Christoph Schaffer

Christoph Schaffer is a Professor at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria's Research Center Hagenberg, specializing in Information & Communications Technology with a focus on energy systems. He leads projects addressing smart cities, energy data interoperability, and decentralized energy ecosystems. His research integrates artificial intelligence, IoT, and human-centered design to advance sustainable energy solutions.

He is the Principal Investigator (PI) for major initiatives including the EU-funded CELINE project (2024–2027) for localized energy innovation and ECLIPSE (2024–2026) targeting energy consumption reduction through open-source frameworks. He also collaborates on the EDDIE project (2023–2025) developing distributed energy data infrastructure.

His research interests span microgrid optimization, energy sharing platforms, and HCI strategies for energy literacy. He received the Best Paper Award in 2021 for pioneering work on microgrid energy sharing systems.

Key contributions include frameworks for urban microgrid data accessibility (2025), the Common European Energy Data Space blueprint (2024), and end-to-end P2P energy ecosystems (2024). His work bridges technical innovation with community empowerment in energy transition efforts.

Grants and projects include €multi-million EU Horizon and national funding, focusing on storage clusters, open-source energy tools, and cross-sectoral digital services.