UK High Value Manufacturing Catapult, The Oracle Building, Chief Executive
Dick Elsy's role as the Chief Executive of the UK’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult brings together seven world class centres of industrial innovation in the UK which help accelerate new concepts to commercial reality and thereby create a sustainable high value manufacturing future for this country. The Catapult has capability and manufacturing facilities which span basic raw materials through to high integrity product assembly processes.He joined the Catapult from Torotrak plc, the global innovator in gearless traction drive technology which reduces CO2 emissions in vehicles. As Chief Executive, he led this technology and licensing business which is one of the few UK listed companies involved in innovative automotive engineering and one of the very few engineering companies in the UK making a success of the licensing business model.Prior to this Dick was Product Development Director at Jaguar Cars Limited where he led the introduction of several new car programmes. Dick’s earlier roles were also in the automotive industry with a period of time spent with BMW in Munich leading a major car programme and a long career with Land Rover, where, as a member of the executive board, he devised, and went on to implement, the Land Rover Freelander.Through his career, Dick has gained extensive experience in the process of innovation management and of the introduction of new technologies to market.He has led both small scale and large scale organisations and is a passionate believer in value creation through technology.Dick is currently the Chair of both the Automotive Council and Aerospace Growth Partnership’s Manufacturing working groups and is a member of the Advanced Materials Leadership Council. He is also a member of the Automotive Council’s Technology group and sits on the board of Birmingham Science City. Dick is the holder of a Silver Medal from the Royal Academy of Engineering for his outstanding contribution to British engineering and is also a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a past director and trustee of Engineering UK.
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