Meet the Business Fellow Network
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May 2021 Meet the Business Fellow Network
2 Meet the Business Fellow Network Meet the Business Fellow Network 3
The ‘Business Fellow Network for Connected
Vicki Ayton
Places’ is a network of experts joint funded by
University of Chester
the Connected Places Catapult and participating
academic institutions with strong track records in
Connected Places Catapult’s domain areas.
Vicki Ayton is a Business Development Manager within the Faculty of Science and
The aim is to bring university outputs closer Engineering at the University of Chester. She supports two research areas, the Centre
to commercialisation and enable academics for Research into Environmental Science and Technology (a £2.1 million ERDF business
innovation programme) and the Department of Maths and Physical Sciences.
to increase their industry engagement,
Her experience spans public, private and not for profit sectors, as well as further and
entrepreneurship and research impact as well higher education. Vicki has supported and leads on a number of industry and academic
collaborative research projects in relation to environmental science, and has experience
as creating commercial and CR&D opportunities in securing research and innovation funding.
between the Connected Places Catapult, During the last 3 years whilst working at the University of Chester, Vicki has successfully
universities and industry. led on the development and delivery of a number of academic and business forums,
knowledge transfer opportunities and events, attracting both SME’s and larger
organisations to collaborate with the University. This includes the development of the
Fellows have joined from 15 academic institutes Smart Rural event series which highlights research and innovation opportunities for
including the Universities of Lancaster, Leeds, rurally focussed economic, societal, and environmental challenges. Themes include;
digital, transport, construction, water, energy and skills. Responding to labour market
Nottingham, Bristol, Southampton, Brunel Uni demand, the levelling up agenda and encouraging inclusivity, she is also involved in the
London, UCL, Brighton, Coventry, Birmingham, development of an MSc in Data Science in partnership with local private and public
sector employers, funded by the Institute of Coding, and a Sustainability Innovation Hub
Strathclyde, Chester, Kent; and Cranfield and in Shropshire with the private sector, both of which take a collaborative approach with
Newcastle Universities. the University.
Further to the above, other areas of research Vicki supports includes, areas relating to
sustainability including industrial decarbonisation, net zero places, circular economy,
environmental monitoring, LCA, and the built environment.
“Copyright © 2021 Connected Places Catapult. Permission granted to reproduce for personal and
educational use only. Commercial copying, hiring, or lending is prohibited.
Rural Environmental Collaboration
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Simon Barnes Marcelo Blumenfeld
University of Kent University of Birmingham
Simon is Funding and Partnership Development Manager at the University of Kent Marcelo is an Industrial Fellow at the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and
in Canterbury. Education, working with R&D projects on innovation introduction and management, and
the implementation of new technologies in future railway systems. He is also a member
His role is to facilitate and catalyse collaboration, both internally and with external of the Innovation Management Special Interest Group at the Institute of Engineering
partners, on significant challenges; freight and personal logistics, digitalisation, all in and Technology.
the context of climate change and sustainability.
He has worked on many research projects involving new methodologies for radical
He gained a post-graduate diploma in Sustainable Business from the University of change in complex urban systems, horizon scanning, and normative scenario building
Cambridge, chaired the Passenger Car Working Group of the Low Carbon Vehicle strategies. A former TED speaker, Marcelo holds an MSc in Transport Planning and a
PhD in Railway Systems Engineering. With a background in Industrial Design, he has
Partnership and the City of London Sustainability Forum.
since published various articles on the future of sustainable mobility and radically
Simon’s experience has largely been in supply chains across a wide number of sectors, innovative transport systems.
including grocery, forest products, recycling and automotive. Each of these sectors’
supply chains have their own characteristics and are at different stages of development,
sharing this experience can help address challenges.
Simon’s work is perhaps best summed up as ‘digital through to green’. He enjoys
establishing new collaborations and ventures across complex partnerships to ensure
the total aspect of the best of UK’s academic knowledge can combine with practical
industry and customer needs. The Connected Places Catapult Business Fellowship
will help him achieve this in a very practical way.
Technology Business Case Integration AVs Rail Technology
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Andrew Collins Phil Hart
University of Bristol Cranfield University
Andy is a lecturer and business development associate within the Quantum Technology Professor Phil Hart joined Cranfield as Director of Energy and Power on 20 August 2018.
Innovation Centre. He is involved in the education and development of scientifically Phil knows the University well having earned his MSc in marine technology and his PhD
leaning entrepreneurs seeking to establish their own deep tech companies through in subsea engineering from Cranfield. He has held a series of senior leadership roles
the QTEC programme at Bristol. Andy is responsible for building networks within the within the energy and power sector in the UK, Asia and North America as an engineering
quantum technology community for both the Bristol PhD centre for doctoral training director, chief technology officer, chief operating officer, SVP and president.
and for companies operating within the Innovation centre and as part of the larger UK
Working extensively in the offshore sector in renewables and in oil and gas, Phil has built
Quantum Technology Strategy Programme. The Innovation Centre is a local government
a diverse portfolio of international expertise in energy and power systems and marine/
backed accelerator seeking to help deep tech companies grow both their businesses
subsea engineering, developing intellectual property and technologies and services from
and work out where emergent and disruptive technologies sit in supply chains. Adjacent
fundamental research through to concept and then full commercialisation. Throughout
to this Andy has been a mentor on the I.E.C.T Summer School, Ideas to Innovation in
his career, Phil has worked with governments and industry, undertaking developments
Cranfield and the Bristol New Enterprise Competition. Andy is also a visiting professor
with, among others, the United States Departments of Energy and Defence, Shell,
at the Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan as part of the WISE international
BP, Huawei and Petrobras. With these partners, Phil has created novel development
sustainability project.
and commercialisation processes, ensuring that services and technologies withstand
He gained his PhD in bio-inorganic nanomaterials chemistry at the University of competitive threats, hold value and gain market share. In doing so, he has become
Bristol in 2004. Andy has previously the Industrial Research Fellow for the Bristol especially skilled in identifying energy market needs for new technologies and services,
Centre for Functional Nanomaterials where he acted as an interface between the BCFN understanding societal and industry sector dynamics, establishing product appeal and
and their industrial partners. Andy was also the founder of SurfaceRF, a company designing company-wide strategies to exploit these opportunities.
specialising in tamper-proof enclosures and author of the “Nanotechnology Cookbook”
Phil’s current research interests focus in on the nexus of energy technology, services and
published by Elsevier.
business/society, and in the wide ranging technologies and approaches to drive the net
zero transition at a local through to global level.
Network building Collaboration Quantum Technology Energy Systems Net Zero Technologies Energy Transition
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Elizabeth Mullis Ben Nichols
Lancaster University University of Nottingham
Elizabeth is an experienced Business Development professional with a history of working Ben works in the Corporate Partnerships Team within Research and Innovation at the
at the interface of industrial and academic collaboration in sustainability, engineering, University of Nottingham. He coordinates the transport sector within the team which
materials science, the transport sector, energy and other related areas. She is the business includes Automotive, Rail and Intelligent Mobility.
partnerships and engagement manager for Physical Sciences in the Faculty of Science and
Technology at Lancaster University. She has been part of the business fellow network since The Corporate Partnership team works in conjunction with academic schools and other
the first wave and was able to co create and participate in a wide variety of collaborative professional services teams to develop and manage long-term strategic relationships
work and funding applications. Projects were and continue to be wide ranging covering with key corporate businesses in order to enhance the relevance and impact of the
areas such as The Lancashire Hydrogen Hub, Aviation Security, Scheduling of rail University’s research and training activities, driving increased industrial income and
maintenance programmes and Last mile logistics. On a more strategic level, understanding further the University’s external reputation.
the key upcoming challenges through the catapult enabled the university to position itself
at the forefront of cutting edge research and influence the direction of future university Ben helps to link existing and new corporate partners to functions across the University
research centres. including student recruitment, CPD services, and research capabilities.
Two projects that are underway and include Connected Places Catapult as partners are The University of Nottingham research portfolio in the Transport area includes
Connected Cumbria and a newly awarded project at Lancaster a ‘Future Places Centre’. propulsion and power systems, electrification, light weighting and advanced
The Future Places Centre wwill become a world-leading research hub examining how the manufacturing, intelligent vehicles and infrastructure and seamless mobility of
computing technology that increasingly surrounds us can shape the places where we live
people and goods.
and enable us to live healthier lives.
The second, Connected Cumbria, was developed in collaboration with her buddy from In his role, Ben helps to coordinate collaborative research bids including Innovate
the previous programme. It is founded on the three pillars of connectivity, social, physical, UK, APC and other funding sources. He is also helping with the coordination of the
and digital. Due to Covid-19, the changes in behaviour and patterns of working with a University’s response to the ISCF including the Future Mobility strand and the Driving
shift to home working, more reliance on digital connectivity and a reduction in all modes the Electrification Revolution proposal.
of physical mobility have become apparent and will continue for some time to come.
Understanding how these changes will impact SMEs both now and, in the future, will Ben’s role is vital to these research bids as he helps link the different research groups
enhance SME recovery. and faculties together which is necessary in multidisciplinary proposals. Ben’s team
is also involved in bringing together large-scale funding bids including the Centre for
Elizabeth also looks at wider cross faculty collaborations, for example in sustainable Doctoral Training calls, the EPSRC Prosperity Partnership calls and the Strength in
and connected transport, energy, and materials. Elizabeth was previously a Business
Places fund.
Development Manager at Brunel University London, and before that, worked as a Knowledge
Transfer Manager at Environmental Sustainability Knowledge Transfer Network.
Logistics Decarbonisation Hydrogen Transport Mobility Cities
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Hitesh Patel Jack Stilgoe
Brunel University London UCL
Hitesh Patel’s role includes overseeing the Business Development team at Brunel Dr Jack Stilgoe is an associate professor in science and technology policy at University
University London. He has specific responsibility for looking after and supporting College London where he researches the governance of emerging technologies. He is
activities in the area of Advanced Manufacturing and Automotive.. principal investigator of the ESRC Driverless Futures project from 2019-2021. This project
is looking to anticipate the politics of self-driving cars.
Hitesh has worked in a commercial (Redland Ltd and David Ball Ltd), public sector
(EPSRC, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)) and academic environment (Queen He worked with EPSRC and ESRC to develop a framework for responsible innovation,
Mary College, Royal Holloway College, Open University, Anglia Ruskin University, Brunel which is now being used by the Research Councils. Among other publications, he is
University London), through which he has acquired experience of managing research the author of ‘Who’s Driving Innovation?’ (2020, Palgrave) and ‘Experiment Earth:
and innovation activities. Responsible innovation in geoengineering’ (2015, Routledge). He previously worked in
science and technology policy at the Royal Society and the think tank Demos. He is a
While at EPSRC he was seconded to DTI and looked after the then SMART awards and
fellow of the Turing Institute and a Trustee of Involve, a public participation think tank.
the Faraday Centres. At EPSRC, Hitesh has managed major activities including a £12M
EPSRC Polymer’s grants portfolio and a £2M Partnership in Plastics Initiative at the
then DTI.
At The Open University he developed the strategy and managed £870k HEIF funding. He
has been involved in large scale research and innovation activities such as a successful
£8M Smart Cities HEFCE Catalyst bid, £1M bid to the Leverhulme Doctoral Scheme and a
£1.3M HEFCE Police Knowledge Fund bid.
At his last University, work involved developing a partnership to secure a £5.8M Additive
Manufacturing centre and establishing a regional engagement strategy which included
looking at a feasibility study to setup an Open University Innovation Centre. More
recently at Brunel University he was involved closely in two H2020 bids and several
other bids, including the British Council and Innovate UK GCRF Impact call.
On a regional level he has engaged with the Local Enterprise Partnerships, the Catapults
and promoted the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). To broaden his
perspective of technology transfer activities he visited three Universities in Canada.
Research Transport Engagement Technology Transport Innovation
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Clinton Styles Erik Thomasson
University of Southampton University of Leeds
Professorial Enterprise Fellow, Deputy Head of School Enterprise, Managing Erik is a Research & Innovation Development Manager at the University of Leeds –
Director of the Future Towns Innovation Hub interfacing with external partners and stakeholders to co-design new research and
innovation and to maximise the impact achieved through its application. He has a PhD
After graduating with a degree in Materials Science, Clint went on to study a PhD in
in Logistics and a Masters in Transport Planning and Engineering (from Leeds Institute
Metal Matrix Composites followed by a research fellowship developing testing standards
for Transport Studies, where he is now based). His primary focus is transport, though
for hip implants at the University of Southampton. A number of years in industry
as part of a wider Research and Innovation Service, Erik works across campus on a
then followed working in the Advanced Metals Section at QinetiQ and the Structural
range of interdisciplinary projects and programmes - leveraging academics from the
Integrity Group at TWI. Whilst at TWI Clint developed a keen interest in the more
internationally recognised ITS (the largest transport research institute in the UK) and
business, commercial and customer side of engineering and technology. He returned to
from other disciplines, in a systematic approach to Connected Places.
Southampton in 2008 and has gone onto use his deep understanding of ‘the external big
picture landscape’, coupled with his technical background, industrial experience and Erik joined the Business Fellows Network in 2019, but has been engaged with the
business skills to carve out a unique role within the Faculty to win, lead and deliver large Catapult programme since 2012. He was central to the development of the CPC “Deep
strategic research & innovation investments. Academic Alliance” with the University of Leeds, as well as being instrumental in
arrangements for the CPC setting up a regional office in the University’s innovation
He brings together industry & business, with engineering & academia at a strategic level,
centre, “Nexus”.
to facilitate research translation and knowledge exchange into socio-economic impact
(his real passion). In the last few years Clint has also worked with Low & Middle Income Before returning to academia in 2012, Erik gained 20 years’ experience in Local
Countries looking to tackle antimicrobial resistance, developing a personal respirator Government research. He set up initiatives such as West Yorkshire Data Observatory and
for healthcare workers and with The Alex Lewis Trust/Wild Wheelchairs supporting an Bradford Community Statistics Project and remains committed to develop solutions to
assistive device workshop in Ethiopia. challenges facing places and people. To this end, he helped drive the development of the
University of Leeds city-simulation facility “Virtuocity” - combining leading academics
with using some of the best immersive simulators in the world - working with the CPC to
provide virtual prototyping environments and digital twins to enable faster, cheaper and
safer innovation.
Technology Strategic Research & Innovation Socio-economic Impact Collaboration Co-Design Virtuocity
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Kevin Vincent Jennifer Wells
Coventry University University of Brighton
Director - Centre for Connected and Autonomous Automotive Research 2000-present; Knowledge Exchange Manager
Institute for Future Transport and Cities
Jennifer gained a Masters degrees in Information Science and Marketing and has over
Kevin has over 30 years’ experience in automotive and aerospace product and business 20 years of experience of working at the interface of university-industry collaboration,
development in the private and public sectors. With a background in engineering across multiple disciplines. Previous roles include corporate training, leading on
simulation and optimization, his passion is promoting research and impact in safe, university consultancy, collaborative R&D and delivery of SME support programmes.
efficient and accessible forms of mobility.
She was a course manager for a professional Masters programme within Computing,
As Director of the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Automotive Research Engineering & Mathematics, and devised and delivered collaborative programmes for
at Coventry University he is responsible for the strategic direction and growth of both the Pensions Regulator and the NHS Business Services Authority’s data security
the Centre’s research into future mobility systems and their interaction with the and analytics teams. Jennifer also led on development of a creative tech partnership with
environment. His role includes developing and managing strategic relationships Indian SMEs and regional stake-holders and was the business lead for the university
with external partners in particular Horiba MIRA and our co-located facility ‘ASSURED as academic partner in the Digital Catapult Centre Brighton and 5G Brighton. She is
CAV (Highway)’ created to test autonomous vehicles at the limit of their operation. currently the SME engagement lead for a big data project with Gatwick Airport, working
with businesses to develop data-driven products and services. Jennifer has a particular
CCAAR is focussed on; providing an environment to simulate, test and evaluate the
interest in developing new approaches and flexible models for collaboration, and
security and safety of Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAV); Undertaking research
leads on university/industry collaboration in the technology space across multiple
to accelerate the development of new products and services in the CAV segment and
domains with specific expertise in immersive, virtualisation and simulation, big data,
to produce a pipeline of talent to support growth of the CAV segment.
cybersecurity and complex systems.
His activity and interests currently centre on working with the Automotive Council’s
Intelligent Connected and Automated Mobility mission, helping develop frameworks
and methodologies for verification and validation of new products and processes in
the digital environment and the attendant regulatory and human considerations.
He currently chairs the Research Advisory Board for the Automotive Electronic Systems
Innovation Network, part of Techworks, and is a member of the interoperability and
marketing groups at Zenzic, which champion the UK’s connected and self-driving
vehicle ecosystem.
Future Mobility Systems Strategic Direction Research Location based data Internet of Place Human Centred Design
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Steven Whyte Tom Zunder
University of Strathclyde Newcastle University
Steven is a Senior Business Development Manager within the Power Networks Tom is a knowledgeable academic and a skilled commercial manager, who for 15 years
Demonstration Centre (PNDC), as part of the University of Strathclyde. He received his managed purchasing, production control, distribution and overall supply chain, in
MSc in Local Economic Development from the University of Glasgow and is currently manufacturing industry. In this period Tom gained experience in road, rail and sea
studying for an MBA within the University of Strathclyde Business School. freight working in the steel, automotive, transport and machine tools industries.
With experience in business development and customer facing roles across the public For the last 19 years he has pursued an academic career and is currently a Principal
and private sector, Steven possess a deep understanding of developing winning bids and Research Associate, managing the Freight and Logistics research group, deliverables,
proposals with a range of clients and partners. He has developed an expanded network and dissemination in EU research projects, and pursuing academic and applied
across industry, government, and academia, with a focus on low carbon energy systems research, at Newcastle University.
and transport.
Tom has presented his research work and outcomes at international scientific, policy,
In his current role he is working closely with a number of industrial partners as and business conferences and workshops and has a strong portfolio of publications:
‘members’ of the PNDC, and in support of commercially delivered research, testing, and procedia, trade press, book chapters and journal articles.
demonstration projects. The PNDC is a unique facility offering a real-world environment
He teaches freight and logistics on MSc courses at Newcastle University, as well as
for the de-risking and validation of new technologies prior to their commercial
having researched and delivered international curriculum development for rail
deployment in energy networks across the UK and internationally.
operations and logistics. He helped develop a fuel management module, for deployment
Steven’s role is critical in identifying opportunities for inter-organisational partnership in higher education, as part of the UK Freight Best Practice programme. He is also a
and collaborative working with the aim of decarbonising the energy and transport project evaluator and reviewer for the European Commission in the field of the public
sectors. He works closely with existing partners including utilities, generators, procurement of innovation.
technology vendors and highly innovative SMEs.
His current focus areas include rail freight; city logistics; ICT and transport logistics;
A key initiative that Steven is leading is in the PNDC’s involvement within UKRI’s ‘Driving and sustainable procurement.
the Electric Revolution’ (DER) challenge area. This will see the establishment of four DER
industrialisation centres across the UK.
Partnership Low Carbon Critical Infrastructure Freight Sustainability Urban
Ending the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars and vans Visit our website 18 cp.catapult.org.uk Follow us on Twitter @CPCatapult Follow us on LinkedIn Connected Places Catapult Email us info@cp.catapult.org.uk Connected Places
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