Professor Peter Cochrane

Keynote Speaker

Professor Peter Cochrane's Biography

A seasoned professional with decades of industrial and institutional hands on management, technology and operational experience augmented by a career as a Business Angel, Venture Capitalist and Entrepreneur with an extensive start up portfolio.

During his time with BT he progressed from linesman to Head of Research and CTO at BT. His 1000 strong team engaged in studies spanning optical fibre, fixed and mobile networks, complex systems, AI, AL, future products, human behaviour and interfaces. On leaving BT in 2000 he formed his own consultancy company and an investment career involving eBookers and Shazam Entertainment along with a raft of smaller starts in the UK and USA.

As a consultant Peter has also been employed by numerous fortune 500 companies spanning the defence, logistics, travel, retail, energy, healthcare, transport and Pharma sectors. As an advisor he has been engaged by UK, USA and Singapore government departments; he has also advised The MoD, DoD, HP, CSC, NetApp, Motorola, 3M, Dupont, Ford, Jaguar, Sun, Apple, Cisco, Shell, Rolls Royce, BMW, BP, HSBC, Mahindra, PWC, EY, Pirelli et al.

Peter currently advises FaceBook and the Qatar Foundation, and in 2017 he was appointed as a visiting Professor of Sentient Systems to the University of Suffolk UK where his mission is to change the way we teach science and technology, and to bring the PhD degree and associated research process into the 21C.

As the UK's first Prof for the Public Understanding of Science & Technology @ Bristol in 1998; Peter also received the Queen's Award for Innovation & Export in 1990; numerous Honorary Doctorates; and an OBE (1999). He has published over 1000 articles and papers, a number of books and book chapters, appeared on national and international radio and TV and given 1000s of talks and lectures.