Bühler said Roberts is known as an ambassador for innovation and technology.
The CTO of the Year award is presented byEIRMAandSpinverse, and is given to technology leaders of European companies who are inspiring and foresighted technology managers. The award recognizes the most successful technology leaders in two categories: small and medium-sized enterprises and large corporations. Previous winners have included Martin Curley from Intel Corp.; Marcel Wubbolts from Royal DSM; Richard Parker from Rolls-Royce; and Gert-Jan Gruter from Avantium, among others.
“This award reflects the hard work of the Bühler employees, the vision and commitment to innovation and sustainability of the leadership team and their audacity to drive change in an already successful company,” Roberts said during the award ceremony. “With these initiatives, we are able to create a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across the company.”
Bühler said Roberts is known as an ambassador for innovation and technology. Bühler's innovation challenge, driven by Roberts, has become an example for companies that aim at transforming company culture, building organizational innovation capability, and leveraging partnerships with customers, suppliers, and universities, the company said. Likewise, Roberts has been the architect for the launch ofMass ChallengeSwitzerland.
Roberts joined Bühler in 2010. He is a member of the Bühler Group Executive Board. He graduated in chemical engineering and obtained a Ph.D. in process engineering from the University of Wales, Great Britain. He had various management positions at Nestlé, acting as director of innovation for Nestlé Mexico and as director of the Chocolate Centre of Excellence in Switzerland.
Every year Bühler invests up to 5% of its turnover in research and development. The latest innovations, unveiled at theBühler Networking Days, include the CombiMill process with increased flexibility for millers, the new generation of high-precision scale Tubex with energy savings of over 90%, the energy-efficient pasta drying with Ecothermatic, as well as the Novablue solution for increased food safety.
