European CTOs of the Year 2018 awards highlight sustainability and open innovation

The CTO of the Year Europe 2018 awards were announced today during EU Industry Days in Brussels. The winners in both categories excel in driving sustainability through innovative use of technology in their companies and surrounding ecosystem.

The CTO of the Year Europe award is given annually to the most prominent technology leaders of highly successful European companies: inspiring leaders and foresighted technology managers. The award is given by European industrial research management association EIRMA together with innovation consulting company Spinverse.

The CTO of the Year Europe 2018 winners, announced during the EU Industry Days, are Dr. Nicolas Cudré-Mauroux and Mr. Juha Salmela.  Both CTOs and their companies focus on using technology in an innovative way to promote sustainability.  

Boosting Breakthrough and Open Innovation in the chemical industry

The winner in the category of Large Companies is Dr. Nicolas Cudré-Mauroux, Research & Innovation Group General Manager (CTO) of Solvay, a Brussels-based specialty chemicals and advanced materials company, operating in 53 countries.

In roughly three years, Dr. Cudré-Mauroux has turned Solvay’s R&D into an agile and dynamic customer-oriented organization that has significantly contributed to sales growth in Solvay’s main markets. Thanks to stronger interfaces between Solvay’s research, marketing and strategy, teams are better positioned to assess the value of potential projects. Close partnerships with start-ups and leading universities furthermore allow teams to develop synergies between short and long-term projects. In addition, Dr Cudré-Mauroux and his team implemented innovative managing processes allowing for the combination of speed and radical innovation. This strong model of breakthrough and open innovation addresses Solvay’s global customer demand for clean mobility and resource efficiency in its key markets including  automotive, electronics, agriculture, energy storage and oil & gas.

Bio-based textile fibres – without harmful chemicals

The award winner in the Small and Medium Enterprises category is CTO and co-founder of Spinnova, Mr. Juha Salmela.  Spinnova develops new, pure bio-based materials for the textile industry with a unique method. Salmela and Spinnova’s expert team have scaled the innovation from a laboratory scale into a large industrial pilot in just four years, with a technology concept invented by Salmela.

There are no waste streams in Spinnova’s production process. Its only side product is evaporated water which is also recycled back into the process. What differentiates Spinnova from other bio-based textile materials is that its process includes no dissolving or any other harmful and complex chemical processes.

“We are very glad and proud to select these two prominent CTOs among very tough competition.” comments Ernst Lutz, the President of EIRMA.  “They both perfectly meet the award criteria by having brought their company’s performance to a new level through technology and innovation, being masters of open innovation and ability to communicate efficiently with top management, their peers and best experts.  This is exactly the kind of leadership we need to drive European competitiveness and employment for successful future.”

CTO of the Year Europe Award has since 2014 elevated great European innovators of great companies, ranging from global giants like Intel and Rolls-Royce to agile growth companies like Avantium and Nanolive.

“This award was established to promote excellence in technological innovation and give recognition to people who work hard to support European competitiveness. We will continue to develop the CTO of the Year Europe concept and will release new major partnerships later this year” promises Pekka Koponen, the Founder and Chairman of Spinverse Ltd.

For more information please contact:

• Richard Thommeret, Science & Innovation Communication Director, richard.thommeret@solvay.com, +32 2 264 3261
• Juha Salmela, CTO of Spinnova: juha.salmela@spinnova.com, +358 400 788 093

• Pekka Koponen, Chairman of Spinverse: pekka.koponen@spinverse.com, +358-40 545 0008

• Ernst Lutz, President of EIRMA: elutz@grundfos.com

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CTO of the Year Europe award