Projects 2007

The year started with the EPSRC "Software Control of Matter" ideas Factory

Then, in July 2007, I was appointed Director of Innovation Platforms for the Technology Strategy Board.

My involvement with the Royal Society of Chemistry continues as the Chair of the Small Companies Steering Group.

Projects 2006

In October 2006, I became part time CEO of MaterialsUK. Materials World has produced a bio of me in this role - Mad About Materials

I am now learning my trade as a blogger, charting the work I do for Materials UK

Projects 2005

During 2005 I was the co-chair of the Science and Technology Working Group of the Materials Innovation and Growth Team. This led to me being involved in a number of initiatives outside my comfort zone - the most interesting being to give a presentation on the link between design and materials selection at the first Materialise, a meeting run jointly by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and the Royal College of Art. That talk was written up as an article in Materials World - The Good, the Bad and the Mundane.

Projects 2004

In early 2004, just before I left ICI, a division of National Starch decided it wanted to engage its sales and marketing groups more in innovation. I therefore found myself holding an 8 hours seminar in the Swiss Alps on the need to understand what customers actually want, how to translate that into a technical specification, and the need to continually check that the planned product would make it to the market at the right price - at the right launch event.

From 2002 until 2005, I was the chairman of the Research, Development and Technology Transfer Steering Group of the Crystal Faraday Partnership. This had been set up in October 2001 to address the issue of sustainable chemistry. In 2004 we worked with the Institute for Manufacturing to develop a Technology Roadmap for the area. This took most of the year but resulted in a document which was widely adopted by the UK chemistry community.

Projects 2002

In late 2002, ICI took part in the "Hair Affair", and event at the Royal Institution sponsored by L'Oreal and ICI. It consisted of a series of lectures and workshops for the children between the ages of 12 and 16. The ICI team demonstrated the use of polymers in hair sprays, gels and mousses. You want a demanding audience, but one that engages fully in the discussion? This is the sort of event you need to hold!!