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The Board of Directors of Digital Catapult is delighted to announce that Juergen Maier CBE is appointed as its new Chair. He will succeed Andy Green from May.
Juergen Maier is the UK CEO of Siemens and is a passionate technology and manufacturing advocate. Having led the Made Smarter review, Maier is well positioned to steer the UK’s leading advanced digital innovation centre toward future industrial opportunities. He now co-chairs the Made Smarter Commission responsible for delivering policy to support industrial digitalisation with Business Secretary Greg Clark.
Commenting on his appointment, Maier states, “I am excited to take up the role of Chair at Digital Catapult and leverage its proven success to maximise the many opportunities for British business offered by adoption of advanced digital technologies. As we grow and scale the Digital Catapult I believe we will do the same for the UK economy. I am especially looking forward to learning and contributing more to the creative industries and the UK’s fantastic tech start-up community as well as exploring how better to connect that creative energy to our UK manufacturing base.”
Juergen joined Siemens in 1986 with a BSc in production engineering from Nottingham Trent University, on a Siemens-sponsored graduate programme. He was made an honorary professor of Engineering at the University of Manchester in March 2014 and became a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in September 2017. Juergen has also received honorary doctorates for his services to UK Science and Engineering from the Universities of Lincoln, Nottingham Trent and Salford Manchester.
Maier was previously a member of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult Board and was a Non-Executive Director at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (now BEIS).
DCMS Secretary of State Jeremy Wright said: “I am delighted to welcome Juergen Maier as chair of Digital Catapult. He will bring his vast experience at the cutting edge of digital innovation to help transform British companies with big ideas into industry leaders and to accelerate the adoption of digital tech across the UK. The UK is one of the most innovative nations on the planet, recognised as Europe’s leading tech hub, and Digital Catapult has a vital role to play in turning our entrepreneurial dynamism into commercial success.”
Jeremy Silver, CEO of Digital Catapult, comments: “We are delighted that Juergen has agreed to join our Board as Chair. His leadership and reach, as demonstrated in his work with Made Smarter, is exemplary and his insights into the needs of modern industry in the UK, second to none. We are really looking forward to working together.”
Ian Campbell, Executive Chair of Innovate UK, adds: “Juergen has been a long-standing supporter of the Catapult programme and we have worked closely with him over his Made Smarter review into industrial digitalisation. I am certain that he will build enthusiastically on the vision of Digital Catapult and help take that important work to an even broader business market across the UK. I would like to express my personal thanks to Andy Green for his significant contribution as Chair for the first five years of the life of Digital Catapult.”
Digital Catapult is supported by UKRI to drive growth in the manufacturing and creative industry sectors, by helping companies of all sizes accelerate the early adoption of advanced digital technologies and bring them to commercial reality.
About Digital Catapult
Digital Catapult is the UK’s leading advanced digital technology innovation Centre, driving early adoption of technologies to make UK businesses more competitive and productive and grow the country’s economy.
We connect large established companies, startup and scaleup businesses and researchers to discover new ways to solve big challenges in the manufacturing and creative industries. Through this collaboration businesses are supported to develop the right technologies to solve problems, increase productivity and open up new markets faster.
Digital Catapult provides physical and digital facilities for experimentation and testing that would otherwise not be accessible for smaller companies.
As well as breaking down barriers to technology adoption for startups and scaleups, our work de-risks innovation for large enterprises and uncovers new commercial applications in immersive, future networks, and artificial intelligence technologies.
For more info please visit www.digicatapult.org.uk
About the Catapult Network
Catapults are not-for-profit, independent physical centres which connect businesses with the UK’s research and academic communities. The network of Catapult centres was established by Innovate UK. Each Catapult centre is a company limited by guarantee (CLG), a separate legal entity from Innovate UK. They are controlled by their own Boards with an Executive Management team responsible for the day-to-day management of each Catapult.
Learn more about the Catapult Network at https://catapult.org.uk/about-us/about-catapult/