We believe engineers should spend time engineering, not formatting data.
A spin-off of the Urban Energy Systems Laboratory at Empa, founded by a team of energy engineers and software developers who experienced the pain of manual energy planning firsthand.
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The Team
Andrew Bollinger, PhD
CEO & Co-founder
Co-founded Sympheny out of Empa, part of the ETH Domain. Brings years of experience in multi-energy system optimisation, at the intersection of energy research and practice.
Julien Marquant, PhD
CPTO & Co-founder
His research on multi-scale energy optimisation (Applied Energy, 2017) is part of the method the platform runs on. Former project manager at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), with over ten years in product development and energy modelling.
Christopher McLaren, PhD
Head of AI & Commercial Enablement
Mechanical engineering from ETH Zürich. More than ten years of experience in advanced engineering, AI strategy and governance.
Stephanie Engels, PhD
President of the Board
A board member at ewz, one of Switzerland's largest energy utilities, and Managing Director of Switzerland Innovation Park Zürich. Deep experience in strategy, sustainability and corporate development.
Youssef Sherif
Senior Software Engineer, Modelling & Optimisation
MSc in Energy Systems & Technology from ETH Zürich. Works across energy modelling and full-stack development of the Sympheny platform.
Charles Dabadie
Principal Backend Software Developer
MSc degrees in computer science, applied maths and aerospace engineering in France and the US. Former visiting researcher at UC Berkeley, with extensive international experience as a backend software engineer.
Nelly Ter-Borch
Customer Support Specialist
Energy transition specialist with over three years as a project manager at WSP. Experienced across solar, district heating, building physics, and power-to-gas. She supports customers as someone who has done the work herself.
Alexander Das
Member of the Board | Strategic Advisor
Heads strategy development at IWB (Industrielle Werke Basel), one of Switzerland's largest energy utilities. Brings experience in innovation, M&A and renewable energy to Sympheny's board.
Our Story
Sympheny grew out of energy optimisation research at the Urban Energy Systems Laboratory at Empa (part of the ETH Domain), beginning in 2014, and was founded as a commercial platform in April 2020. The core technologies in multi-energy systems optimisation were developed and validated through years of research at Empa and ETH Zürich before they ever reached a customer project.
That foundation isn't just history. Our continued partnership with Empa and ETH Zürich means the science behind the platform keeps advancing, in ways a standard software company can't replicate.
We realised that the transition to renewable energy was being bottlenecked by inefficient software. We built Sympheny to change that.
Energy optimisation research began at Empa, ETH Domain. Commercial platform launched April 2020.
Engineering firms, utilities, municipalities, and developers across Europe.
Technology and capacity combinations evaluated across all customer projects to date.
Funded by leading Swiss energy and European deep tech investors.
“Sympheny supports our strategic energy planning in an ideal way. The flexibility is extremely convincing and the sensitivity analysis provides security in finding solutions.”
Advisors
Strategic and technical advisors with decades of leadership in energy, technology, and research.
Ian Wachters
Business Advisor
25+ years in strategy, pricing, and B2B markets. Deep experience in energy, financial services and commercial leadership for technology companies.
Kurt Marlein
Product & Business Development Advisor
25 years in telecom and energy sectors. Led innovation and go-to-market strategy for digital solutions across electricity networks and district heating across Europe.
Anne Claire Pliska
Business & Technology Advisor
20+ years of leadership in strategy, digital transformation, and innovation. Trilingual. Deep expertise across business, technology and sustainability.
Steve Smith
Financial Advisor
Senior finance executive with deep experience in strategic finance, HR and business transformation. Strong track record of improving performance and supporting growth across international businesses.
Matthias Sulzer
R&D Advisor
Head of Engineering Sciences at Empa. Visiting faculty at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Former energy planner who founded and listed his own engineering company.
Esri Partner Network member · built on Gurobi and AWS · research with Empa & Berkeley Lab
Sympheny originated at Empa (ETH Domain) and runs on industrial-grade optimisation and secure cloud infrastructure. See all integrations