Programme Speakers
Owen Jones
Dr Owen Jones is the Director of Technology at AgriSense BCS Ltd, a company which he helped establish in 1984 as a JV with Cardiff University to develop and commercialise insect monitoring and control systems based on pheromones and other semiochemicals. AgriSense is today a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui AgriScience International, part of Mitsui & Co of Japan.
Dr Jones is responsible for the Technical and Scientific issues within the company. He liaises with external research and development partners as well as being responsible for the company’s own product development activity internally. AgriSense has a workforce of over 60 people at its Treforest site, and has won two Queen’s Awards for export achievement.
Dr Jones is also the Managing Director and one of the founding members of Ambiensis Ltd, a technology development and consultancy company specialising in the Agro-Environmental sector. This company, established in 2000 selects, funds and develops pre-commercial projects from proven concepts to commercial exploitation.
Prior to founding AgriSense in the early 1980s, Dr Jones spent seven years at the Chemical Entomology Unit, Southampton University, as a Senior Research Entomologist in charge of the Unit’s entomological activities.
Dr Jones’ academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Wales, Bangor, in Zoology and Applied Zoology and a Doctor of Philosophy Degree from the University of Cambridge ( Churchill College) in Applied Entomology. Dr Jones has been a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society of London since 1978 and is an Honorary Professor in the School of Biosciences, Cardiff University.
Dr Jones has published widely in scientific journals and text books on Integrated Pest Management and is regularly invited to give talks on the subject or chair meetings on the technology. He is also very interested in the field of Technology Transfer between Academia and Industry and has served on steering committees of organisations and initiatives set up to facilitate the process. He has chaired the Objective 1 Innovation and R & D Partnership Board for the last three years and is a Board Member of the Cardiff Partnership Fund – Cardiff University’s Challenge Fund.
