Gambols and Gambits – Using the Chess and Drama Club to think creatively about neurodiversity and teamwork I’m coming to the end of my term as Chair of Local Pensions Partnership Investments Limited. We launched seven years ago as the first local authority pension fund investment pool and now manage around £23 billion of pension […]

Alice Maynard is a portfolio non-executive, and a business advisor and coach through her company Future Inclusion. She has spent most of her career working in the diversity and inclusion field, although she began her career in IT. She worked on the first police computer systems for command and control, and database searching. She currently […]

Truly put employees first! Square share their board deck before the board meeting with the employees so everyone in the company can comment. A lot of executives will be uncomfortable with that level of transparency but it certainly shows that Square cares about their people and value their input. Other companies we met send regular […]

I organised a delegation to visit startups, corporate innovation hubs and venture capital investors in Silicon Valley at the end of 2018. Over three days, myself and my guests, CEOs, CIOs/CTOs and other C-level executives, visited 11 organisations including Apple, Square, Microsoft, BNY Mellon, SAP, Fidelity and Silicon Valley Bank. Here are some of the […]

Gleeds is an international property and construction consultancy. With circa 2350 dedicated staff across six continents and 80 offices, Gleeds prides itself on being a worldwide business that is structured to act and think locally. My special interest areas are digital, sustainability and workplace culture – all of which are teeming with innovation and primed […]

Due to some canny marketing by some venture capitalists, the term Web3 became very popular last year. Is it just a new hype word? Well some believe a revolution is coming. Now the everyday person is writing free Amazon reviews and posting YouTube videos and these platforms are using the data to build their huge […]

You might think it’s science fiction but electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircrafts are seeking to be approved by air-safety regulators. Both Airbus and Boeing are developing ideas for eVTOL, with Boeing investing $450m in Wisk Aero which is working on an autonomous version. Here are some of the other firms you may have […]

Christopher Kenna is the CEO of Brand Advance – a creative media network helping brands reach diverse audiences with their content, working with the likes of ASOS, Unilever, Google, Apple, Warner Bros, Universal Music and more. Brand Advance is there to help every step of the way – from concept, media buying, data insight and […]

Chris Wanstrath, co-founder of GitHub, a platform for developers, declared in 2017 that “the future of coding is no coding at all”. It seems he was onto something. The low-code/no-code (LC/NC) tools have amplified. Such tools allow anyone to write software using drag-and-drop visual interfaces (NC) or using a simple bit of code (LC). A […]

Wendy is a portfolio non-executive director, a consultant in cyber security and an angel investor in several start-ups. She started her career as an executive in utilities and has continued to be involved in the sector as a non-executive director. Her first non-executive role was at GCHQ and she has continued to be involved in […]

Mark Zuckerberg announced last year that he was changing the name of Facebook’s parent company to Meta. It bought Oculus VR back in 2014 and this year has put aside $10bn to develop VR/augmented headsets. He is clearly betting big on the rise of the metaverse. Who else is sharing his vision? Tencent (the Chinese […]

Rehan Haque is a transformation & cyber security specialist. A thought leader and subject matter expert with more than 15 years of global strategic and operational leadership delivering a holistic view of transformation and business-aligned cyber security solutions. He served the UK Government and Agencies implementing the National Cyber Security Strategy in the UK, along […]

Ameca is the world’s most advanced human shaped robot representing the forefront of human-robotics technology.   It combines cutting-edge conversational AI with human facial and body expressions/movement.   Designed specifically as a platform for development into future robotics technologies, Ameca is a humanoid robot platform for human-robot interaction.   It’s exciting to see such innovation […]

Jason Bruges is a multidisciplinary artist and designer, based in London.  He is internationally renowned as a pioneer of the hybrid space between art, architecture, and technology. A master of light and kinetic art, he uses a high-tech, mixed-media palette to explore spectacle, time-based interventions, and dynamic immersive experiences. Jason studied architecture at the Bartlett […]

Let’s take a look at some of the largest VC returns of all times. Airbnb Y Combinator provided $20,000 in exchange for a 6% stake in rental marketplace Airbnb. IPO valuation was $75bn. According to Crunchbase estimates, it retained 3.3% of Airbnb shares, worth $2.25bn at IPO. Turning $20,000 to $2.25bn is a 112,500x return. […]

Thomas is the CEO of high-end TV and film post production company, The Look. It is recognised as a leading player, working with Netflix, Amazon, BBC, Sky, Apple and HBO, on series such as Gangs of London, Fleabag, Top Boy, Sex Education and Landscapers. Thomas shared with us his top 3 innovation areas. “Streamers have […]

The climate impact of meat is enormous – roughly equivalent to all the driving and flying of every car, truck and plane in the world according to Greenpeace. When forests are destroyed to produce industrial meat, billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming. So it’s not a surprise […]

Susan is a Director of Chapter Zero, an organisation dedicated to providing education, insight and support on climate change to Non-Executive Board Directors and Chairs. Susan noted: “Two years ago when we started Chapter Zero climate change was hardly on the board agenda. Now, not only is it squarely in place, but we have moved […]

Infarm is leading the race in Europe. It has shipped over a thousand of its “farms” to shops and chefs. They primarily grow lettuce, wasabi rocket and basil but are also starting to diversify and include tomatoes and shiitake mushrooms. Partners include Aldi, Carrefour and Marks & Spencer. Their USPs: Modular design – think of […]

What are leaders going to do moving forward? Are they going to put their heads in the sand like if it’s a moment, hoping it will pass? The police officer responsible for George Floyd’s death was found guilty on all counts. President Biden hails the verdict as a potential ‘giant step forward’ in the fight […]

Mark Thomas has been Chief Executive Officer of Reaction Engines, a private British technology company, since 2015. He is leading development of advanced technology to enable hypersonic flight, improve performance in motorsport, convert waste heat into renewable electricity and support more sustainable aviation. In 2019 Reaction Engines performed a breakthrough demonstration of Hypersonic (Mach 5+) […]

⚡ UiPath is likely to be the greatest ever European venture bet. This Romanian enterprise software company was recently valued at $35bn in its Series F funding round. UiPath offers an end-to-end platform for automation, combining the leading Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solution with a full suite of capabilities and techs like AI, Process Mining, and Cloud to enable every […]

Nas’s debut album “Illmatic” is widely regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all times. I’d like to share some news about what he’s been up to outside of the music industry though. Ben Horowitz from Andreessen Horowitz encouraged Nas to open his own VC firm. As a result, in 2014 Nas becomes […]

For organisations to ‘do’ innovation well they have to be agile and adaptable. Large organisations are often the opposite, slow and rigid. Because of this they find real innovation challenging. But why is that the case considering they have lots of capital, resources and a track record of success? 1. A sufficient long-term horizon Having […]