Motoaki Sumi
Former OSE Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Co-founder & CEO, Ascension
Motoaki Sumi is Co-founder and CEO of Ascension – an Oxford Science Enterprises-backed spinout developing environmentally safe technologies for recovering critical minerals, including rare earth elements, from geothermal systems.
He co-founded the company in 2021 after serving as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at OSE, partnering with academic co-founders Professor Jon Blundy and Professor Mike Kendall from Oxford’s Department of Earth Sciences.
Previously, Motoaki held leadership roles at Arrival and Bloom Energy and worked as a commodity trader at Mitsubishi Corporation – providing him with a global perspective of minerals supply chain and renewable technology.
He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MA in Economics from University of Edinburgh.
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