Marco Waas is Director RD&I and Technology at Nouryon since 2012. He is responsible for the Research, Development, Innovation and Technology of the Industrial Chemical Business Unit. Key themes of the project portfolio are Technology leadership, Circular Economy, Electrification and Industry 4.0. He leads the drive for open innovation for the company (Venture Fund, S/Park open innovation centre, Imagine Chemistry challenge).
Marco is leading the board of the Waste to Chemicals Rotterdam Joint Venture (Shell, Port of Rotterdam, Air liquid, Enerkem and Nouryon). He is Chairman of the Executive Board of the ISPT (Institute of Sustainable Process Technology), Chairman of the Innovation Policy Committee of the VNCI (Dutch Chemical Industry Association), member of the Electro Chemical Conversion & Materials committee and non executive Board member of the Icos III collaborative venture fund.
Before joining AkzoNobel he held the position of Dean at the Delft University of Technology (2004-2012), responsible for the Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering. In this responsibility he also co-founded YES!Delft (incubator), Science Port Holland (science park), and two collaborative investment funds.
Marco Waas studied (Bio)chemical technology and information technology at the University of Amsterdam. After his military service he started working for Unilever (1985-2004). For Unilever he held several (senior) management positions, including research program manager, factory manager, European logistics and planning manager and global Vice President Supply Chain & Technology.