”The industrial automation sector is in the process of significant change, with greater connectivity between devices and compute platforms, a proliferation of sensing modalities, and new paradigms for data processing, fusion, and information extraction, all set against a market desire for greater flexibility and speed of implementation. Vision technologies remain critical to this future; however, the competitive landscape will continue to evolve.
In addition to the general responsibilities of the EMVA board, I would like to help ensure that the EMVA and its member companies continue to play a central role in the development of industrial vision and are able to operate effectively in the new market environment, epitomized by the Platform 4.0 and IIoT initiatives. In particular, I would like to support the development of new companies entering the market, advocate broadening the scope of sensor technologies within the EMVA, and promote the awareness of wider industrial contexts and initiatives.”
Short CV
Chris Yates is Partner at Vision Ventures, company specialized in M&A and corporate transactions in automated imaging, machine vision, and computer vision.
Chris has varied background in early stage technology companies having previously been Chief Scientist at AIM listed startup Microemissive Displays developing OLED on CMOS devices for virtual reality applications, as well as tenures with Forth Dimension Displays designing ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon micro-displays, and involved with multiple spin-out projects including with the University of St Andrews, Strathclyde University, and the Technische Universität Berlin.
Afterwards Chris was the founder and CEO of Scottish industrial 3D time-of-flight imaging specialist, Odos Imaging, prior to the acquisition by Rockwell Automation in November 2017. Until March 2020 Chris was the Director of Advanced Technology at the Safety, Sensing, and Connectivity Business Unit of Rockwell Automation Inc.
Chris has a first class degree and Ph.D from Imperial College, London and has focused his career on working with novel technology in the area of electro-optics.
He was elected into the EMVA Board of Directors by the General Assembly 2018 in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and in January 2020 he took over the post of EMVA President.
