Ian is a mechanical engineer with a long career in product development in both the public and private sectors. His eyes were opened to the joys of technology consulting when he joined PA Technology in 1981.
Apart from a three year interlude as manager of Which?'s product test laboratory he has worked in the Cambridge high tech sector ever since. As director of Scientific Generics engineering division he led the exploitation of a number of IP rich technologies through a combination of licensing and fee based work. He left his job as operations director of Scientific Generics in 1998 to lead a spin out (Absolute Sensors) which was bought by Synaptics Inc in 1999.
After two years with Synaptics and a further role with Generics, Ian started working on his own account in 2003 as a mentor of technology start ups. He soon became involved with the four founders of Light Blue Optics, then PhD students and post docs in the Engineering Department, and formally joined Light Blue Optics as a director and latterly chairman. Ian worked with LBO through a number of funding rounds from the early days of Angel funding to the first VC backed rounds.
Ian left LBO in 2008 to focus on building his own eco home in the back garden of his old house in Cambridge. Currently Ian is a director of Iceni Advisory Ltd., a University venture fund, and a trustee of Cambridge Carbon Footprint, a social enterprise.
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