The Nesta Innovation Edge

Speaker Profiles

Profile

Ian was appointed Minister of State for Science and Innovation in DIUS in June 2007.  He is responsible for business and science, the research base, the Research Councils and innovation.  He entered the House of Commons as Member for Dudley West in the first by-election after Tony Blair was elected leader of the Labour Party in December 1994.  He has been MP for Dudley South since the May 1997 general election.  Previous roles include Minister of State for Climate Change and Environment in the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in May 2006.  From May 2005 he was Minister of State for Trade in the Department of Trade and Industry and the Foreign Office and before that he was a Minister in the Northern Ireland Office, having already served as a Government Whip and on the Education and Employment Select Committee.  He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Paymaster General at HM Treasury from 1997-98 and served on the Treasury Select Committee as an opposition back bencher before the 1997 General Election. 

Profile

Mike has worked for McLaren since 2000.  The UK-based company has been involved with innovation, technology and venturing in a range of market sectors.  Mike graduated with a first class degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1990 and then worked for ten years in powertrain and vehicle development for the global automotive and motorsport industry.  This work included business and programme management responsibility for projects based in Europe, USA and South Korea.  Before setting up McLaren Applied Technologies, Mike was head of their advanced composites business and was involved in the development of the Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren sports car.

Profile

Sam is an internationally-respected development thinker, telecom inventor and entrepreneur with 40 years' experience in information and communications technology, and related human and national developments.  Credited with having laid the foundation for India's technology and telecommunications revolution in the 1980s, he has been a leading campaigner to help bridge the global digital divide.  During his tenure as Advisor to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the 1980s, Sam headed six technology missions related to telecommunications, water, literacy, immunisation, dairy, and oil seeds.  He was also the founder and first chairman of India's Telecom Commission.  He is chairman of India's National Knowledge Commission, reporting to the Prime Minister.  The commission's mandate is to offer a series of recommendations on how to leverage India's knowledge strengths to help it become a knowledge economy.  He holds close to 100 worldwide patents and has published and lectured widely in the US, Europe and Asia.

Profile

Chris Powell was appointed Chairman of NESTA in September 2003.  He is also the Chairman of the IPPR (Institute for Public Policy Research), the UK's leading progressive think tank and the Creative Industries' Advisory Panel of the British Council.  He is the Independent Vice Chairman of the Public Diplomacy Board and a non executive director of a number of companies.  He was a founder, Chief Executive and then Chairman of one of Britain's leading advertising agencies — BMP.

Profile

David spent 30 years as an independent film producer winning many awards for films including The Mission, the Killing Fields, Local Hero, Chariots of Fire, Midnight Express, Bugsy Malone, and The Memphis Belle.  He was Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Columbia Pictures from 1986 to 1988 - the only non-American ever to run a Hollywood Studio.  He retired from film production to focus on his work in education.  He was Chancellor of the University of Sunderland, and recently became Chancellor of the Open University.  He was the founder and is Chair of Trustees of the National Teaching Awards and was the first Chair of the General Teaching Council for England.  He was founding Chair of NESTA and for ten years chaired the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television.  He was Vice President and Chair of Trustees at BAFTA, and was awarded a BAFTA Fellowship in 2006.  In the same year he became Deputy Chairman of Channel Four, Chairman of Futurelab and Chairman of Profero.  His most recent appointment is Chairman of the North Music Trust Board at The Sage Gateshead.  In 2002, David was appointed President of UNICEF UK and was awarded a CBE in the same year.  He received a Knighthood in 1995 and was appointed to the House of Lords in 1997 where he was Chairman of the Climate Change Bill's Joint-Parliamentary Scrutiny Committee.