Keynote Speakers
Sebastião Lauro Nau
WEG, Brazil
Technologies of High Efficiency Electric Motors
Sebastião Lauro Nau holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil, as well as Master's and Doctoral degrees in Electrical Engineering from the same institution.
He joined WEG in 1985 in the Research, Development and Innovation area and has held several positions as researcher and manager.
He is currently responsible for Technological Innovation Management, including knowledge management, intellectual property and open innovation activities.
Panagiotis Kakosimos
ABB Corporate Research, Sweden
Digitalization of Electric Powertrains for Enhanced Reliability and Condition Monitoring
Panagiotis Kakosimos received the B.Eng. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2009, and the Ph.D. degree from the National Technical University of Athens in 2013.
He held research appointments as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Manchester and as an Assistant Research Scientist at Texas A&M University at Qatar before joining ABB Corporate Research in Sweden, where he is currently an R&D Senior Principal Scientist.
His work focuses on the digitalization of electrical powertrains, combining advanced control, embedded systems, thermal modeling, condition monitoring, and data-driven analytics for industrial applications. He has led cross-functional research and technology-development activities connecting electric machines and drives with machine learning, digital twins, and domain knowledge. His current interests include physics-aware AI, predictive maintenance, condition monitoring, and scalable digital solutions for next-generation reliable powertrain systems.
Nuno Freire
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Portugal
Generator Control for Direct-Drive Wind Turbines
Nuno M. A. Freire was born in Coimbra, Portugal in 1987. He received the MSc and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, in 2010 and 2014.
From 2013 to 2022, he was with Siemens Wind Power and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy in Denmark. Since 2023, he has been with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy in Portugal, being manager of generator control technology and software.
His research interests include control and condition monitoring of electric drives applied to wind energy conversion systems.