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Annual BCS Business Lecture
Systems and Services in the 21st century, Technical, Social and Economic Challenges and Opportunities
Date:
Wednesday 20 October 2010,
Time: 6.30pm Networking & Refreshments, 7.00pm Presentation
Venue:
Faraday Lecture Theatre, Swansea University Campus | Map
Speaker:
Richard Taylor, Director of Technology Innovation for the National Policing Improvement Agency
Synopsis:
Services dominate the modern economic society. They represent the vast majority of economic activity, providing employment and export income. Within government, competent service acquisition, provision and management are probably the three most important duties that our elected bodies maintain. So why do they fail so often? Why do large complex services cost far more than expected, under-deliver and fail to match the rapidly evolving demands of modern society? Why is the largest part of the British economy still run as a cottage industry?
This lecture addresses what has to happen for the UK to move from this cottage industry approach to developing complex services and into a new industrial age. I will discuss the role of universities and their funding partners, government procurement and industrial practice. There are no easy answers to the problems posed by complex services, but the opportunities to innovate in research, development and delivery are enormous. Where there is muck, there’s brass.
Profile: Richard Taylor has worked in both the academic and private sectors, specialising in systems and services analysis, design and management. He has worked in both Europe and the United States as a Professor of computer systems engineering, as well as acting as a principal scientist at Hewlett Packard’s basic research facilities as well as its services and technology operating groups. He has been a co-founder of four technology startups (three of which did rather well), and is currently Director of Technology Innovation for the National Policing Improvement Agency with responsibility for successful innovation in English and Welsh Forces. He holds doctorates from the University of Manchester, a BSc from the University of Kent and an MBA from the University of Bath, is a member of a number of professional bodies and has more than fifty published patents to his name.
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