Venture Leaders China – Meet Noris Gallandat of GRZ Technologies
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In mid-September, ten high-tech Swiss entrepreneurs composing the Swiss National Startup Team will be heading for China. The team will embark on an exclusive 10-day roadshow for business and investor meetings, including the WEF Annual Meeting of New Champions in Tianjin. Among them is Noris Gallandat, the co-founder of GRZ Technologies, a startup developing hydrogen-related technologies for renewable energy.
Who are you and what is GRZ Technologies?GRZ Technologies Ltd is a company active in the field of renewable energy storage. Two products were released in 2017: a Hydrogen Compressor (HyCo) and an Advanced Gas Analysing System (AGAS). Both products are laboratory equipment for the scientific community as well as for quality control in industry. The company is also active in the development and realization of hydrogen-based energy storage systems and is currently working on building such a pilot plant.
My name is Noris Gallandat and I received a BSc in mechanical engineering from ETHZ in 2012. After a stay at the Yale University and the Politecnico di Milano, I pursued graduate school as a Fulbright Scholar in the mechanical engineering department of the Georgia Institute of Technology (US), where I obtained a MSc and PhD in 2015. My research focused on analytical, numerical and experimental heat transfer. In August 2016, I took on a position as a postdoctoral fellow at EPFLin Sion, working on the demonstration of solar energy to synthetic fuels conversion. In March 2017, I co-founded GRZ Technologies, together with Claudio Ruch and Prof. Andreas Züttel.
What attracted you to China as a business development destination?
China is undoubtedly one of the biggest and fastest-growing markets for emerging technologies. GRZ Technologies is now ready to take the next step and target the Chinese market. Our laboratory products line in particular has great potential in China, where several new research centres open every year. Furthermore, our experience so far with the Chinese market is its extremely fast response time, allowing us to reduce the sales cycle – which in the West is typically quite long for laboratory products. GRZ Technologies expects China to become one of the major export markets for its laboratory products in the upcoming years.
What do you hope to achieve from the trip? What are your expectations?
GRZ Technologies has just recently signed a representation agreement with a Chinese distributor for its laboratory devices business. Further, numerous suppliers of raw materials and components are located in China. Before these ties to China are intensified, the Venture Leaders China program will enable us to learn quickly and efficiently what are the key parameters to consider when doing business in China. Further, strategic partnerships for bigger projects in the field of energy storage will be sought.
Why is Venture Leaders China beneficial for your startup?
Venture Leaders China is a unique opportunity to meet key potential partners and investors within a short period of time. It will hopefully facilitate our market entry in China, enable us to avoid rookie mistakes and set the path for a successful market expansion in Asia.
What is pushing you towards international expansion?
GRZ Technologies was founded as a company oriented towards international markets, as the markets for laboratory products and renewable energy storage are global by definition. China is only one of several international markets we are targeting, alongside Brazil, Germany and the USA.
What do you foresee as the largest hurdles towards expansion into the Chinese market?
One of the current major issues is certainly related to IP protection and the risk of competition upon market entry. Furthermore, the cultural barrier should not be underestimated.
What makes you most nervous or excited about the trip?
I have been in touch with many Chinese suppliers and customers, and heard countless stories of the fast development that China has undergone. However, I have personally never had the opportunity to go to China, so I am particularly excited about this opportunity. It will also be a great chance to meet in person with people that I have been interacting with over years and through hundreds of emails.
Follow the Venture Leaders China roadshow on Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #vleadersChina.
Venture Leaders China is co-organized by Venturelab and swissnex China, and supported by digitalswitzerland, Canton de Vaud, Canton of Zurich, EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich and Gebert Rüf Stiftung.