As part of the sixth MI Ministerial (MI-6), with the launch of MI 2.0, Mission Innovation members committed to support the formation of a Technical Advisory Group (TAG). The purpose of the TAG is to provide an independent review and advisory function for Mission Innovation activities to help Mission Innovation governments maximise their impact.
“Mission Innovation’s goal of accelerating the clean energy transition for all is vital and I’m excited to be providing my support as TAG Chair.”
Dr. Jenny Hayward,
TAG Chair and Principal Research Scientist in Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Energy Business Unit, Australia
“I look forward to leading the TAG by supporting the Chair to provide valuable support and independent guidance to Mission Innovation.”
Dr. Michio Kondo,
TAG Vice-Chair and Supervisory Innovation Coordinator, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan
The TAG brings together 13 leading scientists and senior energy innovation professionals from around the world nominated by MI member countries and partner organizations. The TAG members will use their policy, technical, and commercial expertise and knowledge of clean energy innovation architecture and mission-oriented programming to provide recommendations to the MI Steering Committee and help MI reach its goals
The work done by TAG will be critical to drive impact and outcomes for Mission Innovation and will review the Missions and Innovation Platform to improve efforts for greater impact and exchange knowledge across National Innovation Pathways.
Dr. Jenny Hayward (TAG Chair) — Australia
Jenny Hayward is a principal research scientist in Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Energy Business Unit. She leads research projects on technology cost projections and the models she has developed are used to project the cost of electricity generation technologies for the Australian Energy Market Operator and the Australian Government. Jenny has made economic modelling contributions to roadmap and renewable energy projects, including the Low Emissions Technology Statement, the Australian National Hydrogen Roadmap and Low Emissions Technology Roadmap. She has contributed to studies undertaken by CSIRO on energy storage, remote area power systems, the techno-economic potential of solar fuels, the potential of sustainable aviation fuels; ocean renewable energy; geothermal heat for gas processing and concentrating solar thermal energy in Australia.
Her focus is on developing new methods and modelling approaches to provide robust projections of the capital costs of existing and emerging electricity generation and fuel conversion technologies.
Jenny has previously worked as a computational chemist with expertise in chemical and biological modelling. She has worked in interdisciplinary environments to provide analysis on issues of future strategic significance.
Dr. Michio Kondo (TAG Vice Chair) — Japan
Dr. Julia Reinaud — Breakthrough Energy
Julia Reinaud has been working in the field of climate and energy for the past two decades. She is an experienced business developer with a track record of spearheading international projects and integrating sustainability and innovation into businesses and governments strategies.
Julia joined Breakthrough Energy in 2018. She has been shaping and implementing the organization’s activities and partnerships in Europe. As part of that effort, Julia worked with the European Commission and the European Investment Bank to set up Breakthrough Energy Ventures Europe, a €100 million fund dedicated to investing in Europe’s best clean energy entrepreneurs. She also supported the new EU-Catalyst partnership and the Breakthrough Energy Catalyst partnership with the UK that will accelerate the deployment and rapid commercialization of innovative technologies.
Prior to Breakthrough Energy, Julia served in a variety of leadership roles in the climate and energy sector – heading industry and energy innovation programs at the European Climate Foundation, ClimateWorks Foundation, and the Institute for Industrial Productivity. She started her career as an analyst at the IEA. She has worked internationally with projects in Europe, China and India.
Julia holds a PhD with distinction in Economics and Industrial Strategy from University Paris Dauphine.
Ms. Cynthia Handler — Canada
Cynthia Handler holds a Systems Design Engineering bachelor from the University of Waterloo and an M.Sc in Renewable Energy Systems Technologies from Loughborough University. Over her twenty-year career at Natural Resources Canada, Cynthia has worked on clean electricity and clean technology advancement as a researcher, a technology advisor, and in several science leadership roles. Since December 2021, Cynthia has held the position of Senior Science and Technology Director for Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Research and Development. Cynthia provides senior S&T leadership to Canadian energy innovation programming that prioritizes, plans, and funds Canadian federal laboratories advancing efforts in energy R&D. From 2018-2022, she was Director of OERD’s Electricity and End-Use division and delivered Green Infrastructure innovation programming including work focused on smart grids, transportation charging infrastructure, energy-efficient buildings, and reducing diesel dependence in remote communities.
As an expert in renewable energy technology, she is a past chair of the Canadian Sub-Committee to the International Electrotechnical Commission Technical Committee 88 on Wind Energy Systems and was Vice-Chair of the Canadian Wind Turbine Standards Committee working collaboratively with Canadian industry to adopt International Electrotechnical Standards. She has also been Canada’s representative to the IEA for the Renewable Energy Working Party, as well as the Wind and Hydro Technology Collaboration Platforms.
Professor Can Li — China
Can Li is a professor/academician in Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is also director of Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, and dean of Fundamental Research Center of Artificial Photosynthesis of NSFC. He also serves as a member of Academy of Science for Developing Countries, a foreign member of Academia European, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Prof. Can Li is a pioneering research scientist in catalysis science and solar energy conversion with more than 700 papers published in peer reviewed journals and more than 80 patents granted. By collaborating with government and industrial sectors, his team has successfully demonstrated the first “liquid sunshine” project in China, which produces methanol in large scale by CO2 hydrogenation using PV electrolysed hydrogen. He has been awarded many prestigious international prizes, including International Catalysis Award, Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize, Advance of Catalysis Award of the APACS, etc. Can Li is the leading Scientist of China for participating in Mission Innovation Challenge “Converting Sunlight” (IC5). And he was awarded the “Mission Innovation Champion” of year 2020. Currently he is the leading scientist of China for participating in “Clean Hydrogen Mission” of MI.
Dr. Vangelis Tzimas — European Commission
Vangelis Tzimas is head of the ‘Knowledge for the Energy Union’ unit in the Energy, Transport and Climate Directorate of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. He leads a team of 50 researchers that provide scientific evidence and analysis to support the energy, industrial and research and innovation policies of the European Union to enable a just, competitive and resilient transition to climate neutrality. He is a member of the Mission Innovation Technical Advisory Group, and his unit is responsible for leading the MI Insights module, which tracks progress in global clean energy innovation, primarily through system-mapping and experience-sharing. Vangelis joined the European Commission in 2000. Since then he has held research positions across a range of areas in the field of energy, including clean energy innovation & competitiveness, the decarbonisation of the power, industrial and heating & cooling sectors, supply chain resilience, energy and industrial infrastructure planning, renewables integration and social aspects of the energy transition. He is based in the Netherlands, and has a Masters Degree from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, and a Ph.D. from Drexel University in USA, both in engineering.
Dr. Dagmar Sommer — Germany
Ms. Araceli Fernandez Pales — IEA
Araceli Fernandez has more than fifteen years’ experience working on technology development in the energy field. She currently serves at the International Energy Agency as the Head of the Technology and Innovation Unit within the Energy Technology Policy division. Araceli manages research, analytical and scenario modelling activities on clean technologies for end-use sectors in that Division. She also supervises the process to monitor the readiness level of clean technologies across the energy sector and to track clean energy progress. In her previous role at the IEA, she led the modelling and technology analysis related to the industrial sector, in particular, in the same division.
Before joining the IEA in 2012, Araceli served in different roles in the Oil & Gas sector including process optimization, detailed engineering, new processes licensing and emissions monitoring for refinery and petrochemical projects. Araceli holds a MEng in Chemical Engineering from the Polytechnical University of Valencia (Spain) and a MSc in Process Engineering from Cranfield University (UK).
Professor Rangan Banerjee — India
Rangan Banerjee is a Professor in the Dept Of Energy Science and Engineering at IIT Delhi.
Untill February 2022 he was the Forbes Marshall Chair Professor in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay – a Department that he helped start in 2007. His areas of interest include energy management, modelling of energy systems, energy planning and policy, hydrogen energy and fuel cells.
Rangan has been involved in setting up a Megawattscale Solar Thermal Power Testing, Simulation, Research Facility sponsored by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. He is the faculty Advisor for Team Shunya- India’s first student team in Solar Decathlon Europe, China and US finals. He has been involved in advising the city, state regulatory commission and energy agency, Niti Aayog, Planning commission MNRE on energy issues.
Rangan is an Adjunct Professor (Honorary) in the Department of Engineering & Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University and is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering.
Mr. Francisco Boshell — IRENA
Francisco Boshell leads the work on Innovation for Renewable Energy Technologies at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). He focuses primarily on providing policy advice and guidance to countries regarding technology innovation, quality control and standardisation programmes for a successful deployment of renewables. Francisco analyse technology development strategies for a wider deployment of renewables in energy systems and has co-authored several reports on energy transition and energy technologies. During his 18 years professional career, Francisco has also: developed technical standards for quantifying GHG emission reductions from CDM projects and supported the climate change negotiations under UNFCCC; provided consultancy services for the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects at DNV GL, formerly KEMA Consulting; and designed and implemented infrastructure and energy related projects in the automotive manufacturing sector at General Motors. His background is in Mechanical Engineering and he holds a MSc. in Sustainable Energy Technology from the Eindhoven University of Technology, in the Netherlands.
Dr. Malak Al-Nory — Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Malak AlNory is an advisor of Sustainability and Climate Change in the Saudi Ministry of Energy. Her work is focused on international policy negotiations pertaining to energy and climate change including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other platforms. Malak is an expert in clean energy and clean water integration, innovative solutions, and strategic planning. She is an established scientist with published research and collaborations with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and others. Previous to her work at the Ministry of Energy, she worked as College of Engineering Associate Professor, Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, and then Provost at Effat University. She is an editorial board member at the Nature NPJ Clean Water Journal and an advisory board member with the MIT Technology Review Arabia. She is also an advocate for women in clean energy and was appointed as Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) International Ambassador representing Saudi Arabia in this initiative under the Clean Energy Ministerial. Malak is also KSA 2020 Mission Innovation Champion.
Mr. Per Arne Karlsen — Norway
Per Arne Karlsen has been working in the field of renewable energy for the past three decades, focused on R&D-, Business- and Market Development on various energy sources (hydropower, solar, wind, hydrogen and bio) and Energy systems (Power Grid, District Heating). He is an experienced manager with long track record from both Energy companies and Consultancy in the field of Energy and Climate. Per Arne joined The Research Council of Norway (RCN) in 2018. At RCN he has been working with R&I funding programmes and cooperation both at a national and international level including Horizon Europe, various Era-Nets and CETP (Clean Energy Transition Partnership). He is also Norway’s ExCo member in IEA Bioenergy and country representative at the Advisory board for ETIP Bioenergy.
Per Arne has a background as an Engineer in the fields of Energy and construction. In addition, he holds a BA in Economics and MBA from Heriot-Watt University/UK.
Professor Peter Bruce — United Kingdom
Peter Bruce is Wolfson Professor of Materials at the University of Oxford. He is a founder and Chief Scientist of the Faraday Institution, the UK centre for research on electrochemical energy storage. In 2018 he was appointed as Physical Secretary and Vice President of the Royal Society to the Royal Society. His research interests embrace materials chemistry and electrochemistry, with a particular emphasis on energy storage, especially lithium and sodium batteries.
Peter’s research has been recognised with a number of prestigious awards and fellowships. He received the Tilden Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2008, the Carl Wagner Award of the Electrochemical Society in 2011, the Liversidge Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2016, the Hughes Medal of the Royal Society in 2017 and the Longstaff Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2022. He has been named as a Highly Cited Researcher by Thomson Reuters/Clarivate every year since 2015. In the 2022 Birthday Honours List, Peter received a knighthood for his services to science and innovation.
Ms. Anna J. Siefken — United States
Anna J. Siefken, LEED AP BD+C, has spent her career making the business case for industrial efficiency, climatetech innovation, and building performance as a means to address the world’s energy challenges and the global urgency of climate change. She is currently on leave from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) to serve as Senior Advisor with the Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transitions. In 2020, Anna was appointed Ambassador of Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) by the U.S. Secretary of Energy.
Anna served as the inaugural Executive Director of The Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at CMU, which the American Energy Society designated as among the “Top 10 Energy Elites.” She guided the Institute’s efforts to develop breakthrough technologies that will have meaningful impact and accelerate the transition to a sustainable, low carbon energy future. Anna worked extensively to develop both public-private partnerships and the regional energy tech innovation ecosystem. During her six-year tenure, aligned start-ups captured more than $313M in follow-on funding.
Before joining CMU in 2016, Anna was Pittsburgh 2030 District Director and VP of Strategic Engagement for one of the largest chapters of the U.S. Green Building Council. Prior to that role, she was a Principal at ICF, and Global Product Merchant for Energy and the Environment at The Home Depot. Anna is a graduate of Duke University.
