Chemicals, Materials & Natural Resources
What separates organizations that consistently innovate from those that simply collect more information? In conversation with Matt Kramer, Digital Editor...
Sample Business Objective #1
About Dr. Sarah Hickingbottom
Expertise
Chemicals & Materials StrategyBio-based Chemicals & Sustainable FeedstocksIndustrial Economics & Price ForecastingSupply Chain, Sourcing & Procurement IntelligenceRegulation & Policy StrategyCircularity & Value RetentionNatural Resources & Critical MaterialsInnovation, Start-Ups, Commercialisation & Scale-up
Highlights
- Advises chemicals, materials and natural-resources leadership teams on portfolio, sourcing, technology and growth decisions
- Combines scientific depth with commercial judgement across bio-based chemicals, sustainable feedstocks, circularity and industrial biotechnology
- Works across industrial economics, price forecasting, plant-level economics, location strategy, supply-chain exposure and procurement intelligence
- Advises on regulation and policy strategy, drawing on advisory and strategy-board roles across the bioeconomy, chemicals and innovation ecosystem
- Former CEO and start-up General Manager with direct experience translating emerging technologies into commercially grounded strategies
Dr Sarah Hickingbottom leads the Chemicals, Materials & Natural Resources practice at FutureBridge, advising clients across chemicals, materials, bio-based industries, natural resources, circularity and advanced technologies.
She works with leadership teams where scientific, market and policy uncertainty intersect with commercial decisions. Her work helps clients make decisions on portfolio priorities, sourcing and procurement exposure, technology choices, market entry, regulation and policy strategy, innovation investment, commercialisation and asset-level economics.
Sarah brings more than 25 years’ experience across research, consulting, market intelligence, economic strategy, start-ups and senior leadership. Her work spans bio-based chemicals, sustainable feedstocks, industrial biotechnology, circular materials, price forecasting, plant economics and the translation of emerging technologies into investable commercial propositions.
Before joining FutureBridge, Sarah held senior leadership roles including CEO of the innovation cluster BioVale and General Manager of a bio-based chemicals start-up. She has served in advisory and strategy-board roles across the bioeconomy, chemicals and innovation landscape, with practical experience across policy, funding, stakeholder alignment and technology scale-up.
Sarah holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from UCLA and a BSc from Imperial College. She brings extensive cross-market experience across Europe, North America, Asia and other global growth regions.
Turning scientific, market and policy complexity into decisions leaders can act on
“The companies that win in chemicals, materials and natural resources will not simply track disruption. They will know which assumptions no longer hold, where future value is moving, and which decisions need to be made before the market forces them.”
