Back in the UK (politics going mad) after spending 3 years in New York, USA and then doing some travelling in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

I originally started off in the online industry back in 1993/4 when I did an MSc in Computer Science. I was super interested in virtual reality and computer graphics.

Then the web took off and I’ve been surfing it ever since building digital applications and infrastructure.

I originally joined a pan-European research team looking at ways to shorten the time it took to create a car. We used web-enabled databases, ATM broadband (back when 14.4Kb modems were the norm), application sharing and video-conferencing. The team included people from Fraunhofer (who invented the MP3 format), Warwick University, Fiat, Rover, Siemens, BT, ComputerVision and TMW. I had the opportunity to work with the Fraunhofer team and their ability was mind-blowing.

Since then I’ve worked for both corporates and social causes.

I helped 300 NGOs in Ecuador connect to the internet. This included 3 indigenous communities in the Amazonian jungle who we connected using email over HF packet radio powered by Linux PCs and solar panels.

On the corporate side I founded a company in the dotcom boom to help businesses with web marketing and online systems. I’ve worked with companies such as:

• United Nations – building accessible and mobile multilingual websites for various UN departments including Disabilities, DESA, DSPD, Youth, Indigenous Peoples, Ageing, Family, etc.
• TMW – assisting them with Guinness and Lynx marketing projects
• SPDR Gold Shares – an online, financial platform with feeds to and from NYSE and other providers; and the World Gold Council
• Fotango (later bought by Canon Europe) building their web-based marketing tools
• Arcadia (high street retail fashion) – web-based marketing and nascent data mining systems

More recently I founded a startup that helps businesses use mobile platforms, and am currently working on a hardware startup that helps people in the home.

I’m passionate about helping startups and was a mentor for the WWW Foundation (which seeks to help the majority of the world’s people join the Web’s global conversation) and Venture Lab (a Stanford course on technology entrepreneurship). I’ve sat on the board of advisors for startups such as Medy, a medical startup.

I’ve also:

• worked as a STEMNet ambassador at the Walworth Academy helping a team of 17 to 18 year olds develop mobile apps to help people with diabetes
• became a Dementia Friends Champion for the Alzheimer’s Society helping people gain a better understanding and reduce misconceptions about dementia
• helped out with Contact the Elderly tackling loneliness and social isolation amongst older people, through regular face-to-face contact
• given talks to school kids such as at the Heritage Centre (helping them build an app to explore museums) and at an East London Back to Education Academy (talking with them about how I got into the tech industry and the technology behind web applications such as Facebook)

I’m really keen on:

• technologies that make technology easier to use and more effective and
• how we improve our lives through nutrition and exercise.