As Innovation Manager, what do you specialise in?
While innovation for a business can take many forms, in the water industry segment where Glan Agua operates, technological progress enhancing process performance represents the standard of innovation. My role entails scouting for novel technologies and matching them to market needs. As designers, builders and operators of water and wastewater solutions, Glan Agua’s value-chain offering is two-tailed: for clients, we deliver turkey solutions underpinned by years of experience as operators; for the technology provider, we provide integration and route to market. The scope of my role places me at the technology provider end. I specialise on business development for innovation by fostering relations with the view to forming channel partner agreements and strategic alliances. Nonetheless, these decisions are invariably controlled by market needs. My area of environmental expertise revolves around two aspects of emerging chemical contaminants: emission trends and the legal framework governing these emissions. As founders of the British Water Micropollutants Focus Group, Glan Agua are recognised as championing proactive discussion on the topic to prepare the UK water industry to future market needs. My specialisation in emerging chemical contaminants provided Glan Agua with the necessary expertise to encourage British Water to form the Micropollutants Focus Group. However, it was the response from the industry that inspired British Water to launch the subsequent stage, the first dedicated conference on Micropollutants in the UK.