ABB, a leading global technology company in power and automation, has appointed Guido Jouret, a pioneer of the Internet of Things, as its chief digital officer.

In his new role, Jouret will lead the next level of development and deployment of ABB’s digital solutions for customers globally and across all businesses, said a statement from the company.

He will be reporting to the company’s CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer, effective October 1, it said.

Jouret is a citizen of both the US and Belgium, with long experience in Silicon Valley. He served for 20 years at Cisco after obtaining a PhD in Computer Science. His most recent role at Cisco was as general manager of the Internet of Things division, which aims to connect billions of devices to the internet across a wide range of industries, it added.

Prior to that, he was chief technology officer and general manager of Cisco’s Emerging Technologies Group, a unit responsible for incubating new businesses. Under his leadership, the team created nine new start-ups, including those, which became Cisco’s TelePresence and Internet of Things groups.

Additionally, he worked for Cisco as IT director for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region and in the Internet Business Solutions Group.

He left Cisco in 2014 to join Envision Energy, where he led the software products business, including a platform for the emerging energy internet. Jouret has been chief technical officer at Nokia Technologies since April 2015, and recently drove a major acquisition in the digital health sector.

Jouret will work from ABB’s Silicon Valley and Zurich offices, said a statement.

Speaking on the new appointment, Spiesshofer said: “Jouret is a proven leader in the digital revolution, with a solid track record in creating and growing new businesses as well as in the digital transformation of mature businesses.”

“His global digitalisation experience spans across companies in utilities, industry and transport and infrastructure,” he said.

“With his customer and innovation focus, and his extensive international technology business experience, he is the ideal person to take the software-led differentiation of our offerings to the next level and to cement our company’s pioneering technology leadership, building on our more than 40 years’ history in embedded, control and applications software and our strong position in the Internet of Things, services and people,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service