meet the speakers
Peter Palmer (MBE, MA, MSc, DPhil, MBCS) was a founder of Spider Systems in 1983 and AXON Networks in 1992. Both were successfully sold in the mid-1990s.
In the late 1980s he was a founder of ScotlandIS (then the Scottish Software House Federation) and was its first Chairman.
Peter has lived in the USA for the last thirty years, initially working for AXON, and subsequently as a business angel in the Boston area.
‘Hopeful sceptic’ K D Adamson’s inspirational performances have been described as a TED talk on
steroids and a Tarantino movie where no one died, challenging our assumptions about geopolitics and
society, business, the environment, economics, technology, and ourselves.
Sharp, funny and straight-talking on stage, screen, and in print she is a regular commentator on global
events renowned for her simple yet powerful ideas, thought-provoking opinions, and ability to distill
complex, hot-button issues as a contributor to BBC World News, Bloomberg, CNN, The Sun, Financial
Times, Al Jazeera, Fast Company, Channel News Asia, and BBC R4 Today.
A visionary who reframes the future as a value problem that no technology can solve, K D’s candid
pragmatism and practical commercial acumen guides and influences sustainable value creation for
leaders and organisations around the world.
Expert in sustainable organisational transformation, digitalization, AI, innovation, agility, ESG, leadership,
and the blue, green and circular economies her stellar clients include major global brands, tech giants,
multi-nationals, governments, non-profits and NGOs.
Visionary yet pragmatic she reframes the future as a value problem that no technology can solve. Her
motto is ‘dubito ergo sum’ – ‘I doubt, therefore I am’.
Michael Boniface is a technology entrepreneur with a focus on turning emerging technologies into real-world impact. He has built and scaled AI and digital businesses predominantly in the creative sector, and supports other early stage startups through the Techscaler and Barclays Eagle Labs mentoring programmes.
As CEO of Kythera AI, he has driven growth in an award-winning start-up at the forefront of gaming and simulation, shaping product roadmaps that bring advanced AI to market. Previously, as Director of Digital & Entrepreneurship at Opportunity North East, he launched ONE TechHub, a regional centre for start-ups, and delivered innovation programmes that helped companies adopt new technologies and accelerate growth.
Alison’s personal mantra of “Work Hard. Have Fun and Make a Difference” drives what she does and how she does it.
Long before it was cool to be Digital, Alison has been passionate about the positive impact of technology – to do new things and do things better. Over the years she has led many teams with a remit to do that, primarily focussed on public services. Lived experience of dependency on health and social care services has fuelled that drive.
Alison has held senior leadership roles since 2010 in public and private sector, in organisations both large and small. She has successfully led teams through major change and business transformation driven by ambitious plans for growth, market demands and merger and acquisition. All her success she attributes to being driven by the needs of customers, building strong teams charged with a shared purpose, a can-do attitude and making it fun!
Russell Dalgleish is a Scottish serial entrepreneur, investor, strategist, and author, best known as the Founding Chair of the Scottish Business Network and Managing Partner of Exolta Capital Partners. His board roles include Prosper (previously SCDI), Scottish Govtech Cluster and CivTech Advisory Group. he is also Entrepreneur in Recidence for University of Glasgow and The Open University.
A dynamic keynote speaker and diaspora-builder, he has cultivated global communities and empowered entrepreneurs through storytelling-driven talks across continents including the US, Brazil, Abu Dhabi. Rooted in authenticity and connection, Russell leverages his journey and advisory expertise to help businesses grow internationally and build resilient communities around their brand.
Andrew Williams is a software engineer, community leader and serial tech startup founder. Technologies he has delivered are present in hundreds of millions of consumer devices worldwide and his developer tooling is used by millions.
Over the last 18 years Andrew has been a involved in many renowned Scottish startups with one exit being shortlisted for “Sale of the Year”.
Apptrix.ai, Andrew’s latest endeavour, is democratising app creation making it easy for anyone to build secure apps for all platforms with minimal technical knowledge.
Pawel is a design engineer scientist with background in mechanical engineering (MSc 2006), automation and robotics (BSc 2006) as well as business (MBA 2013). He takes an interdisciplinary approach to projects, integrating both engineering and commercial aspects. Pawel was involved in R&D in decontamination sciences since 2007. From the outset he was fascinated by decontamination sciences as they combine many disciplines requiring creativity and a wide spectrum of knowledge to devise innovative solutions. Today his main focus is on developing novel, clinically relevant cleaning verification technologies.
Marcus has started and run 5 software businesses over the last 38 years since leaving the last “real” job he had at Procter and Gamble. He’s sold 3 companies and lost 2 so on balance, is up! They all specialised in customer data and how modelling could be used to drive business process and better customer experience.
Whilst designing a house for his new life in a wheelchair, he realised that decarbonising and integrating renewables was harder than it needed to be. Hence, he developed a Smart Grid to solve the problem not just for his home but also for large commercial clients.
Toby McCartney is the co-founder and CEO of MacRebur, a company that focuses on recycling plastic waste to create sustainable road materials. MacRebur has pioneered innovative solutions that blend waste plastics with asphalt, significantly reducing the environmental impact of road construction. With a background in entrepreneurship and a strong commitment to sustainability, Toby has been instrumental in driving the company’s mission to enhance the performance of roads while addressing the global plastic waste crisis. His work not only promotes eco-friendly practices but also aims to inspire other industries to adopt sustainable technologies.
Dr. Mostafa Afgani is a pioneer in the field of LiFi and has led the engineering & development of pureLiFi’s systems and solutions since its founding in 2012. During this time, he has delivered a number of world firsts for LiFi: the first commercial LiFi product (Li-1st), the first mobile LiFi product (Li-Flame), the first high-speed LiFi dongle (LiFi-X). Mostafa continues to lead future LiFi technology development including LiFi components. Prior to co-founding pureLiFi he developed a sensitive signal anomaly detection system for Agilent (now Keysight) Technologies and held a research position at DoCoMo labs, Munich, Germany. Mostafa holds BSc and MSc degrees in electronics engineering from Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany and a PhD in communications and signal processing from the University of Edinburgh.
Craig Bradley is Head of Innovation Services at Natural Power. He brings 19 years of renewable, commercial and innovation experience from ScottishPower, where, as Innovation Manager he led cross-business initiatives aimed at developing new markets for sustainable energy solutions. Immediately prior to joining Natural Power, Craig worked in private consultancy on projects involving emerging floating offshore wind technology. Passionate about low-carbon solutions, he now leads innovation at Natural Power, helping design new products, refine processes, and optimise services to deliver affordable, sustainable energy.
Dr Matthew Freer is a consultant anaesthetist in NHS Scotland, founder and CEO of Infix Support. Infix was founded in 2019, driven by his frustrations with the theatre inefficiencies and poor healthcare software available to us. This Scottish health-tech start-up seeks to revolutionise management of patient waiting lists and improve the use of operating theatre capacity and support staff in the NHS. Latest figures show that infix helped NHS Lothian save around £3 million in just 24 weeks by improving operating theatre efficiencies and operating on an additional 1107 eye cases. A business is not just built on the quality of the product, but more on the belief you have in its success, the leadership and inspiration from the founder, and the strength of the network/team around you. Humility and Resilience are the 2 most important lessons you should learn to be successful as a start-up. Dr Matt Freer, CEO, Infix Support Ltd, will share his experience of funding and growing a successful innovative start-up with us.
Stephen is an Honours Graduate Chemist with over 45 years of experience in the Water Industry, specialising in process engineering. As Product Innovations Leader at Ross-shire Engineering, his expertise gives him a deep understanding of the water industry, ensuring that innovative approaches are always balanced with practical application. Stephen works closely with clients to ensure their specific requirements are fully understood and by gathering and analysing the right data at each stage, he helps guarantee that every design solution is optimised for performance and value. He also collaborates with technology specialists to assess the capability of new technologies and determine how best they can be incorporated into final designs.
Professor Mark Parsons is the Director of EPCC, the supercomputing centre at the University of Edinburgh and Dean of Research Computing. He started his career at EPCC in 1994 as a software developer following a PhD in experimental Particle Physics at CERN. He became EPCC Director in 2016 following many years as the centre’s Commercial Director.
From 2020 – 2024 he was on part-time secondment to the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council where he was the Director of Research Computing. He has led the development of the UK’s Exascale Supercomputer Project for the past decade.
Archie Browning is Customer Performance Director at Scottish Leather Group, where he leads on delivering exceptional quality and service for global clients across automotive, aviation, and luxury sectors. He works closely with partners to ensure products meet the highest performance standards while supporting the Group’s drive for sustainability and innovation in leather manufacturing.
Adam is RoslinCT’s Head of Sustainability, bringing 18 years of experience in environmental regulation, sustainability consulting, and corporate sustainability leadership, both in the private and public sectors. Adam started his professional career as a chemist, later diversifying into environmental protection, focusing on waste management, producer responsibility, and transfrontier shipments of waste. Adam then spent 10 years in consultancy, advising private and public sector clients on strategic and technical application of resource efficiency and the circular economy, before developing and leading corporate sustainability strategies focused on delivering real impact for people and the planet. Adam is an alumnus of the University of Edinburgh and an active member of numerous local, national and global sustainability working groups. He has presented at various conferences and events, including COP26, providing global representation for his employers. Adam is a Chartered Waste Manager and accredited Project Manager, a keen cyclist, a father of two boys, and lives in Portobello in Edinburgh.
Lukas is responsible for the development and implementation of Sunamp’s product strategy. Previously, he worked for market research and consulting company Delta-EE, analysing heating markets in Europe and beyond, developing syndicated research and bespoke projects for the world’s leading heating manufacturers and energy companies. A particular focus of his work has been on heat pump market developments. Having grown up in Germany Lukas studied Political Science in Germany and France.
Doug Hall is a pioneering inventor, entrepreneur, and author who founded the Eureka! Ranch, helping global brands innovate smarter. A former Procter & Gamble Master Marketing Inventor, he’s also a bourbon maker, media personality, and North Pole explorer with a passion for bold ideas and creative systems.
In his keynote speech, Doug will talk about his pioneering work on System Driven Innovation, for which Doug was awarded Honorary Doctorates by the University of Maine and the University of Prince Edward Island.
Evelyn McDonald is the CEO of the private sector led, social enterprise, Scottish EDGE C.I.C. which runs a competition aimed at supporting Scotland’s early-stage, innovative, high-growth potential, entrepreneurial talent. Scottish EDGE has helped 712 businesses with grants and loans of over £29 million creating over 4000 jobs across the length and breadth of Scotland.
Prior to joining Scottish EDGE, Evelyn had a long career at the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust, firstly in Operations and then running a revolving Growth Fund. Evelyn is also the Chair of Scottish Design Exchange and an assessor of the Small Business Charter Award. She has been supporting small businesses for over 30 years.