Ian Lockhart is Head of Automotive, Advanced Engineering sector, UKTI. He joined the civil service in 1984 to help UK based companies in the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors, after spending a number of years working for an international drilling service company. After spending some few years helping UK based companies further their involvement in the UK oil and gas sector in early 1992 he was asked to move over to help companies develop their overseas trade and investment activities by heading up activities in the Former Soviet Union. Until October 2006 he was involved in assisting UK based oil, gas and petrochemical companies in this way in a number of geographical areas. In October 2006 he transferred to UK Trade & Investment’s newly formed Advanced Engineering team, leading on the automotive sector there and supporting the efforts of companies in this area across the globe. He and colleagues work closely with UKTI’s teams in the regions across the UK as well as those based in Embassies across the world.