Interviews - March 1, 2021
Written by Jamie Wylie 4 min read
Each month we recognise the efforts of one of our Solar Impulse Experts, who help to assess Solutions seeking the Solar Impulse Efficient Solution Label. The Expert Community is made up of over 360 Experts from across the world, bringing expertise from a diverse range of fields including science, engineering, research, industry, business and much more.
The Expert of the Month award for February goes to Dr. Schekeb Fateh! Schekeb has been an Expert with the Foundation since 2018, making him one of our longest-serving Experts. From everyone at the Foundation, a big thank you to Schekeb for his dedication to the Expert role!
Congratulations on being February's Expert of the Month! Please tell us a little about yourself.
SF: I from Switzerland and I studied electrical engineering at ETH in Zurich. I finished my Master of Science in Communications and Microelectronics in 2009 at ETH in Zurich and also received my PhD degree in Integrated Circuits from ETH in 2016. Currently, I live and work in Zurich.
What are your areas of expertise and professional work?
Having worked for more than a decade in the semiconductor industry, I am highly skilled in Integrated Circuit / Chip design and have worked for the last three years in the position of Business Development at Miromico AG in Zurich. Miromico has about 50 employees and is a leading technology provider in the field of Integrated Circuit Design, Embedded Electronics Design and the Internet of Things (IoT). At the beginning of 2021, I was promoted to be the CEO of Miromico. Currently, I am also in the Board of Directors at Tesenso GmbH, an IoT solution provider, and I am the initiator of the IoT Business Hub (www.IoTBHub.com).
What attracted you to the field of electronics and your PhD on integrated circuit design?
I am a technology-driven person and am passionate about innovation and disruptive technologies that are capable of changing our world to be more sustainable. Integrated Circuits have a huge impact on the global economy and I wanted to be part of this technology revolution. All trendy technologies such as IoT, AI, 5G, and Big Data depend on Integrated Circuits and I am fascinated by the nature of scale of these technologies. Hardware design is hard and since I love challenges, I wanted to solve the problems at the source.
What is the most promising or exciting area of your professional focus which could help the transition to clean energy and sustainability?
The most promising area of my professional focus is on innovative technologies based on AI and IoT (AIoT). I think the combination of these two key technologies will help to make millions of already established applications and businesses more sustainable. AIoT will impact essential industrial sectors like logistics, manufacturing, mining/oil & gas, utilities, agriculture, building automation, and smart cities.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your work?
I am happy to work in an environment that transforms ideas into technologies that can be scaled up and impact our daily life in a positive manner. Complex technologies require collaborative work within the ecosystem and I am convinced that disruptive innovations are developed within teams that are able to work closely, transparently, trustingly, and respectfully together. I am happy to be surrounded by people that surprise me positively on daily base and that I can learn from.
You joined the Solar Impulse Foundation back in 2018. Why did you decide to join the Expert Community?
I like the concept of the Solar Impulse Foundation and it is also part of my life philosophy to help creating disruptive technologies to make our world more sustainable. I want to contribute with my know-how and experience as an Expert to assess sustainable solutions, since I am highly convinced that Bertrand Piccard has a big plan to help achieving the SDGs.
What does being part of the Solar Impulse Foundation mean to you?
I appreciate being part of the Solar Impulse Foundation and its highly competitive team of Experts. The team is just amazing and supportive, with a diverse set of competences and backgrounds from all over the industry that I can rely on. I’ve gained many friends with similar life philosophies over the last three years and am enjoying lots of fruitful and memorable discussions and consulting hours.
What are your hopes for the labelled Solutions and the Solar Impulse Foundation?
I hope to see many of the labelled Solutions soon implemented in our daily life, since they all tackle the SDGs and enhance our quality of life. Climate change is impacting all our lives already, and I am convinced that this is the way to motivate innovators to successfully implement and scale their sustainable solutions into global businesses.
Interested in finding out more about the Solar Impulse Foundation Experts? Read more here.
Written by Jamie Wylie on March 1, 2021