I focus on this question: how can we exploit rapidly advancing computing power to create a faster, more sustainable transition to clean energy and mobility? As Coordinator of the University of Cologne’s Key Research Initiative Sustainable Smart Energy and Mobility, Director of the Erasmus Centre for Future Energy Business at the Rotterdam School of Management, and as Energy Policy Advisor to the German government, I produce and lead top-quality research that draws on Artificial Intelligence, Learning Agents, and Machine Learning to test the performance of new business models and policies in projects with real-world impact. We’re paving the way for a faster clean energy/mobility transition – one that is more stable and profitable.

To encourage the application of our research, the Key Research Initiative and the ECFEB collaborate with industry and government on a broad range of projects: the design of smart markets; using EVs, smart charging, and virtual power plants to mitigate intermittency of renewables; and creating energy cooperatives in port and industry.

I am also co-founder of Power TAC, an open-source platform for AI-assisted market simulation. Power TAC simulates the behavior of smart grid stakeholders, shows how dynamic pricing encourages market-based EV charging coordination, gauges the impact of high penetration of renewable energy on electricity markets, optimizes bidding strategies for renewable energy in electricity markets and tackles the intermittency challenge of renewable energy.

As a keynote speaker at corporate and industry events, I advocate for the integration of AI-assisted decision-making. I also serve as general and program chair at a variety of international conferences and workshops.