http://www.innovate10.co.uk/speakers/chris-dowleChris Dowle, Director of Sustainable Processing, CPI

At the Centre for Process Innovation he is managing a portfolio of projects in his role as Director of CPI’s Sustainable Processing Centre (Susproc). Susproc is the UK’s leading centre for innovation and commercialisation of process technology.  Chris has developed it from the day CPI began trading  to help companies and organisations test, develop and scale up sustainable processes and energy solutions. This practical and commercial approach enables customers to sustain competitiveness and enter valuable and new markets as quickly as possible. In Chris’ career he has worked internationally helping companies take from laboratory concepts to world scale plant.

Susproc projects cover a wide range of broad and diverse areas such as marine biotechnology, advanced flow reactors and co-crystallisation. Chris’ team has won several awards from the Institute of Chemical Engineers and the business community. The most significant project in Chris’ portfolio is the National Industrial Biotechnology Facility which facilitates the growth of bioprocessing for sustainable production of a wide range of new and current molecules and materials. This is undergoing a major expansion to deliver bioenergy and biorefinery capability to ten tonne scale.

Following his PhD at the University of Strathclyde in 1988, Chris joined ICI as a research chemist and then developed his technical career across a range of roles from analytical chemistry through to plant operations support and moved into new  disciplines, engineering and biotechnology. Chris has also been involved in managing GLP laboratories, moving through into business development and change management. Chris has worked for engineering and process technology companies in positions from sales through to business management. He has sectorial experience of waste to energy, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, materials, and biotechnology. Some publications and patents are held, but Chris has mainly delivered process and technology packages to clients for their interpretation. Chris has presented widely at conferences and has been called on to assist on panels and refereeing for e.g. the IB-IGT and the BBSRC.