Introducing our new CEO

The University of Southampton Science Park announced the appointment of Dr Robin Chave as its new Chief Executive Officer, following the retirement of Peter Birkett earlier this year.

After starting his career as a research scientist in the automotive industry, he joined QinetiQ as a forensic engineer, examining broken bits of aircraft and military hardware, ultimately moving into project management and leading multi-million-pound projects and bids within air and land divisions. Robin has been Operations Director at the Science Park for the past nine years.

Dr Chave commented: “I am delighted to have been given responsibility for the future development and direction of the Science Park.

My first priority is to get out and talk to people about the challenges that technology businesses here face and to try to find innovative ways that the Science Park can support their growth and prosperity.

From my conversations with CEOs here so far, the feedback I’m getting is that companies recognise that this is a truly desirable business destination in the region. The attractiveness of our surroundings and the added value that the Science Park brings are important considerations for the businesses that choose to locate themselves here. There’s a definite sense that – even though we could be moving towards turbulent economic times – our community approach, which encourages collaborative working, can help companies of all sizes here to continue to thrive.   

I’m very much looking forward to working with my team to build on our current success to become the obvious home for game-changing technology businesses across the region.”