Kathryn Chapman appointed to lead Innovate Cambridge

Innovate Cambridge has appointed Kathryn Chapman as its new executive director.

Previously innovation director at Babraham Research Campus, she will build on the success of Tabitha Goldsmith.

Innovate Cambridge was launched in 2022. The strategy, underpinned by a partnership with over 200 organisations and Charter Signatories and over 500 key stakeholders, aims to ensure that Cambridge’s science, innovation and business communities have what they need to be successful, maximising economic and social return and sharing that growth with the wider community and the UK. The executive director’s role is “leading the organisation’s strategy to amplify and enable the city’s world-class innovation system”.

A molecular bioscientist by training, Chapman has held diverse leadership and strategic roles across the public and private sectors. Following a successful research career at the University of Manchester, Harvard Medical School, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), she spent a decade building and leading the innovation strategy for NC3Rs, a UKRI Research Council, establishing the Milner Therapeutics Institute at the University of Cambridge to deliver an innovation hub for life sciences, and directing the innovation strategy at the Babraham Research Campus.

Diarmuid O’Brien, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation at the University of Cambridge and CEO of Cambridge Enterprise, said: “Kathryn Chapman is well known for her commitment to building Cambridge’s innovation ecosystem so that it can challenge the very best ecosystems around the world.

“As we look forward to this year’s Innovate Cambridge Summit, I’m delighted to see Kathryn take up this role bringing all her skills and experience to boost growth across the region and the UK.”