José Achache

José Achache (right) in 2007.

José Achache is the founder and CEO of ALTYN, a Swiss Space company involved in the design and development of satellite projects, and providing advisory on the commercial utilization of space infrastructure as well as on investments in Space companies.

After 15 years of research in Geophysics, and 15 years of executive management in French and international R&D and space agencies (BRGM, CNES, ESA, GEO), José Achache is now involved in the development of space systems as well as applications and services relying on satellites.

He is Managing Director of AP-Swiss, a joint programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Swiss Space Office, which fosters the development of commercial applications and services powered by satellites.

José Achache is Director or Advisor of several Space companies in Switzerland and Italy: Chairman of the Board of Media Lario Srl, a world leader in advanced optical components and systems for space missions; Chairman of the Board of Geosatis SA, a company providing a GPS-based ankle bracelet for tracking and monitoring offenders; Chairman of the Board of Astrocast SA, a company building a constellation of nano-satellites to provide global M2M/IoT communication; Advisor of Gamaya SA, a company providing actionable information to farmers using remote-sensing from drones and satellites and AI; Advisor of Arcatrust SA, a cyber security company providing a Secure Execution Environment platform for blockchain technology; Advisor of Dotphoton SA, a software company providing quantum-based raw image compression.

José Achache is also co-founder and Director of Groupe Plani, a Paris-based company providing end-to-end equipment and services for video and TV production, and Director of ILTOO Pharma, a biotech company developing new treatments for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

A graduate of Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, he holds a PhD in Geophysics from Université Pierre et Marie Curie, a PhD in Physical Sciences from Université Denis Diderot and was Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University.

He has been professor at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, director of the French Geological Survey's research division,^[1] the deputy director general of the French space agency and director of Earth observation at the European Space Agency. He was the Secretariat Director of Global Earth Observation System of Systems from 2005 to 2012. He was the first to serve in the position, having taken the post in 2005, when the Group on Earth Observations was established in Geneva.

He is the Architect of the Sentinel series of satellites of the Copernicus/GMES programme of the European Union and an early advocate of its free and open data policy. He is the author of Les Sentinelles de la Terre, an essay on space policy and the applications of space infrastructures. He has published numerous scientific papers as well as editorial, interviews and conferences for wider audiences on space and environmental Issues.^[2]

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