John Zhou, ACR’s 2023 Technology and Innovation Leadership Award Recipient
We are pleased to announce John Zhou as ACR’s 2023 Technology and Innovation Leadership Award Recipient. John has over 25 years of innovation and management experience working in energy and sustainability innovation. He is highly deserving of ACR’s first Technology and Innovation Leadership Award. Please join us in celebrating Dr. Zhou and his contributions toward Alberta’s resource industry, along with our other award recipients, at ACR’s Awards Banquet on March 5, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta.
John Zhou, Ph.D., P. Geol., ICD.D,
Chief Cleantech Officer & Vice President, Clean Resources,
2023 Technology & Innovation Leadership Award
In his role at Alberta Innovates, John Fulfills dual responsibilities in overseeing corporate strategy for clean tech and sustainable resource development and providing operations leadership for the Clean Resources business line.
He leads strategic initiatives, develops collaborations opportunities, and provides expertise to stakeholders as the corporation’s primary expert to policy groups shaping GHG mitigation, climate adaptation, and clean economy transition plans and programs.
John oversees program investments directed to Agrifood, Cleantech, Energy, Environment, and Forestry. He also leads Alberta Innovates’ advice and services to Emissions Reduction Alberta in the identification and selection of its portfolio of projects.
As an inventor with seven U.S. patents, two of which led multimillion-dollar commercial success, John developed and is driving the vision for Bitumen Beyond Combustion (BBC), as a transformative effort to create a multibillion-dollar advanced materials industry in Alberta using its vast bitumen resource.
John has over 25 years of innovation and management experience in energy and sustainability innovation inculding 10 years as manager for Advanced Materials at the Alberta Research Council. He was the foundering director of the international industry consortium, Materials and Reliability in Oil Sands (MARIOS).
John was Executive Director, Chief Technical Officer, and acting CEO of Alberta Innovates - Energy and Environment Solutions. He led key initiatives including carbon capture and storage, the SAGD water conservation study, and dilbit transportation, and oversaw bitumen recovery and partial upgrading programs. John was expert witness to Canadian House of Commons and Senate Committees on Energy and Sustainability.
He is a board director of the Petroleum Technology Alliance of Canada, a guest director of the Alberta Chamber of Resources and a steering committee member of Clean Resources Innovation Network. He was an Energy Futures Lab Fellow. John was the recipient of the 2018 PTAC President’s Award.
He has a B.Sc. from Jilin University (China) and a PhD from the University of Western Ontario.
