A high-value history

Royal send-off: IRL’s Barry Marlow, who received the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Science and Technology Medal in 2001,
retires this year.

Dr Marlow, who will retire in mid-2011 after a long and illustrious career, intends to remain at IRL in a consultancy capacity in the short term “to help in any way I can to enable that potential to be realised.”

“It’s my belief that the high-value manufacturing sector has the most potential for growth. Some of our top New Zealand firms, for example Rakon and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, are showing how well they can perform on the world stage. IRL is right beside them, offering R&D support to help them maintain and enhance that standing.”

Whilst Dr Marlow’s award by the Royal Society of New Zealand of the Science and Technology Medal in 2001 for his contribution to microelectronics research was a career highlight, Dr Marlow says one of his most rewarding achievements has been helping scientists and business people to speak the same language.

“We have developed some very good relationships with many companies in the high value manufacturing sector over the years.

“It’s a matter of having capable people who are willing to understand everyone’s needs and work towards a common goal—treating people as equals and allowing them to do whatever it is they’re best at is really important.”

Of course, in a career as long as his, there have been many other significant successes along the way—though Dr Marlow is characteristically unassuming when pressed to elaborate.

“No-one works alone, and I have always had the ongoing support of the excellent teams I’ve managed in order to achieve those successes. I’d say the weighing and grading system we devised, which was technology transferred, was another highlight. Meat works all over the country are still using equipment based on the technology that we developed.”

Also high on Dr Marlow’s list has been the successes of his teams with a custom-designed communications chip for Tait Electronics, the wood grading technology HITMAN™, the 3D dental ultrasound work, research into skin imaging, and setting in place the groundwork for IRL’s leading-edge research into fast fluidics.

Dr Marlow is quick to acknowledge that his scientific background (he has a PhD in electronics from the University of Southampton and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Canterbury) has enabled him to view issues “from both sides of the fence”, and facilitated what could have been a difficult transition from research to management.

“Taking on a general management role seemed like a natural progression from leading scientific teams, which began for me back in the days of DSIR. I stepped in to help out in my current general management role for six months, thinking I had something to offer, and several years later I’m still here.

“I enjoy it because IRL has been a part of me for many years. Whilst the science environment is not always easy and science strategies have been constrained by the funding system over the years, I believe science contributes hugely to the overall economic benefit of New Zealand. Some of the recommendations of the recent CRI^[?] Taskforce I see holding great potential for the future of science in New Zealand."