TWI Innovation Network (TWIIN) Convention 2023

Simone Boekelaar is the Head of Horizon Scanning at Innovate UK, the UK Government’s innovation agency. With a background in economics and engineering, Simone leads a team that scans for the emerging technologies and trends that will be most impactful on UK industry in 2035 and beyond. From health diagnostics to entertainment, from space travel to manufacturing glass bottles, Simone and her team scour the academic and industrial worlds, to seek out the under-supported and overlooked technologies and trends likely to be critical to all our futures.

Neil is Innovation Lead for Advanced Materials, sitting within the Manufacturing and Materials Sector team at Innovate UK, part of UKRI. He works closely with Government and many other stakeholders to support materials innovation in business across a wide range of technology areas including composites, 2D materials, metamaterials, novel metal alloys and many others. Prior to joining Innovate UK, Neil spent over 30 years in technical leadership roles in the polymer and materials manufacturing industries. He has a PhD in Thermoplastic Composites Engineering and an MBA, is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (FIMMM) and a Chartered Engineer (CEng).

Sozon has over 20 years’ experience in application development for additive manufacturing (AM) including involvement in early UK and EU collaborative projects around materials, hardware and software. Since joining Weir in 2015 as Head of Additive Manufacturing solutions, he has been focusing on the adoption of AM in heavy industrial applications such as mining, and utilising the technology for improving processes, including casting.

Fabio received a degree in Material Science and Engineering, with a specialisation in Industrial Computed Tomography, from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy. He carried out his thesis at TEC Eurolab, which he joined as an Industrial Computed Tomography Technician in 2015. Since then, Fabio has gained expertise in various analytical techniques, such as mechanical testing systems, metrological system measurement, and artificial intelligence development. In his current role at TEC Eurolab he oversees various innovation projects and manages European founded projects.

Together with his role of Professor, Michael also leads the multidisciplinary Centre for Sustainable Engineering, which is aligned with the Net Zero Industrial Innovation Centre (NZIIC), and is a visiting Professor at VIT Chennai in India. He holds a BEng degree in electronic and electrical engineering (1999, Sunderland) and a PhD degree in real-time robot control (2003, Sunderland). Michael’s research interests include applied control engineering, and systems informatics applied to smart energy systems and robotics. He has authored over 180 reviewed publications and is principal or co-investigator on numerous, completed and ongoing, funded smart energy research projects. He is Associate Editor for the International Journal of Energies and Frontiers in Energy Efficiency, a full member of the IET, a member of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society Technical Committee on Factory Automation and a fellow of the HEA. In November 2022 Michael was listed as one of the ten most influential individuals working on net zero in the UK.

Michael is a serial entrepreneur and innovator who is dedicated to finding technological and commercial solutions to tackling climate change. He has founded and co-founded a number of cleantech companies, including CMR Fuel Cells plc which was floated on AIM at a valuation of £50m in 2005. Michael took over as CEO of Cambridge Carbon Capture in 2011, and since then has secured £5.5m in Government grants and contracts. His mission is to prove that Carbon Capture, with its CO2LOC processes, can be profitable, enabling the ‘profit motive’ to drive the rapid take up of the technology and maximise its impact on reducing CO₂ emissions that are driving climate change. Michael is also an active lobbyist on industrial and climate change policy and the ‘design’ of money. He holds a MA in Industrial Design from De Montford University and a BSc in Design from Loughborough University.

Julian works for ARU’s Research and Innovation Development Office where he creates and manages partnerships between the University and public, private and third sector organisations in the fields of business and law, including consultancy services, knowledge transfer, contract research and other collaborative projects. Before joining ARU, Julian worked extensively in the third sector, working for the National Day Nurseries Association, YMCA Thames Gateway, and Victim Support, in the field of business development.

Alongside her role as an Associate Professor in Sustainable Enterprise, Minna is also Programme Director for the ‘Culture in an Increasingly Technologically Driven Society’ programme, funded by Strategic Research, Academy of Finland. Her work has focused on circular economy business models and the role of consumption in the transformation to a more climate-resilient society. Minna is working with companies and local areas in the UK and abroad to encourage change toward a circular and sustainable economy, and she also works with policymakers within the Finnish government and European parliament to promote knowledge-based politics and societal change.

As well as his role of Director, Peter is also the lead for the Advanced Materials and Digitalisation Innovation Centre (AMDIC) on behalf of MMU, who is TWI’s partner in AMDIC. Peter’s main interest is in the development and application of thin functional films, for example, oxidation resistant coatings for nuclear fuel rods, photocatalytic coatings for environmental pollution abatement, antimicrobial coatings for improved hygiene, catalyst layers for hydrogen fuel cells and corrosion resistant coatings for bipolar plates. Many of his projects are industrially supported and he has long experience of working with industrial partners. In addition, colleagues at AMDIC specialise in additive manufacturing, fuel cells and electrolysers, low carbon fuels, smart connectivity, digital twins, big data, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things.

Sadik is currently the technical lead and support for several collaborative projects which involve industrial and academic partners in the area of composite materials. In 2016 he was awarded an Elphinstone scholarship from the University of Aberdeen to study a PhD in the reliability and optimisation of composite materials. In 2018, he was recognised as a Chartered Engineer, Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (CEng MIMechE) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Earlier, Sadik completed an MSc degree at the University of South Wales.

Sophie joined Far-UK in 2013 as a Technical Programme Manager, and managed research projects part-funded by the UK and the European Commission She then became a Technical Manager in 2018, developing the company roadmap and working on setting up new projects. Sophie obtained her MSc on Advanced Materials in 2002 at Cranfield University and her PhD on Bio-medical Composites in 2007 at the University of Nottingham, and through her research and work experience, has a broad knowledge of polymer composite materials. Sophie is also a Committee Member of the Composites Leadership Team, Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3), the East Midlands Materials Society (local society affiliated to IOM3), the Vehicular Composites Group of the Composites Leadership Forum and the UK & Ireland Chapter of SAMPE.