Devoted to building bridges
Trained as a physicist specialized in fluid dynamics, Mark Cox has been building bridges between academia and industry for almost twenty years. Since November 1st, he joined EIRES as program manager.
What is your background in terms of education?
‘I obtained my Master’s degree in Applied Physics at TU/e back in 1994 under the supervision of Gertjan van Heijst. My expertise on fluid dynamics helped me obtain jobs at two different engineering firms that focused on the built environment. There I got more and more involved in environmental legislation and how to connect that to innovative technology.’
How and when did you end up working at TU/e?
‘After some ten years, the time had come to look for a new challenge. One of the professors of TU/e’s Built Environment department heard about my ambitions and offered me a job. He had acquired funding for a large public-private partnership program and needed someone to run that and ensure tight connections between the academic and industrial partners. After a couple of years at that department, I made a switch to what later became the Innovation Lab.’
What did your work there entail?
‘Over the years I have been involved in a myriad of different projects, ranging from the renovation of the main building (now Atlas) to coaching and initiating student teams like Solid and Team FAST. The linking pin in my work has always been connecting different people with different backgrounds to achieve a common goal. My work thus has varied from attracting interest from SME’s and large companies for TU/e research projects to linking the ambitions formulated by TU/e Real Estate to departmental plans and taking stock of available research infrastructure to facilitate access for researchers.’
What will be your main task as a program manager at EIRES?
‘At the moment, TU/e researchers are involved in a wagonload of individual energy-related projects. My job is to put all these pieces together to create a critical mass with a distinct TU/e profile, enabling TU/e researchers to positively impact the energy transition. EIRES is the middleman here, a vehicle to connect all the different existing initiatives, expertise and infrastructure to put TU/e on the map when it comes to energy research. In addition to that, it is my personal mission to help bridge the so-called valley of death, building bridges from technologies at Technology Readiness Levels 1,2 and 3 tot commercially viable products. By facilitating the relations between academia and industry we can create the necessary overlay between scientific research and the R&D capacity of companies.’
What do you need to be successful?
‘My most important message is that we need each other to succeed. That goes for EIRES as an institute, for the TU/e as a university, for Brainport as a region and for society as a whole when it comes to the energy transition. I am always looking for good ideas and possible partnerships. My door is open, feel free to contact me!’