Judging panel 2024
Jonathan Easton, Editor, National Technology News
Nimisha Brahmbhatt, Founder and CEO, Quantum Global Consultants
Ben Clark, Director, Future Worlds
Chris Field, Chief Executive, Fieldworks Marketing and Chairman, Retail Connection
Simon Halberstam, Partner, Technology, Simons Muirhead Burton LLP
Sean Leach, Partner, IT & electronics, Mathys & Squire LLP
Damien McCloud, Associate Director, Arup
Dan Myers, Managing Director, XPO Logistics
David Price, Principal, Scala Advisors
Milan Radia, Founder and CEO, ConnectedCompute
Dr Anjali Subburaj, Enterprise Architect, Zooplus
Nimisha Brahmbhatt, Founder and CEO, Quantum Global Consultants
Nimisha Brahmbhatt is an award winning strategic advisor, serial sustainapreneur, angel investor and CEO and founder of Quantum Global Consultants, a leading consulting firm that specialises in large scale, high impact digital transformation, incorporating SDGs and sustainability for FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 energy companies. Nimisha is also founder of Quantum Venture Partners Startup Incubator, an organisation which works with impact driven start-ups to enhance their innovative capacity for finding solutions to global developmental challenges using emerging technology. Nimisha has launched a series of incubators to aid start-ups in developing sustainable businesses that support the UN SDGs through the Community Interest Company she founded. She has had helped numerous start-ups operationalise disruptive, sustainable business models, secure funding, leverage cutting edge technology and 10 X their valuation. Nimisha is a board member of Becoming X and The Prince’s Trust RISE initiative and on the board of directors for two start ups. Nimisha uses her Leaving a Legacy Foundation CIC as a vehicle to give back through tree planting and supporting grass route initiatives around the world working to solve environmental challenges, namely, carbon emissions, environment degradation, habitat and wildlife loss. Nimisha has been featured in numerous publications including: Natwest Business, Top MBA, Great British Entrepreneur Awards, Sloane, Dubai and Technology Magazines.
Ben Clark, Director, Future Worlds
Ben Clark is the Director of Future Worlds (futureworlds.com), the on-campus startup accelerator at the University of Southampton. Having always worked in early stage and emerging tech in a career including leadership teams of four high growth startups raising millions of pounds of equity funding and working in international VC, he’s helped hundreds of founders go from idea to launch, investment and scale. Ben is a recognised leader in the startup ecosystem at the University of Southampton, a global powerhouse for startups, where he is supporting the next generation of extremely talented startup founders go from campus to global leadership to change the world with their ideas.
Chris Field, Chief Executive, Fieldworks Marketing, and Chairman, Retail Connections
Chris is an independent retail analyst, industry speaker and broadcast commentator. He was a journalist for the Financial Times, Retail Week and edited Retail Technology magazine for 10 years. He is retained by the National Retail Federation in the US to recruit non-US retailer to the speaking platforms at the Big Show in New York each January. As well as being one of Sky News’ go-to retail commentators, Chris speaks regularly at international conferences on retailing and writes a weekly blog on tech in retail as managing editor of Retail Connections, a network made up of 12,000 senior EU retailers.
Simon Halberstam, Partner, Technology, Simons Muirhead Burton LLP
Simon Halberstam is partner and head of the technology team at Simons, Muirhead & Burton, a law firm in London. Simon holds English and French Law degrees and has over 25 years of experience acting for technology providers and digital agencies. He acts for over 100 tech companies and his work is focused on the drafting and negotiation of contracts for those providing or procuring technology or digital services and advising on all aspects of Intellectual Property and data protection law.
Sean Leach, Partner, IT & electronics, Mathys & Squire LLP
Sean Leach is a UK and European patent attorney, and partner in the IT & electronics team at Mathys & Squire LLP, a leading European intellectual property (IP) firm based in London. He is an expert in the drafting of IP agreements, IP licences and in the drafting and prosecution of European and UK patent applications. His work includes successfully representing SME clients in licence negotiations with Tier 1 automotive manufacturers and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Sean’s technical expertise encompasses electronics, medical devices, signal processing, network communications and computer implemented inventions, as well as analytical and metrological devices including spectrometry, interferometry, and surface contact metrology. He is highly ranked in leading IP directories including The Legal 500 and IAM Strategy 300 Global Leaders.
Damien McCloud, Associate Director, Arup
Damien leads a team of data and analytics professionals within Arup’s advanced digital engineering practice, supporting clients through better use of data. Having worked previously for Transport for London, the Environment Agency, KBR and BT, he was an early recipient of a chartership for his geographic information system work from the Royal Geographic Society. With over 20 years’ experience across a number of different sectors, he is a chartership assessor for the Royal Geographic Society, an honorary professor at University College London, whilst also sitting on numerous academic advisory boards.
Dan Myers, Managing Director, XPO Logistics
Dan Myers leads XPO Logistics in the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of the company’s global logistics and supply chain network. He joined XPO Logistics (formerly Christian Salvesen and Norbert Dentressangle) over 20 years ago as a graduate trainee after gaining a BSc Hons degree in Management from the University of Manchester. In his spare time, Dan likes to stay active and is a keen cyclist.
David Price, Principal, Scala Advisors
David has driven advanced technology take-up in the TV and media industry since the transition to digital technology. Currently he holds a number of board and advisory positions in the industry and is principal at Scala Advisors. Previously he held the position of vice president, for strategic business development at Ericsson, based in Silicon Valley, and was a member of the executive team at Harmonic, helping grow revenues from less than $50 million to over $500 million. David was also founder of the Ultra HD Forum, the VR Industry Forum and the DASH Industry Forum, and is past-president of the MPEG Industry Forum.
Milan Radia, Founder and CEO, ConnectedCompute
Milan is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of ConnectedCompute, an international digital infrastructure business headquartered in the UAE. With over 30 years of experience in technology investment banking, equity research, asset management and executive management of leading data centre businesses, Milan brings differentiated strategic insights from a global perspective, and he is able to uniquely join dots by leveraging a deep understanding of the constituents of the technology and communications ecosystems. ConnectedCompute is currently engaged in data centre deployments, strategic advisory mandates and rural digital infrastructure projects in Europe, East and West Africa, and the Middle East. Milan read Economics (MA Hons First Class) at Selwyn College, Cambridge and has an Executive MBA from Quantic. He is married with three children and resides in Dubai.
Dr Anjali Subburaj, Enterprise Architect, Zooplus
Since May 2023, Anjali has been working as an Interim Enterprise Architect with Zooplus, an online retailer of pet products. Between September 2022 and April 2023, Anjali acted as the interim DCX Program Architect at UK-based online retailer, The Very Group, to support the company’s re-platforming initiative. Previously, she was Digital Commerce Chief Architect for Mars Inc, where she led the development of its technology strategy and drove transformation for the enterprise’s existing and new D2C initiatives. As part of this work, she successfully introduced the use of MACH architecture to provide future scalability for Mars’ global businesses. Anjali has been a MACH Alliance Ambassador since 2020 and was named a MACH Advisory Board Member for 2023. Prior to embarking on her technology career in the UK, Anjali gained her Doctorate in Physics from Mumbai University, India, and has acquired technology architect certifications. She is passionate about introducing technologies that meet evolving customer requirements and creating a legacy for the next generation of technology leaders.
