Mike Dixon Ph.D

Mike received a Ph.D in Chemical Engineering from the University of Adelaide, Australia and a Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Stanford University, USA.

He is a global expert in desalination and water treatment technology working with membrane and thermal technologies in Australia, North America, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Asia. Mike has worked across the entire value chain with technology manufacturers, water utilities, oil and gas companies, pharmaceutical companies and research hubs.

Mike is the CEO and Founder of Synauta Inc, a cleantech startup working with desalination innovators with a goal is to reduce energy and chemical use using data science and machine learning.

Prior to Synauta, Mike was Chief Technology Officer for WaterNEXT (Western Canada's Water technology accelerator) and Applications Development Manager for NanoH2O, a global provider of reverse osmosis membranes that leveraged UCLA developed nanotechnology to lower the cost of desalination with over 300 installations in 40+ countries in the three years from market launch. LG Chem acquired NanoH2O in 2014.

Mike is a Technical Advisor to MIT spinout, Sandymount Technologies, a previous advisor to University of Washington spinout, PureBlue Tech, and Calgary based lithium company, E3 Metals. Additionally, he has been a member of the Calgary Technology Team of Creative Destruction Labs, a leading Canadian technology accelerator, established in a collaboration with the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary.

He is experienced with the development of intellectual property and the commercialization of new technologies and has more than 60 publications in international journals as well as being an author of several books and book chapters.

Mike is currently a Director of the International Desalination Association (IDA) Board. He has been an Editor of the IDA Journal and a reviewer for the Journal of Membrane Science and Water Research. Mike was National President of the Young Water Professionals for the Australian Water Association and in 2012 won the prestigious IDA Fellowship Award. 

Mike and his family live in Canmore and are avid outdoor enthusiasts.