Home > Tech Summit > 2023 Tech Summit > Speakers 2023
We support a huge range of technologies at CENSIS – from sensing and hardware development, to cloud computing, IoT and artificial intelligence and pretty much everything in between. Our diverse group of speakers reflects this broad church and as always, on the day we will have something to suit all interests.
Here are the speakers and panellists confirmed so far, with more names to be added soon.
Richard Cooper is an engineer by profession, having studied at the University of Strathclyde and gaining a degree in Manufacturing Engineering and Management.
His first professional role was with Howden Group where, by the age of 26, he was running their facility in Renfrew with 150 employees. At the time they were building parts for nuclear power stations, trident submarine components, wind turbines and tunnelling machines for the Channel Tunnel. Subsequently he worked in senior operations roles at companies such as Kelvin Diesels, Hyster and Rolls Royce aero engine repair and overhaul.
In the second half of his career, Richard was involved with technology start ups in medical devices, co-founding Cascade Technologies in 2003 with a successful exit to Emerson Process management in 2014. He then went on to co-found Novosound in 2018, where he remains a non-exec director.
Richard is currently NED/Chair of several technology companies including Albacom Ltd, Heliex Power, Dyneval, and RAB Microfluidics. He is also an angel investor and is closely involved with five of the angel investor syndicates in Scotland alongside mentoring entrepreneurs on a pro bono basis.
Panel session: Technology investment
Chaired by Jacqueline Redmond of the Scottish National Investment Bank, join Richard and a panel of other experts as they discuss investing in technology businesses. Hear from the people responsible for investing in some of Scotland’s most ambitious start ups and spin outs, as well as from the companies who have steered their organisations through various investment and growth cycles.
Sarah has been with REPIC – an industry-leading provider of producer-responsibility solutions for waste electrical and electronic equipment – for 12 years where she has worked on projects to track the flows of electrical and electronic products going on to the market and what happens to the products at their end of life. Her interests lie in how this impacts on material recycling and the relationship with the circular economy and carbon impact.
REPIC is a partner on a number of European projects researching these areas including FutuRaM (the future availability of secondary raw materials), CE-RISE (a framework and resource information system to identify optimal solutions for the effective reuse, recovery, and/or recycling of materials), and CERES (developing educational and training resources to support circular economy skills development).
Sarah has 30 years’ experience in a number of roles covering resource efficiency, waste management and pollution control.
Sarah’s presentation: Circular electrical products – the future?
In the coming years the electronics industry will have to embrace two important and interlinked challenges: the availability of valuable and rare metals and materials to create new products, along with wider pressures to reduce its global environmental footprint and embrace the circular economy.
How are electrical products and their wastes are evolving over time? What are the challenges and opportunities for secondary raw materials use and recycling? How do we achieve a circular economy for electronics? What is the relationship with carbon? How will legislation drive this? What will the introduction of things like the new Digital Product Passports mean for designers, manufacturers and consumers? Join Sarah for a whistlestop tour of these issues.
A qualified accountant, Heather has worked across various public sector, commercial and third sector roles over the past two decades. She joined Blackwood in 2018 as Finance Manager, specialising in developing strategic partnerships with operations. In 2021, Heather was seconded to lead the multimillion pound ‘Peoplehood Healthy Ageing Programme’ before being promoted again to Project Sponsor in 2023.
Blackwood provides high quality housing and support for disabled people of all ages, with over 1700 homes across 29 Scottish local authorities. Its investment in innovation – combining technology and modern construction – is helping to create a new modern standard for accessible homes.
Heather’s presentation: The Peoplehood project
As people age, they need different, accessible housing options that will allow them to live independently for as long as possible, while also supporting their wellbeing and social needs. The nature of the housing challenge is complex, but technology and innovation could help to pave the way for a new calibre of accommodation for older people.
The £12.5M ‘Peoplehood’ project, led by Blackwood in partnership with CENSIS and others – took a whole neighbourhood approach to these challenges, creating three new ‘communities of the future’ in Dundee, Glasgow and Moray designed to help older people live longer, healthier, independent lives. Hear more from Heather about how technology, including IoT, could help create a blueprint for age-friendly communities that can be reproduced at scale across the UK.
Paul Foster is a recognised leader in innovation and metaverse for major events and venues. He has worked on six Olympic Games, two Commonwealth Games, the Qatar 2022 FIFA ™ World Cup, and advised INTERPOL on crowd management.
Paul founded OnePlan, an event planning platform that creates a digital twin environment for event planners, hosts, and suppliers to collaborate and develop site plans in real-time. OnePlan is used by over 30,000 events and venues in 110 countries.
As an official digital twin software and GIS mapping supporter to the Paris 2024 Olympic & Paralympic Games, OnePlan will create digital twins of all venues in the metaverse and is the first startup to become an Olympic Games partner. Through Paul’s leadership, OnePlan is revolutionising the way major events and venues are planned and executed.
Stephanie Hare is the author of Technology is not neutral: a short guide to technology ethics, named by the Financial Times as one of the ‘best summer books of 2022’, the review calling it “essential reading for policymakers and anyone working in technology, business and finance”.
Stephanie was selected for the BBC ‘Expert Women’ programme, contributes frequently to BBC World Television and the BBC World Service, and has published in the Financial Times, The Washington Post, the Guardian/Observer, Harvard Business Review and WIRED.
Previously she worked at Accenture, Palantir, and Oxford Analytica, and held the Alistair Horne Visiting Fellowship at St Antony’s College, Oxford.
She earned a PhD and MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a BA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, including a year at the Université de la Sorbonne (Paris IV).
Stephanie’s company is Hare Brain.
David’s background is in electronics design and embedded software development. He worked as an engineer for 10 years designing electronics products for medical, military, industrial and commercial markets. He founded Shot Scope in 2015 after returning to The University of Edinburgh to retrain as a high school technology teacher.
As Chief Executive, David is responsible for the overall strategic direction, vision and has been instrumental in the companies growth and global expansion. Over the past six years David has lead four investment rounds raising over £8m and delivered an array of innovation and R&D grants.
Panel session: Technology investment
Chaired by Jacqueline Redmond of the Scottish National Investment Bank, join David and a panel of other experts as they discuss investing in technology businesses. Hear from the people responsible for investing in some of Scotland’s most ambitious start ups and spin outs, as well as from the companies who have steered their organisations through various investment and growth cycles.
Niki is Joint Managing Director at Archangel Investors with oversight of the portfolio activity. Archangels invests in early stage IP rich life sciences and technologies businesses based in Scotland. It comprises more than 100 investor members and typically invests more than £10 million per year in early stage Scottish companies.
Niki has a background in corporate finance and, as well as supporting the growth strategies of the businesses in the portfolio, she has worked the management teams to deliver a number of exits including Blackford Analysis, Zonefox, Touch Bionics, Bloxx and CXR Biosciences. She is also on the Board of St Andrews Innovation, University of St Andrews.
Panel session: Technology investment
Chaired by Jacqueline Redmond of the Scottish National Investment Bank, join Niki and a panel of other experts as they discuss investing in technology businesses. Hear from the people responsible for investing in some of Scotland’s most ambitious start ups and spin outs, as well as from the companies who have steered their organisations through various investment and growth cycles.
Nicola is BT’s Principal Innovation Partner. With a background in applied psychology and computer science, she is a presenter, writer and researcher whose previous roles in BT have included futurology, research, and business consulting.
Nicola is an award-winning presenter, with two TED talks and hundreds of conference panel, chair and keynote sessions under her belt. She occasionally pops up on radio and TV around the world, including appearances on ‘Woman’s Hour’, ‘Tech Tent’, ‘The Genius of Invention and Back in Time for the Weekend’ for the BBC.
Nicola got her PhD from Lancaster University in 2005 and has authored over 50 publications – including one book and numerous book chapters.
Nicola’s presentation: From Automation to Zedonks: trends shaping the future of work.
The future world of work was already being redefined by digital technologies before the pandemic hit. Now, as old and new ways of working collide, we have a unique opportunity to rethink things to make work work for people, productivity and the planet, whilst harnessing the best of both real and virtual worlds.
As IBM Technology’s CTO for Global Government, Sharon Moore’s mission is to transform public services with technology and help Government do better for its citizens. She is passionate about driving change for good in the tech industry and applying innovation in the context of the many challenges her clients face.
With over 20 years of experience across multiple business sectors and diverse technologies, Sharon was instrumental to the inaugural UK Government and IBM Memorandum of Understanding for Cloud in 2020. You’ll often find her on stage championing the positive impact technology can have on our lives, shaping its role in making government work, and advocating for ethical technical advancement. She is also a Chartered IT Professional
Sharon is a Trustee of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT and non-executive Director of CTS. She was recently listed in the Computing IT Leaders 100 for 2022 and the Computer Weekly Most Influential Women in UK Tech Hall of Fame, having been included in its top 50 since 2018
A catalyst for change in inclusion, particularly regarding gender diversity, Sharon is a published co-author on the subject. She was awarded the MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2018 for her services to women in technology-based industries.
IoT security is something of a conundrum. The team at Pen Test Partners publish independent research in to the security of numerous smart devices, exposing poor security practice by device manufacturers. Sadly, it’s often consumers that are the victims of this inattention to security.
Ken looks after vulnerability disclosure at Pen Test Partners and influences government policy on IoT cyber security. Whilst some disclosures are successful, the majority are – according to Ken – a “train wreck”. Watching vendors try to ignore contact from researchers, fumble or try to silence the process led Ken to work with regulators in an effort to fix the problems at source. He considers a ‘carrot and stick’ approach to be the only way to resolve smart product security.
The work of his team on My Friend Cayla, the vulnerable talking kids’ doll, was cited as one of the catalysts for California Senate Bill 327, regulating IoT security for California residents. Ken has briefed US government departments and spoken at TEDx and numerous security events such as DEF CON villages, RSA, Black Hat and BSides.
If you want Ken’s attention, just market your smart device as ‘unhackable’.
A respected speaker in cyber security, Ken has been seen on BBC TV and BBC News online, and featured in broadsheet newspapers. He’s also a regular contributor to industry magazines, penning articles for the legal, security, insurance, oil and gas, and manufacturing press.
Read more about Ken at the Pen Test Partners website.
Ken’s presentation: IoT cyber security
Join Ken for a tour of the dos – and perhaps more importantly – the don’ts of IoT cyber security. He’ll be talking about emerging threats, concerns that product and service developers need to be aware of, legislative changes and how to be ready for them, and what’s involved in an IoT pen test. Along the way he’ll be providing some examples of organisations that are getting it right – and wrong – in this space.
Rajesh is the founder and CEO of TrackGenesis, a blockchain development and consulting firm based in Aberdeen. He is a Certified Blockchain Architect with a coding career spanning more than twenty years.
The company’s blockchain-based software platform offers security and transparency for businesses. TrackGenesis has implemented blockchain solutions across a range of sectors including supply chain management, food and drink and, and e-waste management.
Holding a BEng, MSc and MBA from Robert Gordon University, Rajesh is also a part-time lecturer in RGU’s School of Computing where he teaches blockchain-related courses.
Rajesh’s presentation: food and drink traceability and provenance through the integration of IoT and blockchain
As a family run business, Roehill gin distillery in Moray prides itself on the quality local ingredients it uses, its ESG responsibilities and its customer transparency. How could IoT and blockchain help the company support these principles? Discover how CENSIS and TrackGenesis helped Roehill to innovate its production processes and what this could mean for Scotland’s wider food and drink sector.
Jacqueline Redmond has over 25 years’ international experience in senior positions with energy majors, with particular expertise in risk management, business development and innovation.
She graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a PhD in Energy Economics, Jacqueline joined ScottishPower in the mid-1990s. She led the company’s risk management team as it began to grow, adapt to de-regulation, and re-define the role of a utility, latterly becoming director of corporate strategy.
In 2006, Jacqueline was appointed by Royal Dutch Shell to develop its global LNG (liquefied natural gas) strategy. She moved on to become the vice-president of technology strategy at the energy major, working with a $1.3 billion research and development (R&D) budget to find, fund, and mature innovative new energy technologies.
Following three years as Shell’s head of commercial power and senior deal lead, Jacqueline was appointed as chief risk officer at the then-UK Government owned Green Investment Bank. She continued to develop sustainable energy projects across the world with Macquarie, following its acquisition of the Green Investment Bank, where, until April 2019, she helped identify disruptive emerging technologies in the energy sector.
Jacqueline is currently Non-Executive Chair of CENSIS (the SME-focused Innovation Centre for Sensing, Imaging and Internet of Things technologies), Non-executive Director and Risk Management and Conflicts Committee Chair of the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB), and Executive Director of PNDC, Strathclyde University’s industrialisation centre focused on delivering whole energy solutions.
Panel session: Technology investment
Join Jacqueline and her panel of experts as they discuss investing in technology businesses. Hear from the people responsible for investing in some of Scotland’s most ambitious start ups and spin outs, as well as from the companies who have steered their organisations through various investment and growth cycles.
Kerry Sharp is Director of Entrepreneurship and Investment at Scottish Enterprise which is Scotland’s national economic development agency. Her team are responsible for the organisation’s start to scale services and investment activities working with alongside Highland and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise. Her team’s responsibilities include providing tailored advice, funding and investment to high growth potential, innovation based start-ups, spins-outs, and early-stage businesses with global ambitions, working in partnership with the entrepreneurial eco-system and private sector investors. Through the team’s commercial investments, which is c£50m pa, Scottish Enterprise is seeking to grow Scotland’s private sector risk capital market, ensuring early-stage SMEs have adequate access to growth capital to reach their full potential.
Panel session: Technology investment
Chaired by Jacqueline Redmond of the Scottish National Investment Bank, join Kerry and a panel of other experts as they discuss investing in technology businesses. Hear from the people responsible for investing in some of Scotland’s most ambitious start ups and spin outs, as well as from the companies who have steered their organisations through various investment and growth cycles.
Paul is an entrepreneurial technologist with a substantial track record for applying innovation across multiple market sectors spanning academia, government, SMEs and international PLCs.
Paul’s early career was with UK MoD, then with QinetiQ where he held a number of leadership roles CEO of QinetiQ Inc. Subsequently, Paul has founded and ran an SME and then was the inaugural Executive Director Innovation and Investment at the UK Defence Solutions Centre. He joined CENSIS in 2019 where he has been pivotal in the development and implementation of digital solutions across the public and private sectors in Scotland.
Paul’s business skills include leadership, substantial international P&L experience, capital raising and realising value from technology.
Paul is a member of the Board at South of Scotland Enterprise, Scotland’s Scotland’s enterprise agency for Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders. Earlier in 2022 the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) appointed him to its Science Engineering and Technology Board (SETB). The SETB is responsible for identifying and championing new research challenges at the cutting edge of engineering and physical sciences for future investment.
Paul is a co-founder of the Smart Things Accelerator Centre, a dedicated Scottish IoT accelerator for SMEs, scale up and start up companies.
