About
Julien Pestourie has been leading the EDF Innovation Lab since August 2021 and is Vice President of EDF Inc, Director of Innovation Lab. Prior to this role, Julien has held various positions at EDF since he joined in 2001, he was notably Director of the Smart Grid Department at EDF Lab in France (network development and advanced automation, quality of electricity supply and integration of new customer trends such as electric vehicles, advanced metering infrastructure, operational security, asset reliability and optimized maintenance, cybersecurity,...). He holds a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, 2001, from the Ecole Centrale Marseille. He later completed HEC's School of Management Executive Program in 2013. He has published multiple articles related to energy and power systems and has taught more than 600 hours in top engineering schools in France.
About
Olivier joined the EDF Innovation Lab in March 2021 and became the Innovation Director in March 2022, in charge of the Open-Innovation team. He brings his strong experience in economics and energy markets to help the team in developing its expertise on the electric system, deep carbonization technologies and new businesses. Prior to this role, Olivier has held various positions at EDF since he joined in 2010. He worked notably in the EDF Strategic Direction on long term challenges concerning the French electric system. Before joining the lab, he was Head of the Energy Market Analysis Team within the DOAAT, working closely with EDF Trading to hedge EDF assets in France and the Netherlands. He holds a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and graduated from the Ecole Centrale Paris.
About
Osama Idrees joined the EDF Innovation Lab in 2018, he leads EDF corporate venture capital activities in North America. He seeks to partner with and invest in VC funds and entrepreneurs addressing the net-zero carbon transition as well as expand and envision new EDF services for our customers. Prior to EDF, Osama held corporate innovation management roles at Chevron Technology ventures and Siemens next47. Osama graduated from Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt with B.S.c. in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from University of California, Davis.
About
Quentin Morel joined the EDF Innovation Lab in 2020 as head of the Smart Grid and Technology Program. His work focuses on the integration of renewable power plants into power grids and supporting EDF business units to accelerate the deployment of new products. Prior to this position, Quentin held various positions in France as a project manager and senior software engineer, particularly in the fields of smart grids, data & communication and renewable energy. He holds a Masters Degree in Energy and Technology Engineering from ECE Paris.
About
Neha Nandakumar joined the EDF Innovation Lab in 2019 as a Senior Energy Analyst working on future market models and market design for EDF projects and investments. Prior to her current position, Neha has a few years of experience in the energy industry, having led technical analysis for various utilities’ integrated resource plans, portfolio analysis, and working in energy finance and investment strategy. She holds an M.S. in Technology and Policy from MIT, focused on power systems and optimization, and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
About
Sena Soysal joined the EDF Innovation Lab in 2021 as the lead of the Mobility Program. Her work focuses on various topics such as EV charging infrastructure, smart charging, AV, and micro-mobility. She also supports EDF business units to accelerate the deployment of new products and services in mobility. Before this role, Sena held various positions in Turkey and the US as a researcher and consultant, particularly in sustainable energy and mobility. She holds an M.S. degree in Civil Engineering from UC Berkeley with a focus on smart cities and a B.S. in Civil and Industrial Engineering from Bogazici University.
About
Héloïse Pajot joined the EDF Innovation Lab in 2023 as the Digital Innovation Lead. Her work focuses on developing research activities and managing collaborations on various Digital topics such as Blockchain, Quantum Computing, Extended Reality and Web 3. She also contributes to the Open Innovation Team to accelerate the deployment of new digital products and services.
Prior to this position, Héloïse held various positions in Europe and in the US - first as a Consultant in Digital Transformation and then as a Diplomat for the Office for Science and Technology of the Embassy of France in the US. She holds a Masters Degree in Engineering and Innovation from Telecom SudParis.
About
Roma Notani joined the EDF Innovation Lab in March 2021 as Senior Energy Market Analyst. She is working on the technical and regulatory assessment of future electricity market models and market designs. Before EDF, Roma was working with Consumers Energy Company, a utility based out of the state of Michigan, where she worked on the company's Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) process. She holds an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from BITS, Pilani (India).
About
Jingyuan Wang joined EDF Innovation Lab in 2021 as an Electrical Engineer. Her work focuses on renewable energy integration, distributed energy resources, vehicle-grid integration, algorithms, and Python programming. Prior to this position, Jingyuan worked with a computer software company in Southern California. Jingyuan graduated from Michigan Technological University with a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering focused on distributed energy resources, demand response, optimal power flow, Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation, vehicle-grid integration, and computational performance improvement of large-scale power grids. Jingyuan is a California-Licensed Professional Engineer in Electrical Engineering.
About
Matthew Bishara joined the EDF Innovation Lab in 2020 to work on a project developing proof of concept Quantum Computing algorithms for energy industry use cases. His current work focuses on Quantum Computing and Machine Learning for optimization and forecasting. He also works on topics in electrical grids, future energy markets, and EV mobility. Before EDF, Matthew worked at a startup researching quantum algorithms. His graduate studies were in High Energy Physics at University of Rochester, and his undergraduate schooling was in Physics & Mathematics from University of Buffalo.
About
Adam Levey joined the EDF Innovation Lab team as an Energy Markets & Innovation Analyst focusing on how US initiatives, policies, innovations, market drivers, and trends are shaping the future of energy and decarbonization. Prior to his current position, Adam worked as a researcher and consultant on power systems and carbon capture utilization, respectively. He holds a B.S.E. degree in Chemical Engineering and Engineering Physics with a focus in Energy Policy from the University of Michigan.
About
Victoire de Mauduit joined the EDF Innovation Lab in 2022 as an Investment Analyst. Her work focuses on both the investment pipeline of EDF’s CVC fund, working on target sourcing and due diligences for the investment committee, and the development of thorough analysis of the trends, innovations and technological enablers brought forward by the US innovation ecosystem. Prior to her current position, Victoire worked in the strategy department of Saint-Gobain, where she focused on M&A deals, strategic business developments, and communication on the carbon neutrality roadmap. She holds a Bachelor’s in Mathematics from La Sorbonne and two Masters of Sciences, one in Management from ESCP Business School, and another in Engineering from CentraleSupélec with a focus on Energy.
About
Joshua Slawski joined the EDF Innovation Lab in 2020 as an open innovation analyst. His work focuses primarily on smart grids, the benchmarking of US utilities and startup scouting for EDF's regulated business in France. He also contributes to various R&D projects related to decarbonization. Before this role, Joshua managed energy projects for an industrial company, including the development of power plants, energy sourcing and regulatory watch of energy-climate regulation across European countries. He holds a Master of Sciences in energy economics from the IFP School and a Master in Life Sciences from AgroParis Tech.
