Mike Dixon

Chief Executive Officer, Synauta, Inc. and Director, International Desalination Association

Dr. Mike Dixon 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 experienced with the development of intellectual property and the commercialization of new technologies. He has more than 60 publications in international journals and is 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.