TECH TRENDS
BELOW Sagentia CTO Alun James
SAGENTIA Alun James has been with Sagentia for 20 years, and no-one is more surprised by this than the man himself. “I moved to Cambridge in 2000, and never thought I’d spend the next 20 years working for one company,” he says. “But in that time I’ve spent three years working in a start-up within the group, I’ve done business development, I’ve managed profit and loss and now I have the chief technology officer role. I love that variety and it’s been a great learning experience to be put in so many different situations.” As CTO, Alun is now responsible for maintaining Sagentia’s reputation for technical excellence in areas such as agritech. He feels this sector could be key as communities around the world look to come to terms with the effects of the climate emergency. “When you look at the issue of climate change, and what’s going on in Australia and other places at the moment, agritech is going to become increasingly important,” he says. “It covers everything from how we can improve animal breeding programmes, to
genetically modified plants which have had their genes edited to make them more resistant to disease. It might not be the sexiest technology area but it’s really fascinating.” Public perception of genetically modified crops – so called ‘Frankenstein foods’ – has not always been overwhelmingly positive, but Alun says this is starting to change. He adds: “It did have a negative image, particularly in the UK and Europe, but what we’re seeing now is much more precise intervention, unlike in the past where people would just change a load of genes to see what would happen. Having worked in Cambridge for two decades, Alun believes the strength of Sagentia is partly drawn from the city’s famous and unique ecosystem. “As consultancies, whether it’s us or any of the others, we all have our niches,” he says. “At Sagentia we are really focused on the technology around science. We have a great team and having our team be able to work
across sectors is really important. We move people around, and you might be working in food and beverage one week, then move on to a completely different industry the next. Having that ability to look at different areas is where innovation comes from. “The Cambridge Cluster is also massively important, and the effect of that clustering is the way we differentiate ourselves from the rest of the world. Other people try and use the model, but it’s never been replicated anywhere else in the world. We have a hotbed of innovation here, a highly talented group of people with the ability to solve a lot of the world’s problems.” sagentia.com
When you look at the issue of climate change, and what’s going on in Australia and other places at the moment, agritech is going to become increasingly important"
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ISSUE 05
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