Supercharging Innovation

Listen to Maya Pindeus share her views on the future of Artificial Intelligence technologies and the challenges of growing a business. Maya is a human experience designer, architect and engineer with a deep passion for Human Machine interactions. Working at the intersection of engineering, robotics and user experience, her work has been widely recognised across the industry with multiple awards and publications in Forbes, Fastcompany, the European Commission Starts Prize and others,  as well as top rankings as leading Female Founder in the AI and technology industries. Maya holds degrees from Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art and has been leading commercial strategy and user experience at a number of companies before ultimately starting Humanising Autonomy to focus on her passion for creating an ethical world in which automated systems are designed around human beings, and not the other way around. As CEO, she leads Humanising Autonomy’s company strategy and oversees a world class team of commercial, technical and product talent.

Listen to Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, share her views on the importance of blue skies research, driving innovation through collaboration between research and industry, and the opportunity COP26 presents for showcasing UK technology developments in green growth. Baroness Brown is Chair of the Carbon Trust and a Non-Executive Director of Ørsted. She was Vice Chair of the Climate Change Committee from 2008 to 2021 and continues to chair the CCC Adaptation Committee. Baroness Brown has just stepped down as a Non-Executive Director of the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult. She also served as a Non-Executive Director of the Green Investment Bank, supporting the development of the UK offshore wind industry. She is an engineer by training, with a career spanning academia and industry including senior business and engineering posts at Rolls-Royce and decade spent as the Vice-Chancellor of Aston University.

Listen to Juergen Maier’s views on scaling frontier industries, growing regional ecosystems and how Catapults can support the levelling up agenda. Juergen is Chair of the Digital Catapult and is the co-Chair, with BEIS Business Secretary of State, of the Made Smarter Commission and Deputy Chair of the Northern Powerhouse. He is the former Chief Executive of Siemens UK, an honorary professor of Engineering at the University of Manchester and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2017 he was asked by the Government to lead a review into how to increase the digitalization of the UK manufacturing sector and was awarded a CBE in 2019.

Listen to Lord Robert Mair’s views on the role of innovation for UK economic recovery, investors & technology, levelling up, the skills agenda and equality, diversity and inclusion. Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering at Cambridge University, and Member of the House of Lords, Lord Mair has an accomplished civil engineering career, specialising in underground construction and experience of leading numerous projects in the UK and worldwide. As a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, he recently took part in their inquiry into how Catapults can better contribute to delivering the UK’S R&D roadmap.

Over the next few months, the Catapult Network Chair, Jeremy Silver will interview special guests including industry and academic leaders and parliamentarians to understand their past experiences and thoughts on the future of innovation in the UK. The Catapult Network brings together nine leading technology and innovation centres spanning over 40 locations across the UK. Catapults are independent not-for-profit private organisations transforming the UK’s capability for innovation in sectors of strength.