colin austin

Colin Austin has had a varied career after graduating in engineering in from Sheffield University in 1963. He started his career in process control, gradually building up expertise in the control of plastics processing equipment, working as R & D Manager before taking a spell in academia lecturing at RMIT in Melbourne.

Some years ago, Colin wrote a piece of software that transformed the international design of plastics moulds using scientific principles rather than 'gut feel'. So successful was this software that the company that Colin founded (Moldflow) became the largest exporter of technical software in Australia, a multi-million dollar company selling in over 48 countries throughout the world. He attribute the success to the system of speculative research he used to create innovations.

He became increasingly concerned about environmental issues, particularly the management of what he sees as the world’s most critical resource soil and fresh water. Just as he had changed the plastics industry from a 'hunch based' to a science based process, he saw that soil and water technology could be transformed by the application of the scientific approach.

He realized that the work he had being doing on improving soil by increasing the organic content could have profound impact on resolving climate change.