Technical Advisory Group (TAG)

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. Dean Haslip (TAG Chair) —  Canada

Dean Haslip obtained his Ph.D. in 1998 in nuclear structure physics from McMaster University.  He worked as a research scientist with the Department of National Defence from 1998 to 2006, specializing in radiological defence in military and counter-terror operations.  Since 2006, Dean has worked in several science leadership positions. In particular, since 2013 he has been the Director General of CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Canada’s largest non-nuclear energy R&D facility.  Dean leads a team of more than two hundred professionals, carrying out research in such areas as CCUS, bioenergy, industrial energy systems, and building energy systems and energy efficiency.

In addition to this, Dean led the Analysis and Joint Research Sub-Group for Mission Innovation from 2016 to 2021.  He played an important role in launching the Innovation Challenges in 2016, and continued to coordinate and assess their activities during this time period.  In 2020 and 2021, Dean led the Independent Assessment Group in reviewing the new Mission proposals for MI 2.0, making recommendations to the proponents on how to improve their proposals and to the Mission Innovation Steering Committee on which proposals were fit to launch. Since February 2022, Dean has been the Chair of MI’s Technical Advisory Group.

 Dr. Michio Kondo (TAG Vice Chair) —  Japan

Dr. Jenny Hayward— 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. 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.

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