Chair, Bioresource Processing Alliance

Max Kennedy is a biochemical engineer specialising in fermentation and is the Managing Director of consulting company, Biolighthouse Ltd. Previously, he was Manager of Contestable Investments at the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). In this role, Max was responsible for Research & Development supporting transformative economic, environmental and social outcomes for New Zealand including from the Endeavour Fund (New Zealand’s largest contestable research fund), the industry-led Partnership Fund, the Pre-Seed Acceleration Fund, and the Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund. Max also led MBIE’s COVID Innovation Acceleration Fund to support research to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Max was appointed as Chair of the BPA in September 2024.