Kevin Forshaw is Managing Director of Dorset Innovation Park Ltd and is leading on an ambitious plan for growth at the Park that encourages business growth to ensure UK Resilience. Previously Director of Marine Business Development in the Marine Institute at the University of Plymouth, former Chair of Maritime UK South West and the Innovation Board of Plymouth and South Devon Freeport, and with previous positions at the UK’s National Oceanography Centre and the University of Southampton.
Kevin has always been at the interface between Industry and Academia, securing over £100 million of UK and EC R&D funding for collaborative research for marine and maritime in areas including maritime cyber-security, Clean Maritime, and Marine Autonomous System development. This included industry support for Plymouth’s Cyber-SHIP Lab, and setting up the UK’s Marine Robotic Innovation Centre at NOC, which was described as an example of a best-practice Innovation Ecosystem and used as a case study by the OECD’s Ocean Economy team.