The Net Zero Technology Centre’s (NZTC) chief executive, Colette Cohen OBE, has stated she will step down from the company she started in 2017 in July 2023.
Myrtle Dawes, a licensed chemical engineer who has served as the solution center director at NZTC since 2019, will take over as CEO in place of Cohen.
NZTC was established as part of the Aberdeen City Regional Agreement with £180 million in support from the UK and Scottish governments with the goal of maximizing the North Sea’s energy potential. The Centre has helped screen over 1800 novel discoveries, advance 175 field trials, and commercialize 33 technologies. It has also co-invested more than £253 million in technologies like autonomous robotics and sustainable energy systems.
With 45 companies receiving help through the NZTC’s TechX Pioneers program, which has raised more than £75 million in equity, the Center also aids start-ups. NZTC’s 2022 Open Innovation Program, which would finance 20 projects with £8 million, was announced in October 2022.
Martin Gilbert, the chairman of the NZTC, stated: “Colette had a monumental task on her hands to shape an offering from the Net Zero Technology Centre that industry would buy-in to and advocate.” This was in reference to an industry that is typically slow to change and significantly risk-averse when it comes to adopting new technology. Gilbert called Cohen a “formidable leader” and a “fighter for diversity and inclusion.”
