Ian James is the Senior Sector Specialist for the Victorian Centre for Sustainable Chemical Manufacturing. A key part of his role involves liaising with industry to understand their needs and concerns and linking them with the research and training capabilities within the VCSCM consortium. Ian has qualifications in chemistry as well intellectual property law. He has worked for nearly 20 years in industry based research. He worked for 10 years with a contract research company initially as a medicinal chemist in collaborative projects with overseas pharmaceutical companies but later working in business development and managing their intellectual property and commercial contracts. He then worked as consultant for over 8 years assisting local biotechnology companies with their chemistry needs, intellectual property and business management. Ian has a strong interest in seeing the skills and resources available within the local research community be used to help our local industries grow and develop. With the VCSCM, he has worked with a broad range of industries, identifying key areas where local researchers can help the company become more competitive through improved products and processes.