. The Professor also mentioned his rich research background (including 19 books on AI) and his functions over the years, including currently: as a board member of Nedbank, a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Deputy Chair of the Presidential Commission on the 4IR.
Also from South Africa joining the board was Ishmael Msiza, Software Engineering Lead in ChTE, a small technology development enterprise based in Johannesburg. He has experience in working for CSIR (a leading scientific and technology research organization), mmapro (incorporating a group of companies whose main focus is on IT solutions in the public safety sphere), Oxygen8 (a communications company with its headquarters in Birmingham) and the University of Johannesburg when he worked on his PhD under Professor Tshilidzi Marwala. He was also a part of the cooperation initiated by Professor Sowa and Professor Marwala. His ChTE activities include software engineering, biometric identity authentication and water engineering. He is also the owner of patents on Fingerprint Classification, Fingerprint Matching and Fingerprint Rotation Immunity.
Professor Jan-Harm Christiaan Pretorius also joined the Board. He is a Professor at the University of Johannesburg and also a longtime associate of Professor Sowa. During his career he supervised 20 doctoral students and more than 200 master students. During the Board session he briefly introduced his career path starting from when he joined the Atomic Energy Corporation in 1981 (where he worked on laser enrichment and energy lasers) to his current involvement with research (currently mostly related to energy efficiency and quality) at the university. He shared some insight on the research workers in the university and their involvement in the industry and how important it is that the research revolves around problems arising in the industry. He also spoke of his recent research activity with master and PhD students.
Joining us from India was Ayay Patel, graduate of Dharmsinh Desai Institute of Technology (DDIT, currently known as Dharamsinh Desai University) in India; currently has over 20 years of experience as CEO of the Map Products Private Limited company, an Indian Green Building Product Manufacturer that delivers eco-friendly construction materials at reputed construction sites across India as well as African countries since more than a decade.
From China, our next member: Yang Jiandao, graduate of Tsinghua University (where he obtained his Master of Engineering degree) and later Xi’an Jiaotong University (where he obtained his PhD in Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics). Currently he is the Director of R&D Department in the Shanghai Turbine Works organization. He shared some information on R&D related work such as the optimization technology of thermal-systems of steam turbines, optimization technologies of aerodynamics and throughflow of steam turbines and the development of last stage blades of steam turbines. He made a speech on the dependencies between his organization (being a part of the Power Generation Group sector) and that of Shanghai Electric Group Co., Ltd. He also mentioned the origin of the Chinese Power Industry and the enormous possibilities of Shanghai Electric for providing energy equipment.
Daniel Garza from Mexico was our next Board Member, who received his bachelor degree in Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico and then his master’s degree in Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, Germany. He is CEO & Technical Director of Garza Electrothermal, his own company funded 13 years ago. They are specialized in high voltage testing solutions, lab design and construction, consulting, calibration, electrical wiring design (commercial and industrial), onsite testing and short-circuit testing. He mentioned that his company has customers in both big and small companies, e.g. Siemens, ABB-Hitachi, General Electric as well as universitites and national institutes.
Our next Board Member is Edson Guedes da Costa, PhD, from Brazil, who works at the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Federal University of Campina Grande. He shared some information on his university, the numbers (1600 professors, 25000 undergraduate, masters and doctoral students), the campus, and the courses the university provides (where he pointed out that the most prominent concern technology, engineering). He spoke of his research themes, concerning mainly the topics of: high voltages, grounding subsystems in substations, the study of partial discharges in equipment, monitoring and diagnostics of electrical insulation, Zinc Oxide surges arrester, monitoring of power circuit breakers and electrical fields.
Franklin Camacho from Ecuador was our next Board Member. He is a graduate of Instituto Tecnologico de Puebla Mexico and Universidad de Cuenca Ecuador. Previously he took on the jobs as President of Camara Industrias Tungurahua, President of Hidrosierra and Director of the Electric Company Ambato. Currenlty he holds the position of Manager and President in Inedyc Power & Energy Technology. He spoke of his company dealing with the assembly of power substations, dielectric oil analyses, the development of treatment machines, field electrical tests, the repair of special transformers, the assembly of test transformers for foundries, the development of test laboratories and high voltage equipment.
Alejandro José Dubón Balladares from Nicaragua representing the Faculty of Technology of Industry at the University National of Engineering. He shortly introduced his university, its structure and the wide range of courses it offers. He also spoke of his profile and his role as Metrology Laboratory Manager, his diploma programs: on Metallographic and Thermal Treatment and on Hot Process in Iron and Steel Industry. He also spoke of his role in the development of micro-entrepreneurs applying Kaizen techniques (with JICA, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency).
From San Juan in Argentina, the next member who introduced himself was Oscar Trad Ranea. He spoke of his career, his work at the University of San Juan in the Electrical Energy Institute and that he has been a member of CONICET (National Council of Technical and Scientific Research) and currently maintains the position of Director of EPRE (Government Regulatory Agency). Later on he also spoke of the electricity market in Argentina and its current state.
Also from Argentina, from Buenos Aires, Professor Claudio Muñoz who works both for the Buenos Aires Technology University (a private university) and Universidad de la Defensa Nacional (where the army procures its officers for the professional military). He mentioned his the areas he recently specializes in: electromagnetic compatibility and radiocommunication systems.
From Cuba, the next Board Member was Miguel Castro Fernandez, PhD, who is Professor of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Universidad Tecnológica de la Habana José Antonio Echeverría, Cujae. In the mentioned faculty he holds the office of Dean. He spoke of the many recognitions he has obtained in his country. Later he mentioned his fundamental area of research, being high voltage topics, energy distribution, renewable energy sources and energy storage technologies. He also mentioned of the wide cooperation of his university with other ones across the world and the various courses that are available in his university and faculty.
There are also two members of the Board that have not been present during the first session. Both of which have sent information on their background. The first was Miroslav Saban from Croatia, who’s current role is Government and Public Affairs Leader in Philips Central and Eastern Europe and Russia, where he’s responsible for assessing the value of new developments in 30 countries of CEER and identifying new opportunities for Philips. The second person who was absent was Arun Prabhakar Mote, currently: Executive Director & CEO of Triveni Turbine Ltd., one of the largest industrial steam turbine manufacturers of up to 100 MWe. The company is present in over 70 countries around the world.
At the ending of the meeting Professor Sowa mentioned of not only the many countries and important companies and universities the Board Members represent but also of the many fields they specialize in. He also spoke of the many opportunities for international interdisciplinary projects and to create a consortium grouping around common issues. He also mentioned that naturally, each of the Board Members, representing their own field will have their own ideas, where, as Prof. Sowa stated, his recent interests lie in 5G technology and the 4th Industrial Revolution.
