eSmart Systems is being built by people able to capture trends and utilize opportunities. Be it next generation grid management systems, image recognition to drastically improve infrastructure inspections or driving customer and end-users engagement - being at the forefront of future solutions is in our team’s DNA.
We envision a future of sustainable societies. We believe this will be best achieved through our unique combination of domain expertise, machine learning, and data engineering. eSmart Systems’ AI driven software solutions enable our customers to operate more efficiently, resulting in both social and environmental benefits.
Our solutions can predict, detect, and prevent undesired critical infrastructure events, such as power outages. Reduced failure rates, extended asset life and reduced maintenance have economic benefits, both for our customers and the end users. At the same time, more efficient use of the power grid, reduces the need for further development of the transmission infrastructure, helping to protect nature including biodiversity. Our products also include a solution to make energy trading between local market prosumers possible. This is a prerequisite for the shift towards increased distributed production of renewable energy. We are proud to contribute to accelerating the transition towards a sustainable development.
Arndt studied Chemistry and Business Administration in Marburg, Bristol and Berkeley. After graduation to Ph.D. in Natural Sciences he worked for McKinsey & Company, Inc. in the basic materials sector and utilities, before he became head of Corporate Development/Strategy at RWE Group. He worked over 15 years in various management positions at RWE as member of the Group Business Committee, CFO of downstream divisions, CEO of the German downstream business (grids, retail) and CEO of the international retail division. After leaving RWE in 2016 he works as a senior advisor and investor in startups.
Joseph is the Chief Technology Officer for Compass, where he leads the development of the real estate industry’s first end-to-end platform. Until Dec 2018, Joseph served as Microsoft’s Chief Technology Officer for AI. During his five years at Microsoft, he also held product and engineering responsibility for all enterprise database, big data and AI products, with 1,700+ engineers.
Prior to Microsoft, Joseph spent nine years as a VP of Technology at Amazon where among other things he managed the Global Inventory Platform for Amazon’s Consumer Business, and built the machine learning and Transaction Risk Management teams. Joseph holds a PhD and MS in Neural Networks from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelors from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
Nils Ole Krekling is Group Vice President of Corporate Business Development at Kongsberg Gruppen ASA. He has held several positions in strategy, business development and finance since he joined Kongsberg in 2009, and has extensive industry experience in M&A and strategic partnering arrangements. Nils Ole holds a master’s degree in finance from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration and an executive program in strategy from INSEAD.
Erik is CTO at eSmart Systems with 20 years’ experience in software development within the energy space, mainly using Microsoft and Oracle technologies. The last four years he has been focusing on architecture and design of Big Data technologies, all on the Microsoft Azure platform.
Erik Åsberg was appointed Microsoft Regional Director-Norway in 2019, for a second consecutive two-year period. This is a program that consists of 150 of the world's top technology visionaries chosen specifically for their proven cross-platform expertise, community leadership, and commitment to business results, and therefore nominated as trusted advisor to the developer and IT professional audiences and Microsoft.
Eivind Egeland Olsen is Chief Investment Officer at Nysnø He previously held the position as head of corporate finance for SR-Bank Markets. Eivind has extensive financial and investment experience from his time as partner in ABG Sundal Collier, Jefferies & Company’s Cleantech team and The Royal Bank of Scotland in London. Eivind holds a Master of Science in Finance and Economics from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) and Warwick Business School (WBS).
Michael Donnelly is partner and Chief Risk Officer at Energy Impact Partners. Mr Donnelly spent a 25-year career at General Electric focused on energy in various management functions, most recently acting as Head of Business Development for GE Energy-Industrial Solutions. Before that, he led the Energy Technology Group for GE Equity, where he focused on investments in power and energy technology companies in storage, distribution and energy management.
Mr. Donnelly also served as a Risk Officer for the Equity Group where he ensured proper underwriting for a broad array of equity and debt investments. He also served as a Risk Officer at GE Global Sponsor Finance where he underwrote and managed a portfolio of over $1B. Mr. Donnelly holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from the U. S. Merchant Marine Academy and an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia.
Thor is an Investment Manager at Equinor Ventures, and has 4+ years of venture investment experience in the energy transition sectors. Thor has invested in European and US based companies within power and flexibility, data analytics and AI, solar and wind technologies, and has various board engagements with Equinor Ventures’ portfolio.
Prior to joining Equinor Ventures Thor held several international investment and business development positions in Equinor from 2009 to 2016.
Thor holds an MSc in Finance and Economics from Warwick Business School and a BSc in Economics from the University of Bergen and the University of Cape Town.
Jan Palasinski is Investment Partner at Future Energy Ventures since its inception in 2020. He has more than 15 years’ experience in cleantech and finance.
Before joining Future Energy Ventures, Jan has been part of E.ON's venture capital team since 2017, after having spent the previous 4 years at Innogy Venture Capital, both in Germany.
In the first phase of his career, Jan used to be an investment banker, driving renewable energy growth in Italy with project financing instruments.
Jan holds a Master's Degree in Economics and Management of Public Utilities from Milan's Bocconi University and a B.A. in History and International Relations from Roma Tre University.
Currently Jan serves as board member/observer in Future Energy Ventures’ portfolio companies Cuculus, eSmart Systems, Kiwigrid, Lumenaza, Nuventura, tado° and Thermondo.