Supercharging Innovation

In this second series, our expert guests will explore how the UK must break down barriers to solve national and global challenges and how this can be realised through the power of science, innovation and technology.

Episode four investigates the evolution of UK healthcare. Our panellists discuss UK leadership, common barriers to translation and adoption of health innovation and how the UK 'moves the dial' from treatment to prevention. Learn more by listening to this episode of the Supercharging Innovation podcast.

Hear from our panel of experts, including Prof. Chris Molloy, CEO of Medicines Discovery Catapult, Dr Jacqueline Barry, Chief Clinical Officer at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, Dr Arun Harish, Chief Strategy Officer at CPI, part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and our special guest, Prof. Dame Anna Dominiczak, Chief Scientist for the Scottish Government and Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Glasgow.
 
Hear from our panel of experts, including Prof. Chris Molloy, CEO of Medicines Discovery Catapult, Dr Jacqueline Barry, Chief Clinical Officer at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, Dr Arun Harish, Chief Strategy Officer at CPI, part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and our special guest, Prof. Dame Anna Dominiczak, Chief Scientist for the Scottish Government and Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Glasgow.

Learn more about our panellists here: 

• Prof. Chris Molloy, CEO of Medicines Discovery Catapult:
  Professor Chris Molloy has a 30-year international board and executive career across a unique range of life sciences R&D disciplines. His career began in preclinical research at Glaxo, where he was closely involved with the industrialisation of high throughput discovery. In 2004 he moved to Asia as COO of MerLion Pharmaceuticals, a Singaporean biotech that developed into an award-winning multinational anti-infectives R&D biotech. Chris then ran corporate development for the global informatics firm, idbs during which time it won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise, became a Fast-track 100 company, and the first UK firm to develop a stratified medicine software platform using real-world health data. Chris spent three years as CEO of the RSA Group, the global life science executive search specialist before in 2016 becoming the founding CEO of Medicines Discovery Catapult; the national centre for innovation in drug discovery. During its first five years, under Chris’ leadership Medicines Discovery Catapult has leveraged its Innovate UK grant fourfold, worked with over 150 UK companies and assisted the discovery of UK drug assets worth over £1bn. During the pandemic, Chris was the founding Director of the UK Lighthouse Labs Network – the largest diagnostics project in UK history – and chaired the industry-governmental consortium that increased UK lateral flow manufacturing capacity by twenty-fold. Chris is the non-executive chairman of Exploristics and NorthWest EHealth: two UK tech companies using real-world healthcare data to improve clinical development. He chairs the IP Advisory Committee for the Association of Medical Research Charities and the Industry Advisory Board for Manchester’s Biomedical Research Centre & Health Innovation Manchester. Chris is a Member and Trustee of the Institute of Cancer Research and holds an honorary chair at the University of Manchester.
• Dr Jacqueline Barry, Chief Clinical Officer at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult:
  Jacqueline joined Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult as Director of Regulatory Affairs and has since been promoted to Chief Clinical Officer. Prior to this, Jacqueline worked at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service in several senior regulatory and quality positions, the responsibility for which included designing the regulatory strategy for the Cellular Therapies developed by the Blood Transfusion Service acting as Responsible Person for Blood and Qualified Person for medicinal product release. Before that, she held a number of post-Doctoral academic posts at the University of Edinburgh, studying neuromuscular regeneration. She has considerable experience in the development, translation, clinical trial and approval of cell-based medicinal products and therapies.
• Dr Arun Harish, Chief Strategy Officer at CPI, part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult:
  As Chief Strategy Officer, Arun leads strategies for CPI’s sustainable growth and impact generation. Since joining CPI in 2008, Arun has held diverse roles spanning technology commercialisation, innovation consulting, fund-raising from private and public sources and business development. He has also shaped the development of CPI’s National Healthcare Photonics Centre and the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre. Prior to joining CPI, Arun worked with venture capital funded technology start-ups in the UK (Farfield Group) and India (Tejas Networks), where he held business development and R&D roles. Arun is passionate about the role of innovation centres in enabling economic and societal impact and supporting cluster formation. He is a thought leader on investment readiness for high-growth SMEs, and has acted as Co-Chair for the European Commission’s Independent Steering group on investment readiness linked with SME actions. Arun holds a PhD in medical nanotechnologies from the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University and an MBA from Warwick Business School, where he specialised in entrepreneurial finance and venture capital. Arun is the Founding Chair of a UK based charity UTSAAH (Uniting to Sustain and Assist Himalayan communities) which supports rural Himalayan communities in the areas of enterprise, conservation and healthcare.
• Prof. Dame Anna Dominiczak, Chief Scientist for the Scottish Government and Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Glasgow:
  Professor Dominiczak is a world-leading cardiovascular scientist and clinical academic. She has published extensively in top peer-reviewed journals (over 500 publications, an h-index of 118). Between 2010 and 2020 she was Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences at the University of Glasgow. Anna developed a new clinical academic campus at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, where she led a triple helix partnership between academia, the NHS and industry to accelerate innovation, maximize patient benefits and economic growth. Dame Anna is a member of several editorial boards and, from 2012 -2022, was Editor-in-Chief of Hypertension, journal of the American Heart Association, currently she is Editor-in Chief of Precision Medicine, a new Prism journal of the Cambridge Press. In March 2020, Anna led the establishment of Lighthouse Laboratory in Glasgow to provide rapid Covid–19 diagnostics, and then was asked to become Director of Laboratories at the UK Department of Health and Social Care to lead all 10 Lighthouse Laboratories across the UK, the role she fulfilled until 2022. In July 2022 she was appointed as a Chief Scientist (Health) for the Scottish Government. She works with the Chief Scientist Office to formulate and implement research and innovation strategy with a focus on transformative innovations that improve the health of Scottish communities.

To tell us your thoughts on this episode, get in touch via our website, LinkedIn, X or wherever you get your podcasts. 

In this second series, our expert guests will explore how the UK must break down barriers to solve national and global challenges and how this can be realised through the power of science, innovation and technology. 

Episode three considers several hot topics including the role of science, innovation and technology in bridging the skills shortage, where responsibility lies for harnessing and shaping future skills and how to overcome inherent biases impacting our diverse and multi-skilled nation. Learn more by listening to this episode of the Supercharging Innovation podcast.

Hear from our panel of experts, including Kathie Bowden, Skills Manager at Satellite Applications Catapult, Dr Martin Main, Chief Scientific Officer at Medicines Discovery Catapult, Priya Guha, Non Executive Director at Digital Catapult and our special guest Debbie Johnson, Head of Innovation Talent & Skills at Innovate UK. 

Learn more about our panellists here: 

• Kathie Bowden, Skills Manager at Satellite Applications Catapult:
  Kathie Bowden is responsible for supporting the development of clusters of space activity across the country. She has a background in Earth observation (in industry) and has been working in externally facing space skills related roles for the past 15 years in both academia and government. Read more about Kathie here. 
• Dr Martin Main, Chief Scientific Officer at Medicines Discovery Catapult:
  An accomplished scientist with over 30 publications and a broad range of pharmaceutical industry experience ranging from target validation and reagent generation, through assay development and mechanism-of-action studies, Martin brings a breadth of experience to his role as Chief Scientific Officer at Medicines Discovery Catapult. Martin joined Medicines Discovery Catapult in 2018 as Head of Molecular Technologies, taking on the role of Chief Scientist in 2022. In his current role as Chief Scientific Officer, Martin is accountable for the development and delivery of the science strategy, with oversight of laboratory and informatics activities, to ensure Medicines Discovery Catapult continues to deliver upon our vision of reshaping drug discovery for patient benefit.
• Priya Guha, Non Executive Director at Digital Catapult:
  Priya is a Venture Partner at Merian Ventures, investing in women-led innovation, an Advisor to Kheiron Medical Technologies and Gallos Technologies, a member of the Investment Governance Board at Future Planet Capital, NED at Reach PLC, UK Research & Innovation, the Digital Catapult & GB Badminton and Adjunct Faculty at the Ashridge Hult Business School. She was previously GM for RocketSpace, launching their UK operations. Priya used to be a career diplomat, most recently as British Consul General to San Francisco and previously in India and Spain. She sits on the Royal Academy of Engineering International Committee, Althea Foundation Board, Tech London Advocates and Global Tech Advocates Advisory Boards. She is a Trustee at TechSheCan. Priya was awarded an MBE in 2021 for services to international trade and women in innovation.
• Debbie Johnson, Head of Innovation Talent & Skills at Innovate UK:
  Debbie Johnson is Head of Innovation Talent & Skills at Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation Agency. Debbie is focused on two goals:
  supporting innovative businesses in accessing and developing talent to realise the UK’s innovation ambition and ensuring that the education and skills system is supported in responding to the changes created by our innovation to maximise its potential for our economy and society. Prior to joining Innovate UK in 2020, Debbie was involved in the design and implementation of a number of government supported, business-led skills programmes in the construction sector.

To tell us your thoughts on this episode, get in touch via our website, LinkedIn, X or wherever you get your podcasts. 

In this second series, our expert guests will explore how the UK must break down barriers to solve national and global challenges and how this can be realised through the power of science, innovation and technology. 

Episode 2 considers several critical questions, including: What are the toughest innovation challenges to get to a net zero future? How can Government policy drive new technology? What are the roles of hydrogen, offshore renewable energy and a whole systems approach in reaching our targets faster?  Learn more by listening to this episode of the Supercharging Innovation podcast.

Hear from our panel of experts, including Guy Newey, CEO of Energy Systems Catapult, Dr Cristina Garcia-Duffy, Technical Director at Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, Katy Milne, Programme Director at Hydrogen Innovation Initiative and the Rt Hon Chris Skidmore MP, Conservative MP for Kingswood and Chair of the Net Zero Review.  

Learn more about our panellists here: 

• Guy Newey, CEO of Energy Systems Catapult:
  Guy was appointed Chief Executive Officer at Energy Systems Catapult, after serving as the Director of Strategy since 2018 and previously as a political adviser to two UK Government Secretaries of State; Greg Clark and Amber Rudd. In Government, he was involved in many key decisions, including closing the UK’s coal-fired power stations, greater independence for the electricity system operator, and as an architect of the Clean Growth Strategy. Before joining Government, he was Head of Policy at the challenger energy supplier, OVO Energy and Head of Environment and Energy at the influential think tank, Policy Exchange. He is a non-executive director with UK100, a charity campaigning for greater environmental action by local authorities. 
• Dr Cristina Garcia-Duffy, Technical Director at Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult:
  Cristina Garcia Duffy serves as the Executive Director at ORE Catapult, where she leads our technology strategy, product and service development, research activities, and strategic partnerships. She also plays a crucial role in nurturing technical talent within our organisation. Prior to her role at Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, Cristina held the position of Head of Technology at the UK Aerospace Technology Institute. In this capacity, she was responsible for shaping the UK National Aerospace Technology Strategy, guiding government investments in aerospace research and technology, which amounted to approximately £150 million annually. In addition to her work at the Catapult, Cristina is actively involved in several key industry initiatives. She serves as a Non-Executive Director of Renewable UK, the trade association representing a community of over 400 member companies dedicated to expanding renewable electricity deployment in the UK and international markets. She is also a board member of the DESNZ and the Offshore Wind Industry Council led Floating Offshore Wind Task Force, focused on accelerating the adoption of this emerging opportunity. Furthermore, Cristina is a member of the post-OWAT Industrial Growth Plan Board, contributing to the development of a strategic plan for enhancing the opportunities and the resilience of the UK-based offshore wind supply chain.
• Katy Milne, Programme Director at Hydrogen Innovation Initiative:
  Katy Milne is Programme Director for the first programme of the Hydrogen Innovation Initiative – a collaboration of seven Catapults and four technology centres. Katy has previously held roles as Head of Industrial Strategy on the FlyZero project at the Aerospace Technology Institute, as Chief Engineer of a programme for additive manufacturing for the UK aerospace supply chain at the National Centre for Additive Manufacturing at the MTC – one of the seven centres of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. Katy is a member of the Zero Emission Flight Delivery Group of the Jet Zero Council and Chair of the EPSRC Manufacturing and Circular Economy Strategic Advisory Team.
• Rt Hon Chris Skidmore MP, Conservative MP for Kingswood and Chair of the Net Zero Review:
  party since 1996 and was first elected as the MP for Kingswood in 2010.. He became the Conservative candidate for Kingswood in January 2008, having been one of the first MPs to have been chosen by a primary, where members of the public were able to attend the selection meeting. Chris was elected with one of the largest swings in the South West, overturning a 7,800 Labour majority with a swing of 9.4%. In 2015, Chris increased his majority from 2,445 to 9,006. Chris has sat on the Health Select Committee (2010-2013) and the Education Select Committee (2012-2014). In 2013, he was appointed to the No 10 Policy Board, and in September 2014 he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the No 10 Policy Board. In May 2015, he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne MP until July when Chris was given the position of Minister for the Constitution in the Cabinet Office until January 2018 when he was made Vice-Chair of the Conservative Party for Policy. As the former Energy Minister, Chris was invited to lead the Net Zero Review. The review was tasked with assessing the Government’s approach to net zero, to ensure it was pursuing the most economically efficient path to meeting its climate change commitments, given the changed economic context.

To tell us your thoughts on this episode, get in touch via our website, LinkedIn, X or wherever you get your podcasts. 

In this second series, our expert guests will explore how the UK must break down barriers to solve national and global challenges and how this can be realised through the power of science, innovation and technology. 

Episode 1 considers a number of pressing questions, including: What is the 'human cost' of digitalisation? Is AI a friend or a foe? What prevents businesses from seizing digital tech opportunities? And vitally, how do we break down common barriers to accelerate technology adoption? Find out the answers to these questions by listening to this episode of the Supercharging Innovation podcast.

Hear from our panel of experts, including Rosa Wilkinson, Director of Policy at High Value Manufacturing Catapult, Phil Young, Director of Policy at Research & Strategic Engagement at Digital Catapult, Amar Abid-Ali, Chief Commercial Officer at Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult and Lord Tim Clement-Jones CBE, Liberal Democrat Peer and Lords Spokesperson for Science, Innovation and Technology

Learn more about our panellists here: 

• Rosa Wilkinson, Director of Policy at High Value Manufacturing Catapult:
  Formerly Director of Stakeholder Engagement at the Department for International Trade, Rosa Wilkinson joined the High Value Manufacturing Catapult in September 2017. Previous roles have included Director of Innovation and Strategic Communication at the Intellectual Property Office and as Director of Public Policy for Lloyds TSB. Her earlier career includes a variety of Whitehall policy roles including as Managing Director of the Government’s Small Business Service and Director of Manufacturing at the then Department for Trade and Industry.
• Phil Young, Director of Policy at Research & Strategic Engagement at Digital Catapult:
  Digital Catapult’s Director of Policy, Research & Strategic Engagement, Philip Young has a strong background in emerging technology policy, research and strategic decision-making with both domestic and international experience. Named in Forbes 30-under-30 in 2016 as the co-founder of the charity, Future Foreign Policy and has worked in various roles in startups, scaleups, technology companies and policy/government. Adept at building networks and eco-systems to help bring about greater technology innovation, disruption and breakthroughs for the UK Economy.
• Amar Abid-Ali, Chief Commercial Officer at Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult:
  With a clear vision to address the major challenges of Net Zero, Future Telecoms, and Intelligent Sensing in the UK, Amar oversees the business development, DER-IC, strategic development, and market intelligence teams to drive the commercial adoption of Compound Semiconductors. Before joining the Catapult team in February 2019, Amar led the European Vertical Markets and business development team for Future Electronics. His expertise in Semiconductors, RF, Power Electronics, FPGAs, Embedded Processors, DSPs, and Sensors made him an asset to the team. As the Chief Commercial Officer, Amar is responsible for driving the generation of commercial business and collaborative R&D projects for the Catapult.
• Lord Tim Clement-Jones CBE, Liberal Democrat Peer and Lords Spokesperson for Science, Innovation and Technology
  Lord Tim Clement-Jones was made CBE for political services in 1988 and life peer in 1998. He is the Liberal Democrat House of Lords spokesperson for Science, Innovation and Technology. He is the former Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on AI which sat from 2017-18 and a current member of the House of Lords Select Committee on AI in Weapons Systems. He is Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on AI and Vice Chair for a number of All-Party Parliamentary Groups - including Data Poverty; Data Analytics; Digital Skills; Digital Regulation and Responsibility; Intellectual Property; and the Future of Work. He is a founding member of the OECD Parliamentary Group on AI and former member of the Council of Europe’s Ad-hoc Committee on AI (“CAHAI”). He is Chair of Trust Alliance Group (formerly Ombudsman Services), the not-for-profit, independent ombudsman providing dispute resolution for the communications, energy, and parking industries. He is Chair of Council of Queen Mary University of London. He is a Consultant on AI Policy and Regulation to global law firm, DLA Piper.

To tell us your thoughts on this episode, get in touch via our website, LinkedIn, X or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Katherine Bennett CBE, Network Chair and CEO of High Value Manufacturing Catapult, introduces the second series of the Catapult Network's Supercharging Innovation Podcast. The Catapult Network is made up of nine world-leading technology and innovation centres, established and powered by Innovate UK.

This series explores how the UK must break down barriers to solve national and global challenges and how this can be realised through the power of science, innovation and technology. You'll be hearing from our expert Catapults panellists and an array of very special guests including industrialists, academics, politicians and thought leaders. 

Innovation is all about the future, but how will it influence and support future societies and economies as we work towards a fairer and more inclusive United Kingdom? Join Jeremy Silver, CEO of Digital Catapult as he speaks with Indro Mukerjee, CEO of Innovate UK, about his mission to inspire, involve and invest – building skills and driving diversity to help create real progress out of great ideas and using innovation to build a brighter future for everyone – both here in the UK and across the globe. 

Indro Mukerjee, CEO of Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, which forms part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Indro is a highly experienced technology CEO and business leader with a track record of leading innovation and technology commercialisation in businesses of all sizes across the world – from publicly listed and multinational corporations to new venture and private equity-backed technology companies. He has extensive experience of leading fast growth; start-up; spinouts; restructuring; turnaround and successful mergers and acquisitions, spending much of this time in Asia and the US.
With a strong personal interest in the development of skills for industry, he co-founded the UK Electronics Skills Foundation and served on the SEMTA (now Enginuity) board for nine years, where he was Chairman of the committee managing their investment fund. He is a passionate advocate for diversity, equality, and inclusion. Indro has a degree in Engineering Science from Oxford University and graduated from the Wharton Advanced Management Program. He speaks several languages.

Listen to Chi Onwurah MP's views on the impact of technology in the UK and the roles of the key players in driving innovation for sectoral and geographical development. Chi is the Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and Shadow Minister for Digital, Science and Technology.  Chi works closely with the science and business community on issues including industrial strategy, digital inclusion, online safety and others. Prior to becoming an MP, Chi had a successful career working in the global telecoms sector as an electrical engineer in hardware and software development, product management, market development and strategy.

Listen to Lord David Willetts’ views on how the UK innovation landscape is evolving and how the Government’s Innovation Strategy will facilitate technology development and support levelling up. Lord Willetts is the President of the Resolution Foundation. He is also a visiting Professor at King’s College London, a Board member of UKRI, as well as being on the board at Surrey Satellites and the Biotech Growth Trust. He served as the MP for Havant from 1992-2015, and as Minister for Universities and Science from 2010 to 2014, when Catapults were introduced.

Listen to Sasha Haco tell the story of her entrepreneurial journey, from studying for her PhD at Cambridge University to launching a business that is innovating in the application of Artificial Intelligence technologies. Sasha is co-founder and CEO of Unitary.AI, a content moderation start-up that is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect harmful videos on the internet. Sasha was listed by Beauhurst as one of the UK’s top female entrepreneurs under 30. Prior to founding Unitary, Sasha gained her PhD at Cambridge University where she had the privilege of working with Stephen Hawking to understand the mysteries behind black holes.

Listen to Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser share her views on research culture, the future of UK innovation and the role of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) within it. Ottoline is the Chief Executive of UKRI and Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge. Prior to this Ottoline was Director of the Sainsbury Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, which combines computational modelling with molecular genetics and cell biology in the control of plant growth and development. She served as Chair of the Royal Society’s Science Policy Expert Advisory Committee, Chair of the Management Committee of the University of Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy, and as a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology. In 2017 Ottoline was appointed DBE for her services to plant science, science in society and equality and diversity in science.