Julian Taylor
Managing Director of Innovation & Industry Engagement at University of Strathclyde
(Glasgow’s Innovation Districts)
Julian Taylor is Professor of International Innovation and Engagement at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland—a leading international technological university with a distinctive approach to industry engagement and real-world impact. In this role, he builds strategic partnerships with industry, government, and academic leaders while directly delivering knowledge exchange activities. His work focuses on unlocking commercially successful opportunities that align with the university’s priorities in research, innovation, and teaching and its socially progressive ethos.
As Managing Director of International Operations, Julian established and now leads the University’s South East Asia Hub, which serves as a focal point for collaboration. Rather than simply facilitating one-to-one partnerships, the Hub cultivates comprehensive innovation ecosystems that drive meaningful impact.
Julian brings extensive experience from Scotland’s economic development sector. Until 2013, he served as Managing Director of Strategy and Economics at Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s national economic development agency, where he was part of the agency’s Executive Leadership Team and was responsible for helping to shape the nation’s economic strategy. He championed evidence-based project appraisal and evaluation, transforming how the agency made strategic decisions.
In 2013, Julian relocated to Shanghai to lead Scottish Development International’s Asia-Pacific operations. Over six years, he held full Profit and Loss (P&L) responsibility for 12 teams across India, China, Japan, Korea, Australia, and Singapore, promoting trade and investment throughout the region.
Julian joined the University of Strathclyde in 2020 to provide strategic leadership in attracting industrial research partners and advancing the university’s global engagement agenda.
Keynote Speech:
Empowering Partners on the ESG Journey: International Insights from Glasgow’s Innovation Districts
Julian will share insights from Glasgow’s ambitious efforts to build thriving innovation districts and the ecosystems that support them, with a particular focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations across new and existing partnerships. Drawing on his experience with collaborative partnerships across the UK and Asia, he will provide practical frameworks for developing robust innovation ecosystems.
He will also spotlight Glasgow’s Innovation Districts, led by the University of Strathclyde, and the newly established Advanced Net Zero Innovation Centre (ANZIC) as a world-class initiative driving Scotland’s ambition to reach net zero by 2045, ahead of the UK’s 2050 target. Together, they showcase how cities can align innovation, infrastructure, and sustainability goals to deliver measurable impact across industries and communities.
Key Takeaways:
- Practical insights on building ESG-driven innovation ecosystems – how city-scale collaboration can unite research, enterprise, and policy to achieve tangible sustainability results.
- Collaboration strategies for sustainable growth – guidance on aligning corporate, policy, and regional initiatives through cross-border partnerships that drive impactful ESG innovation.
- Connecting global experience to regional transformation – how Asia can leverage lessons from Glasgow’s Innovation Districts ESG innovation journey to shape its own networks of sustainable and inclusive growth.
