Water & Wastewater Treatment

www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | july 2014 | 11 Industry leaders Steve Kaye Head of innovation Anglian Water "It has changed so much in the last fi een years it is like a different job." W hen he first took on the job of head of innovation at Anglian Water thirteen years ago Steve Kaye had the job of overseeing a large team of researchers and engineers. Back then innovation meant finding new ways to do things and implementing them – using an in-house team to develop new systems and better methods and processes. Today Kaye has the same job title, but the job itself has changed almost beyond recognition. His role is far more wide-reaching – covering new technology, IT, management structure, budg- eting and community partnerships and touching on areas such as finance and public relations. Yet his central team is far smaller - consisting of 13 rather than 40 people. However this does not reflect a lack of invest- ment, Anglian Water currently spends some £10m a year on R&D, but ideas about how to stimulate innovation have changed enormously. The notion of innovation is now a lot more outward looking – with an emphasis on develop- ing partnerships outside the core business. Kaye says: "It has become much more about collabora- tion and about openness than about having a large central research and development team. My job now has become about helping Anglian Water become a more innovative company." AŽer training as a mechanical engineer Kaye began his career working for the steel industry in Sheffield. However, at the time the steel industry was very much in decline with jobs being lost and plants closed. So, Kaye moved on to work for a parts manufacturing business where, he says "I got involved in research and development, particularly in pumps and valves." Having developed an interest in water technol- ogy, he joined Anglian in 1990 as a chartered engineer, with the job of overseeing large capital projects such as coastal works and water treat- Anglian's Water Innovation Network brings some 500 small to medium- sized enterprises together to capture new ideas and, crucially, act on them www.axflow.co.uk email: info@axflow.co.uk London 0208 579 2111 - Windsor 01344 886 633 Huddersfield 01484 543 649 - Durham 01325 327 322 - Aberdeen 01224 729 367 Big Pumps Little Pumps Long Pumps Short Pumps PD Pumps Centrif Pumps Hose Pumps AOD Pumps Metering Pumps Disc Pumps .... to mention just a few.

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