KTN seeks green strategies

A government-funded knowledge transfer network (KTN) aims to find 'green' business solutions to climate change, excessive resource use and environmental degradation.

The government’s Technology Strategy Board selected Oxford University to host the newly established Environmental Sustainability KTN.

The network will be sited in the university’s Department of Earth Sciences and with collaborating partner, C-Tech Innovation in Chester.

‘Climate change, excessive resource use and environmental degradation are key related threats facing the world but, at the same time, they provide major business opportunities,’ said Colin Drummond, chief executive of Viridor.

Drummond is also currently chair of UK Trade and Investment’s Environmental Sector Advisory Group.

‘The establishment of this network will help to provide a focus for companies, universities and other organisations and individuals keen to push forward innovation and knowledge exchange in the environmental sustainability arena,’ he said.

‘We are looking forward to the challenges and opportunities ahead, and to working with the Technology Strategy Board to help deliver its programmes and strategies in this key area.’

The director of the Environmental Sustainability KTN will be Carolyn Roberts, a water-resource scientist and the past chair of the Institution of Environmental Sciences.

David Way, the Technology Strategy Board’s director of knowledge exchange and special projects, said the network’s chair and director are ready to meet the challenges of their new positions.

‘They will be well supported by a strong management team that brings together business leaders and experts from the resource efficiency, environmental services, waste management and water treatment sectors,’ he said.