Meet our speakers

Gurkan is a dedicated professional with a strong background in international business and a passion for advancing manufacturing SMEs through digital transformation and lean practices. Recently engaged in a funded project under the Smart Manufacturing Data Hub (SMDH) and collaborating with Vyne Analytics, Gurkan helps manufacturing SMEs in the UK assess their digital capabilities and create strategic roadmaps to adopt cutting-edge technologies—empowering them to enhance performance and competitiveness.

Committed to industry engagement, Gurkan leads impactful workshops that bridge academia and industry, focusing on how lean philosophy and digital technologies drive business performance. Their involvement in Scotland and UK`s manufacturing landscape includes providing free digital capability assessments and roadmapping services funded by SMDH and sharing insights at significant events like the Scotland Manufacturing and Supply Chain Exhibition.

I am passionate about sustainability, electronics and software technology built on open source foundations. I enjoy fast paced commercial environments and thrive on innovation, turning ideas into reality. I co-founded Devtank in 2014 to bring disruptive test and measurement products to industry. I enjoy building high performing teams and solving problems using digital technology.

Devtank:

Devtank are based in Derbyshire, the heart of the Industrial Revolution. Devtank are disrupting the industry with a new revolution of award-winning production test and smart monitoring solutions. We are experts in supporting manufacturing businesses with solutions that drive efficiency, productivity, quality, environmental improvements and energy reduction.

I am an occasional consultant offering innovation support, mainly in the UK but also internationally, utilising my understanding of academe, industry and government. I chair the Board of LEDCOM, the Charitable Economic Development Company serving Larne and Ballyclare in SE Antrim and I am a visiting Chair at Ulster University offering advice to senior staff, chairing various connected bodies, and giving occasional guest lectures on leadership and innovation. Recently, I became the chair of the UK-wide industry steering group for a new national Innovate-UK project, Smart Manufacturing Data Hub, won & led by UU. For many years, I chaired the steering group of NI Advanced Engineering and Composite Centre, now a part of the Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Centre and allied to the UK High Value Manufacturing Catapult

I am an Active Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, where I have pro bono roles in its Enterprise Hub and in its International Activity, focusing on solving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. I am also a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering and have been working to develop the outworking of the MOU between the two Academies. As Director DERA Malvern, I developed a successful and profitable sector, of commercial value to the civil economy of the UK. I was co-opted to the Council of the CBI in the West Midlands where I was able to create many links between research and local industry.