Dr John Collins

John is Operations & Commercial Director of the UK National Centre for commercialising Engineering Biology - SynbiCITE - at Imperial College London. SynbiCITE is growing industry based on using the engineering of biology to ‘do useful things & make useful stuff to heal us, feed us, fuel us & sustain us’.
John helps turn ‘upstarts into start-ups and start-ups to become grown ups’ through business incubation & acceleration programmes, such as the ‘4-Day MBA: More Business Acumen’ ® course that has been run all around the UK & has, so far, produced more than 360 new entrepreneurially-minded technologists ready to start a start-up & 24 start-ups!
For several years since 2010 John ran the UK’s ‘Emerging Technologies and Industries’ programme at InnovateUK and BEIS, tasked with taking new, disruptive technologies and promoting them to Government for support to become industries of tomorrow; several are now part of UK government’s Industrial Strategy. The one John is most proud to have ensured funding is Synthetic Biology – the technology that will grow a new industry solving global challenges. Prior to this John has had a varied portfolio career including R&D, product development, technical sales, business development, international development for a trade association, innovation and digital creativity growth in educational services.
Throughout his careers John has run his own ‘Disruptive Technologies and Innovations Management’ consultancy – Innovation Foundry Ltd. – and continues to work with a diverse spread of technologies, services and creative industry.
He sits on UK government Programme Expert Groups covering the National Measurement Service for digital, chemical, biological, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and environmental metrology & standards.
John is also Chair of the Real Time Club – the world’s oldest technology networking club, running 52 years – working with leading philosophers, scientists & technologists promoting ‘technology for good’.