Ten questions with Dr Lorraine Kerr

I’m Lorraine Kerr, Director of Strategic Partnerships for North America and Global at Edinburgh Innovations.

What does innovation mean to you?

Innovation to me means creativity and problem-solving, understanding a challenge, and thinking laterally about it to come up with a novel creative solution.

What’s your greatest failure?

We all have failures in our lives, but if you fail, you’ve never tried, right? But yeah, I once failed to get a job that had been specifically written around my expertise. It was a fairly spectacular fail. And although I was very disappointed at the time, it did me a favour in the long run because it led me to get a better job and ultimately led me to the role and where I am now.

What’s your greatest success?

I’m going to choose something from my current role and it’s the development of the FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies partnership. Well, it started with a few PhD studentships. It’s now a very large and vibrant partnership spanning across the university and across the company. And it involves research, collaboration, training, teaching and careers. And it will have a great impact on both the university and the company.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given?

So someone once said to me, do something you love and then work will be fun and you’ll want to be there and you’ll really work hard and that’s the best way to achieve success.

What scares you?

I’m really not very good with heights. I’m particularly bad with structures that are open and have gaps. As I’m convinced, I can fit through that smallest gap even through my rational brain tells me it can’t happen. But fear’s not rational.  

What inspires you?

So, I’m inspired by all the people I work with on a daily basis. From my colleagues in EI to the university staff and the companies we interact with. And together we come up with some amazing ideas and really try to turn them into reality.

What’s your favourite saying?

So, I really have two and they kind of go together. What’s for you won’t go by you and life is short. So, it’s not to say that you can just sit back and let life happen to you. But you should explore the opportunities that come to you in life and see what the options are. Maybe make a meaningful informed decision or sometimes just take a leap and go for it.

What future innovation would you like to see?

So, when I was younger, I thought about how brilliant it would be to have a computer in your pocket. And now we all have mobile phones with all the information at our fingertips. And our children don’t know a world without the internet. And that’s fantastic. But, in my life I’ve really been inspired by Star Trek. I’d love to be able to teleport from one place to another. Just think how much less time we’d have sitting at train stations or in departure lounges at an airport.

What’s your greatest hope?

So, I really hope that people will realise the true magnitude of the climate emergency and take meaningful action before it’s too late.

What’s next for you?

So, the University of Edinburgh is a globally world-leading university and we’re consistently ranked as one of the top 25 universities in the world. So, next, we’re going to develop innovation partnerships internationally and I have a particular focus on North America where there are lots of exciting opportunities.