Ian Cowe played an important role in the early development of NIR analysis in the UK. Working at the Scottish Crop Research Institute with one of the first commercial monochromators, he and his colleague Jim McNicol pioneered the use of principal component regression for the analysis of NIR spectral data. Later, in 1991, Ian Cowe and Ian Murray co-chaired the 4th International Conference in Aberdeen, organising this in record time after the planned venue, Moscow, pulled out. Like many of those who caught the NIR bug in those early days, he remained involved with NIR throughout his career.
