Pioneering the energy transition

Surita Reynolds is Director of Innovation at Mourik. She supports the divisions and helps accelerate innovation at Mourik.

The balance between the greater purpose and concrete successes
“How do you define innovation within a family business like ours? I think that more than 90 years of Mourik have shown that developing innovative solutions is in our DNA. Most of the time, this was driven by client requests or the need to solve a specific problem with a result-oriented and effective approach. The transition we are now undergoing takes things a step further, focusing more on the long term and on the question: what do we want our impact on the world of tomorrow to mean? Mourik’s strategy includes six transitions that provide us with direction. What do we need to stay ahead in these areas? That is a process involving both the holding and the divisions. Ideas arise close to practice, in projects, sometimes with our own solutions and sometimes with proven technology and knowledge from outside. The CatSpider from Mourik Industry is a great example of this, as are the hydrogen innovations from Accenda within Mourik Infra. At headquarters, we support and accelerate this. The trick is to connect the greater purpose of ‘leading tomorrow’ with the concrete successes of today.”

The dynamics in family businesses are unique
“I don’t have a traditional background in innovation, but I gradually ended up here. For years, I worked in mergers and acquisitions, which is also a proven strategy at Mourik for bringing in new knowledge and technology. Sometimes you have the solution in-house, and sometimes you bring in knowledge from outside. Our colleagues in Belgium and at Mourik industry have been cleaning PFAS from fire extinguishing systems. Traffic & More is another great example for me. It is a tremendous asset for Mourik. It’s inspiring to see how open they are to new ideas. We have plenty of smart people at Mourik; what gives me satisfaction is making the right connections and helping to scale up ideas. The fact that Mourik is a family business adds an extra dimension to that. There’s nothing better than seeing an organization grow from generation to generation.”