Biography Jens Andresen
I was born and raised in Schleswig, in the most northern Federal German state of the same name. This part of Germany belonged to Denmark until the War of 1864. My family was of Danish descent and member of the Danish minority; thus, I learned both German and Danish culture and language from early childhood. I moved to live in Denmark at the age of 15, where I attended college and in 1981, I graduated from the Danish Technical University with a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering. I was also granted Danish citizenship in 1981.
I started my professional carrier developing mobile radiotelephones for Shipmate, first for ship-born communication and then land-based when I moved to Dancall. Some of the units I designed for the Danish Government have been decommissioned as late as 2009.
In 1987 I was headhunted for the position of Manager for Communication Products at Raytheon Marine Sales & Service Company.
During my 6 years at Raytheon, three of which I lived in the UK, I attended the meetings of the IMO subcommittee on Radio Communication as an expert in radio communication. Most of the work of the IMO subcommittee during this period was dedicated to write the regulations for the implementation of a new distress and safety system for ships at sea, called GMDSS. During this time, due to personal relations with several delegations, I was invited to sit as a personal member on the ETSI committee responsible for writing the Regulations for Safety Radio communication systems for the European countries. During this time the committee finalized several Regulations pertaining to the GMDSS system.
Since the actual product development was done by a Japanese partner, JRC, I spent several weeks each year in Japan, making sure that the new requirements and regulations were included in the latest development of radio equipment.
I went back to Denmark in 1993, to a more hands-on position as a Project Leader in a small company, where I developed measuring and control systems.
In 1998 I joined Grundfos as Project Manager for control systems for Wastewater Pumps. Since May 2007 I became the Project manager on a Project to incorporate the control system and sensors directly into Wastewater pumps themselves.
In 2011 I moved to Develco A/S, where I got back to my roots to develop electronic devices for many clients, including Grundfos and Danfoss. Most of these devices contained a communication chip of one kind or another, using BLE, LoRa, Z-Wave, ZigBee, WiFi etc.
During the last 20 odd years I have become more involved in the running of The Danish Society of Engineers, called IDA. At first, I became a member of the local Group, where I served as chairman for 10 years now. Later I became a member of the Private Sector Union council (VGA) where I served as chairman for 5 years and a total of 14 years on the council. 2010 VGA was transformed into IDA-Privat and represents all privately employed Engineers the number is more than 70.000. I now serve as a Councilmember of IDA-Privat again, after falling for the 6-year rule which applies to all council memberships in IDA. I also engaged myself in the Political System of IDA where I held a position in the Council of Representatives for 15 years.
At present I am the local chairman of IDA-Silkeborg, and the regional chairman of IDA Vestjylland.
When not working or attending committee meetings, I enjoy my home in the beautiful countryside close to Silkeborg. I have hills and lakes and a lot of forest just on my doorstep. My hobbies, apart from keeping the house and garden in order, are photography and amateur radio, where I hold a category A license, call sign OZ1DNY.