Behind every project there is a team of people who work together for a common purpose. Knowing a project does not only mean understanding the results achieved or the activities carried out, but also knowing who is behind these activities, what motivates them and what were the life paths, choices and personal goals that led them to be part of a research team today. For this reason we want to introduce you today one of the frESCO partners, Georgios Papadopoulos from Suite5, through an interview dedicated to him.

Would you briefly describe yourself and your career?

My name is Georgios Papadopoulos, a Computer Engineer holding an engineer’s degree  from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and a Master of Business Administration (MBA). With over 15 years’ experience in domains related with ICT and Business Strategy, I have grown skills in both research and industry focused areas, allowing me to deal with Data Science and Analytics, Big Data Management, Technical and Semantic Interoperability, as well as IT Consulting in the private and public sector. During the last two years, as a member of Suite5, I have obtained significant knowledge and expertise in the area of Smart Energy Systems, Demand Side Management, Microgrid and Electrical Network Operation, Energy and Flexibility Markets, through my active involvement in a variety of Research and Innovation Actions under the H2020 programme and more specifically, the H2020-MERLON, H2020-INSULAE, H2020-PANTERA, H2020-SPARCS and H2020-Twinergy projects. Finally, an active member of the BRIDGE Working Group on Smart Energy Systems Data Management and a co-author of publications presented in international conferences focusing on the intersection between ICT and Smart Energy Systems.

What does Suite5 organization mainly deal with outside the frESCO project?

Suite5 Data Intelligence Solutions Limited (Suite5, Cyprus) is an Information Technology Solutions and Services SME whose mission is to deliver innovative data-driven intelligence solutions through state-of-the art technologies, required for any organization to be placed at the forefront of competition through greater efficiency. By combining strong technology know-how and hands-on approach in managing and implementing projects commissioned by the public and the private sector, Suite5 provides cutting edge solutions and practical support for its clients in order to leverage business and crowd intelligence into their everyday operations.

Our activities span over a wide spectrum of innovative areas, including Big Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Data Management, Semantics & Data Interoperability, Distributed Ledger Technologies and Business Software Integration. Suite5 is a highly innovative data intelligence technology provider, established to transform the latent and unexplored data assets into actionable insights for products and services to drive performance and efficiency across the value chain, to enable better decisions and to bring real value to customers and society.

Which is your role in frESCO?

Suite5 coordinates the project’s developments on big data collection, management and analytics technologies. S5 also leads the activities for the development of a Blockchain-enabled Smart Contract Monitoring Module. Finally, as an expert in data protection and cybersecurity, S5 oversees the customer data handling across the project and will define the security protocol for the protection of frESCO system and information.

Could you explain what is meant by “big data” and what is the current importance of this issue?

Big data is a term that describes the large volume of data – both structured and unstructured – that engulfs a business on a day-to-day basis. The amount of data is not the important factor though, but rather what matters, is the way that organizations utilize the data. Big data can be analysed for insights that lead to better decisions and strategic business moves.

How do you think frESCO will represent a turning point for the customer’s trust in “data handling”?

The value of data and data analytics is continuously becoming apparent for all stakeholders in the energy value chain. Though there are still concerns regarding the protection of data, both of sensitive and confidential nature and here is where frESCO is expected to provide appropriate mechanisms, so that trust concerns are removed. In this sense, in frESCO we will be working towards allowing data providers/ owners to always remain in control of their data asset and decide who has access to their data, define the level of anonymization over sensitive data, thus creating secure and trusted data management and exchange channels that safeguard proprietary, business-critical and sensitive data and intelligence.

What are the main challenges you face in this project and how do you overcome these challenge?

Each stakeholder in the energy domain has different roles and responsibilities in managing, storing, processing, protecting, owning, and using data. Improved accessibility and sharing of data in higher granularity comprise key factors towards optimizing the “end-to-end” management of the electricity networks and introducing innovative energy services to the involved stakeholders.

In frESCO one of the main challenges is data heterogeneity, that reflects to the need to collect data from different and heterogeneous data sources. To this end we introduce a reference big data architecture that leverages data, primary or secondarily related to the building and energy domain, coming from diverse sources (data APIs, historical data, statistics, sensor / IoT data, weather data, energy market data and various other open data sources) offering ESCOs and Aggregators via the Big Data Platform advanced services for Data Collection, Curation and Mapping being also equipped with standards-based interfaces to legacy systems of the electricity value chain actors. Hand in hand, comes the challenge of Interoperability and to this end the Big Data Platform will comprise the main reference point introducing a standards-based Common Information Model, that facilitates semantic interoperability between the different data we will need to handle and serves as the “common language” that all stakeholders using the platform, either for uploading data or for finding and using data, understand and communicate upon.

What do you enjoy the most about working in an international Project Consortium such as frESCO?

Being a member of the frESCO consortium is both a privilege and a challenge. Experts from several European countries working together to achieve common goals, to be demonstrated in 4 EU pilot countries, taking into consideration diverse realities of energy markets, regulations, and social and economic conditions. Participating and positively contributing to the challenge analysis, the in-detail definition of possible solutions and their successful implementation to meet the requirements of the main project stakeholders, are the key factors that turn the contribution of the Suite5 company into an enjoyable experience.