By Marvin Grass, Junior Project Manager - Energy Innovation

In October 2019 I started as a Junior Project Manager and now, seven months later, sadly, time has come to say goodbye. I very much enjoyed my work in Shanghai and spending time with the swissnex crew!

My main tasks were related to the Sino-Swiss Energy Innovation Forum. Creating a website and a more detailed program were the first tasks. Then I had to research potential candidates to invite to the forum. I found many innovative Swiss startups which have exciting technologies: Efficient solar cells, fuel cells, physical energy storage and grid management are amongst them.

I was able to meet energy experts from Switzerland which gave me interesting insights into their area of expertise, such as Matthias Sulzer from EMPA. I accompanied Swiss professors to Chinese universities to check whether a collaboration could be fruitful. Visiting potential venues for the forum and finding a partner with Tongji University was interesting since these universities are much bigger compared to Swiss universities and have beautiful campuses.

Unfortunately, the Sino-Swiss Energy Innovation Forum had to be postponed due to COVID-19, which is a pity. China is an important market for renewable energy companies since it is the largest investor in renewables in the world with a share of over 50% and I believe many Chinese companies will deploy renewable energy projects in the greater region. Therefore, Swiss companies can find experienced global energy leaders in China. Switzerland and China have good researchers which could solve energy related problems, so I hope there will be an opportunity to connect the researchers in the near future.

Let’s hope there will soon be a solution to resume our normal lives and activities despite the virus. I will certainly miss the delicious lunch near the swissnex office and my colleagues with whom I ate, laughed and spent quality time with. To all the people I met during my time at swissnex China, I wish only the best in 2020!