The Lampitt Medal provides a means by which the Society can honour Members who have taken Leslie Lampitt's example and offered their own extraordinary gifts of time, leadership, vision and enthusiasm. This year's winner is Harry Swan, who will be awarded this Medal at SCI's AGM on 2 July 2025.
1. What made you become a member of SCI?
My father, Tom Swan OBE, was President of the Society between 2000 and 2002, so I always had an interest in SCI and its activities during my early career. When I joined Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd. and became immersed in innovation and new product development, the SCI’s charter and its outstanding networking potential was a natural fit for me and I joined the Board of Trustees as a co-opted member in 2013 when invited to do so by Joanne Lyall, who was Executive Director at the time.
2. Why did you decide to get involved in SCI activities?
SCI is, first and foremost, a membership organisation. Given its history, outstanding reputation and impressive Headquarters in London, it is easy to think that it is a large, well-resourced organisation. In reality it is an SME that relies on the support and engagement of its members. Like many similar organisations, the more you put in the more you get out. I’ve also always valued the exceptional networking opportunities provided by the Society and its range of brilliant and interesting lectures.
3. What has driven your long-term involvement with SCI?
As someone who is perpetually engaged with innovation within the speciality chemical industry, SCI really does offer outstanding support, networking and opportunities for collaboration. I can’t imagine not being involved in the Society so long as I’m still running my Company and looking to provide solutions to the sustainability challenges that society is facing. I have also built long lasting friendships with many other members of the Society and its staff. The older I get, the more I realise that everything is about people and SCI provides a wonderful forum to engage and collaborate with a wide and diverse group of highly skilled and interesting people.
4. How has your involvement with the Society reflected (or combined with) your professional interests?
The two are synonymous. The very essence of innovation is to bring together academic excellence and commercial entrepreneurialism to solve technical challenges. The SCI is exceptional in this regard and will always be part of my innovation journey.
5. Has your professional career been shaped or influenced in any way by your involvement with SCI?
Absolutely. Despite being the CEO and owner of a private company, SCI has expanded my horizons, introduced me to countless new people, given me experience in the responsibilities of managing a charitable membership-driven organisation and allowed me to develop my professional skills through the involvement in a wide range of committees, culminating in chairing a Board of Trustees. It is an excellent organisation for young, upcoming individuals to gain experience in a wide range of committees and positions giving them confidence and invaluable professional skills. My main message to members is to volunteer and get involved! You won’t regret it.
6. What makes you excited to continue to participate in SCI activities?
SCI is at an extraordinary and exciting stage in its long history. Under Sharon Todd’s leadership, the Society has gone from strength to strength, rebuilt its reputation with industry and is now, once more, leading the discussion around innovation and scientific advancement on a national and international level. With Greg Clark taking over as the Chair of our Borad of Trustees and with Paul Drechsler as our President, SCI is now positioned to have real impact, and people are starting to listen. Given the extraordinary geopolitical changes we are witnessing and the ever-present sustainability and climate change challenges, innovation and the commercialisation of science to bring solutions to the market for the benefit of all, couldn’t be more relevant or important. Who wouldn’t want to be part of such an organisation?
7. How do you think your contribution has helped shape SCI?
Goodness, I hope I’ve helped somehow! All I’ve tried to do is be open and honest about the challenges the Society was facing and support Sharon and the Board of Trustees in the significant changes that have taken place over the last ten years. I can’t stress enough how important it has been to have rebuilt the links with industry. The Corporate Partners Network is now an outstanding group of companies that are properly engaged with SCI and providing very valuable guidance on the technical and scientific challenges that they are facing. This sets the tone for a wide range of activities and networking opportunities for the rest of the Society and allows SCI to do what it does best; connect, support, inform, guide and celebrate.
8. What would you like to see SCI become in the future? Where are our biggest opportunities?
SCI has an opportunity to be recognised as the leading organisation in the UK, and beyond, on innovation and the commercialisation of science. We have outstanding resources, knowledge and experience in this field giving us the credibility to guide and shape policy while also bringing together people and organisations to deliver real progress and technical leadership. The deindustrialisation of the UK has been bemoaned by many, but the recent changes in the geopolitical landscape to me feel like an opportunity to set the UK on a new path and industrial strategy that builds on our outstanding academic capabilities as a Nation to develop fleet-of-foot companies that deliver products and solutions to challenges on a global scale. SCI is uniquely placed to guide and support this significant opportunity for the UK which will ultimately benefit the whole of society.
9. How do you feel about being recognised as a Lampitt Medallist?
The most special and humbling awards are always the ones for which you do not apply. My immediate reaction was that I haven’t been at the SCI long enough or done enough to qualify for such an award, so I’m now feeling older than I’d like to! The SCI is a very special organisation that I hold in high regard, so I’m absolutely thrilled that my relatively small contribution has been recognised in this way.
10. What inspires and motivates you?
The buzz I get when I see a new technology successfully launch onto the market. There is nothing as exciting as someone adopting your new product and then buying it again! This feeling is quadrupled when that product does something good for society or helps our precious planet.
11. What advice would you give to someone looking to get more involved with SCI?
Get as involved as you can. We all have busy lives, and the demands of our professional and personal lives wax and wane, so don’t worry if you can only dip in and out of the SCI. Any involvement will be welcomed by the Society, and I promise you won’t regret it!
Visit Blog