Prof. Dr. Ad van Wijk (1956) is one of the most influential sustainable energy entrepreneurs and innovators in Europe. In 1984 he co-founded the sustainable energy knowledge company Ecofys, which eventually grew into Econcern. As chairman of the executive board he lead and developed Econcern into a company with 1200 people in more than 20 countries, sharing the mission ‘A sustainable energy supply for everyone’. Until its bankruptcy in 2009 as a result of the financial crisis. Econcern was the holding company of Ecofys, Ecostream, Evelop, OneCarbon and Ecoventures.
Econcern developed and marketed many new products and services in the field of sustainable energy. Examples include the 120 MW offshore wind farm Princess Amalia, several multi-MW solar farms in Spain, BioMCN (a bio-methanol plant in Delfzijl) which is the largest second generation biomass plant in the world, Sea Water Air Conditioning systems in the Caribbean(still under development), the Closed Greenhouse (an energy producing greenhouse) the console (an innovative and cheap support structure for solar systems), the Energy Mirror (visualizing energy consumption in buildings) and Quicc (an electric van).
Ad van Wijk achieved many important prizes for excellent entrepreneurship. Amongst others he was entrepreneur of the year in the Netherlands in 2007. In that same year he received the 2007 Amsterdam Private Equity Club Award. And in 2008 he was top-executive of the year in the Netherlands. He was member of several Supervisory Boards, amongst others Solland Solar Energy (A solar cell manufacturer) and BioMCN
Today, Ad van Wijk is a an independent sustainable energy entrepreneur, advisor and Professor in ‘Future Energy Systems’ at the Delft University of Technology. He is member of the Economic Development Board Rotterdam and of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities.
CV and PUBLICATIONS of Prof. dr. Ad van Wijk
Name: Wijk, A.J.M. van
Date of birth: 12 May 1956
Nationality: Dutch
EDUCATION
1974 High School (Atheneum B)
1982 Graduated in Physics at the Utrecht University
1990 Doctorate at the Utrecht University
Ph-D Thesis ‘Wind Energy and Electricity Production’
PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT
1984 – 2009 Chairman of the Board of Econcern N.V. I was one of the founders of this company in 1984, early 2009 employing over a 1000 people and offices in more than 20 countries and for several years among Europe fastest growing companies.
ECONCERN (www.econcern.com) is the holding company of Ecofys, Ecostream, Evelop, OneCarbon and Ecoventures. The mission of these European companies is “a sustainable energy supply for everyone”. ECONCERN specialises in delivering expert services, products and projects in all areas of sustainable energy and energy efficiency.
1982 – 1997 Research appointments, the last 3 years as an Associate Professor at the Department of Science, Technology and Society of the Utrecht University, till 31-12-1997. Within this department I was head of the research group ‘Energy and Environment’, in which about 25 people are working. The research topics are ‘Renewable Energy’, ‘Energy System Analysis’ and ‘Energy Economy and Climatic Change’.
2009-today Sustainable energy entrepreneur and advisor
2011-today Professor at the Technical University Delft, chair ‘Future Energy Systems’
2011-today Director Master of Business in Energy, postgraduate education program at Toptech, TU Delft
OTHER ACTIVITIES AND MEMBERSHIPS
1984 – 2001 Chairman of the Board of the Dutch Magazine ‘Renewable Energy’
1984 – 2000 Member of the “Bezinningsgroep Energiebeleid” (An independent Energy Policy Advisory Group) Author of several reports for this group
1990 – 1991 Member of the Organisation- and Scientific Committee of the IEA/OECD Conference “‘Energy Technology Policies for Sustainable Development; comparing long-term approaches”
1991 Member of the ad-hoc commission of the Dutch Energy Council (AER) about the future heat supply system
1992 Member of the ad-hoc commission of the Council for Environmental Health (CRMH) about the Electricity supply system (“Struktuurschema Elektriciteitsvoorziening”)
1991 – 1994 Member of the advisory commission pay back tariffs for Wind energy
1991 – 1995 Member of the research programme SYRENE (SYstem Integration of Renewable Energy and End Use technologies in the Netherlands)
1992 – 1994 Member of the Wind Energy Group of the ‘World Energy Council’
1993 – 1994 Member of the IEA Expert’s Group on Energy Technology Assessment and Methodologies for R&D Priority Setting & Evaluation
1994 – 1999 Chairman of the Board of the Dutch Wind Energy Bureau ‘Landelijk Bureau Windenergie’
1995 – 1996 Member of the Council for Housing (RaVo)
1996 Member of the work group ‘Sustainable Building’; a combined work group of the Council for Housing, the Council for the Environment and the Council for Physical Planning
1996 – 1997 Member strategy group PV, to analyse and to develop a strategy for the introduction of PV to developing countries
2000 – today Chairman of the Supervisory Board UCE (Utrecht Centre for Energy Research)
2002 “Entrepreneur of the Year” (prize awarded by the public)
2003 – today Member of the Board of EAF (Energy for All Foundation)
2004 – 2007 Member of the Supervisory Board Solland Solar Energy
2005 - 2009 Chairman of the Board of the Climate Change Group, The Netherlands
2006 – 2009 Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Silpro (Polysilicon factory)
2006 – 2009 Member of the Supervisory Board of SOL Holding AG
2006 – 2009 Member of the Supervisory Board of BMCH (Biomethanol Chemie Holding)
2007 “AP€C Award for Private Equity”
2007 ”Master Entrepreneur of the Year’
2008 CMS Business of the Year Award 2008
2008 Influencer of the Year
2009 “Topman” of the Year 2008
2010-today Member of the Economic Development Board Rotterdam
2007-today Member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities
2011-today Member of the Biorenewables Business Platform
2011-today Member of the Supervisory Board WES (Wind Energy Solutions B.V.)