[DUBLIN, Ireland.] – Global animal health and nutrition company Alltech is proud to announce that Professor Gerald Byrne, chairman of KEENAN innovation and R&D board, received the Fraunhofer Thaler Award. The award is in recognition of Byrne’s outstanding leadership and significant achievements in the field of applied research.

Established in 1949, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is the leading research and technology organisation for applied research in Europe. Its research activities are conducted by 69 institutes and research units at locations across Germany. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft conducts research in collaboration with research partners and innovative companies around the world and KEENAN is proud to congratulate Byrne on his recent award.

“We are absolutely delighted to congratulate Professor Byrne for his outstanding contributions to research,” said Robert Walker, KEENAN CEO. “We recognised Professor Byrne’s unique leadership and innovative thinking when asking him to chair the KEENAN Innovation and R&D board. The KEENAN team is dedicated to bringing the latest innovations and technologies to farmers around the world and it gives us great pride that the first Irish person to receive this award from Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is on our team.”

Byrne was appointed as chairman of the KEENAN innovation and R&D board in February of this year to ensure KEENAN continues to be an innovator in the farm machinery sector. Byrne spent five years as dean of engineering at University College Dublin (UCD) and now focuses on streamlining production, fast-tracking efficiency and optimising plant configuration at KEENAN’s headquarters and main manufacturing facility at Borris, County Carlow, Ireland. Among Byrne’s many other credentials are his honorary professorship at Tianjin University in China, being the first and only Irish member of the International Academy for Production Engineering and a membership in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.