People

Andy Kerr, Executive Director

Andy became the Centre's Director in December 2010. A leading figure in the areas of low carbon adaption and Climate Change in Scotland, Andy will use his extensive experience of working with governments, businesses and academics to drive the strategic and practical development of the Centre.

Previously, Andy worked in the private sector in the emerging international carbon and biofuel markets, working with companies to develop both strategic and practical management responses to emerging opportunities and legislation.

His public policy work has focused on developing effective national and regional policy frameworks that support the reduction in dependence on fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions. Andy’s recent projects include contribution to the Royal Society of Edinburgh Inquiry Facing up to Climate Change: Breaking the barriers to a low carbon Scotland; and the Scottish Government's Climate Change Delivery Plan to meet statutory emission reduction targets of 42% by 2020 against a 1990 baseline and 80% by 2050.
Andy also co-author the book Climate Change & Emissions Trading, which has just been published in its third edition.

e: andrew.kerr@ed.ac.uk

t:  +44 (0)131 6505326

Ed Craig, Head of Business Innovation

Ed Craig is the Edinburgh Centre's Head of Business Innovation, leading the Innovation and Business activities within the Centre with a specific focus on enabling the long term sustainability of the Centre and its activities. His remit includes the leadership of a significant EU project and a project team of 6 which aims to guide and support over 1000 SMEs to develop and implement innovative low carbon products and services within 6 key operational clusters: Sustainable Transport; Green ICT, Carbon Accounting; Carbon Finance; Renewables & The Built Environment; Land, Water & Waste. The project is also prioritising supporting Low carbon focused knowledge exchange partnerships to innovate and create sustainable economic and social impact.

Ed also works with the Director to build the ECCi business model and formulate strategic initiatives, in order to enhance the Centre’s reach, imapct and income generating potential, both in the UK and abroad Ed has specific responsibilities for building strong strategic partnerships and relationships with our key internal and external stakeholders to ensure that the Centre has clear and open channels of communication to drive the ambitions of our core partners: University of Edinburgh, Heriot Watt University and Edinburgh Napier University. These include the Public Sector, Larger Corporate organisations and the Third Sector organisations and their supply chains.

Until January 2012 Ed was Head of Project Development and Management at Edinburgh Napier University where he was responsible for providing intensive and oversight support to University strategic leaders to access public and private sector funding to create, incubate and mainstream new projects partnerships which meet the core mission of the University. Over an 11 year tenure he acquired over £50 million in European, Public and Private sector funding to help secure Napier’s status as one of the top Universities in the UK for EU funded projects and in Scotland for knowledge exchange activity supporting innovation and skills exchange.n nEd has been responsible for the development and oversight of multiple Low Carbon national and international project partnerships on themes including sustainable transportation, biomass, sustainable construction and Smart Cities. Ed is an experienced staff and resource leader and in 2003 established Scotland’s first department dedicated to the acquisition and management of external EU funding within a University. I have a Business Commerce Honours and an MSc in Human Ecology from the University of Edinburgh and have a significant knowledge of National & EU funding streams in particular regarding innovation and Low carbon issues.

e: ed.craig@ed.ac.uk

t:  +44 (0)131 650 8170

Jim Hart, Business Manager

Jim is a Business Manager for the Centre, based at Edinburgh Napier University. He is tasked with developing links between the Universities and businesses – especially Scottish SMEs – in order to help those businesses overcome the various barriers to innovative low carbon products and services. 

Jim has more than ten years of experience as a consultant (most recently with AECOM) providing strategic and design advice in a wide range of inter-related areas including resource efficiency, renewable energy, waste, sustainable buildings, and carbon naccounting and management.

e: J.Hart@napier.ac.uk

t:  +44 (0)131 455 5135 

Dave Gunn, Business Manager

Dave initiates, develops and manages ECCI’s relationships with academics, industry, policy makers and the public sector. Covering the areas of carbon finance, carbon management and carbon accounting, Dave's work enables and assists external organisations in accessing the Centre’s unique range of expert services and resources to provide effective solutions to meet the emerging challenges and opportunities of a low carbon economy.

Dave spent his early career working as a marine geologist for the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). In 2002 Dave moved into research commercialisation with responsibilities for commercialising expert services and intellectual property at the British Antarctic Survey (Cambridge), the National Oceanographic Centre (Southampton) and the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (Liverpool). More recently Dave moved back to Scotland when he was appointed Director of Knowledge Transfer and Commercialisation at the Scottish Association for Marine Science laboratory in Oban.

e: dave.gunn@ed.ac.uk

t:  +44 (0)7706166525

Andrew Mitchell, Business Manager

Andrew initiates, builds and manages relationships with businesses and the public sector to support and develop innovation and professional skills, with a particular focus on urban design and the built environment sector.

Andrew has been deeply involved in business-university collaboration and executive & entrepreneurship education since 1999, raising over €10 million of industry, government and higher-education “enterprise” funding. Prior to joining the Edinburgh Centre he established and led “Informatics Ventures” in Edinburgh based within Europe’s largest and the UK’s top rated Computer Science research department. Previous employment includes the University of Cambridge, the Cambridge-MIT Institute Ltd, British Telecommunications plc, Accenture and Covell Matthews Architects Ltd. He has worked at the University-Business interface in Scotland, England, Australia and North America.

e: a.mitchell@hw.ac.uk

t:  +44 (0)7793111386 

Charlotte Waugh, Business Development

As the Centre's Business Development Officer, Charlotte uses her experience of engaging effectively with the business community to support the work of the three Business Managers.
Charlotte joins ECCI from the Building and Construction Forum where she provided help, support and CPD to the construction sector in the areas of sustainability, heritage, management and business development. Through the Forum she helped deliver three successful construction contracts forn Scottish Enterprise to upskill and inform the sector about Low Carbon Agenda issues and how to make the most of any business opportunities. Previous to this Charlotte ran her own marketing and publishing businessn engaging with a wide sector of businesses and public bodies across Scotland and the North of England.

e: charlotte.waugh@ed.ac.uk

t:  +44 (0)131 6509822 

Annabel Cooper, Communications

Annabel is tasked with developing and managing the Centre’s communications strategy and assisting the Business Managers in driving ECCI's agenda forward.

Annabel’s previous experience includes 2 years with the EPSRC’s Sustainable Urban Environments programme, a £45m initiative aimed at communicating the challenges of achieving a sustainable future.

e: annabel.cooper@ed.ac.uk

t:  +44 (0)131 6509811 

Pat Ferguson, PA to the Director

Pat is Personal Assistant to the Executive Director Andy Kerr and provides administrative support to the Business Development team.  
Pat's experience has been gained from working as a Personal Assistant to Executives in the areas of Biotechnology, Life Sciences and Informatics during some of the major transition periods of sector growth. Her extensive knowledge overarches both the Higher Education and Commercial sectors with direct involvement in the commercialisation of IP, Knowledge Transfer and the creation of SMEs both in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

e: pat.ferguson@ed.ac.uk

t:  +44 (0)131 6505326