THE managing director of a family-owned chemical firm has been appointed to a top industry organisation.

Harry Swan, of Thomas Swan and Co, based in Consett, County Durham, is now on the governing board at Innovate UK.

The body, sponsored by the Government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, aims to increase the development of products to meet market needs.

Mr Swan’s appointment will last until June 2017.

He added: “Harnessing the UK’s remarkable capability to innovate is central to rebuilding a strong economy based on wealth generating businesses.”

Earlier this year, The Northern Echo reported how Thomas Swan was playing an integral role in putting the UK at the pinnacle of the global science market.

The company, which started life converting steel industry slag waste into road surfacing material, is working with the Government on revolutionary projects to strengthen the evolution of wonder material graphene.

An ultra-light carbon material, experts say graphene can conduct electricity a million times better than copper and support the weight of a ten-tonne truck, despite being as thin as a human hair.

To meet industry demand, Thomas Swan has scaled up its Elicarb graphene plant to make up to 1kg every day, and bosses aim to make the region a centre of excellence after meeting experts from the £60m Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC).

The development will be based at the University of Manchester, and a team visited Swan’s site for insight into how to best design the GEIC building.