Prof. Christophe Ballif is Director of the Photovoltaics and Thin-Film Electronics Laboratory at EPFL. He founded and led the Sustainable Energy Center at CSEM until 2025, a Swiss research and technology transfer organization, where he now serves as Scientific Advisor.

His current research and industrialization interests include advanced materials and processes for photovoltaics, high-efficiency crystalline and tandem perovskite/silicon solar cells, advanced dectectors,  battery manufacturing and management, module technology and reliability, specialty PV products for building integration and mobility. His team

also work on digitalization of the energy sector and optimization of energy systems.

Prof. Ballif has contributed to numerous innovations, technology transfers, commercial products, and start-ups in photovoltaics and energy, collaborating with over 60 companies in Switzerland and worldwide. He has co-authored more than 600 scientific papers (h-index >100), holds numerous patents, and received several prestigious awards, including the Becquerel Prize (2016), the SNEC Global Solar Scientist Award (2024), and an honorary doctorate from the University of Ljubljana.

He is an elected member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences and regularly engages with the media and public audiences through interviews and conferences.

Prof. Christophe Ballif graduated from EPFL (Physics), where he also earned his PhD in 1998. He then worked at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, USA), before joining the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE, Germany) and later Empa (Switzerland). Since 2004, he has headed the Photovoltaics and Thin-Film Electronics Laboratory in Neuchâtel, which became part of EPFL in 2009. From 2013, he divided his time between EPFL and CSEM, where, as Vice President, he headed the Sustainable Energy Center until December 2025.
He is now fully dedicated to his activities at EPFL, while continuing to serve as a scientific advisor to CSEM.