Dr Laura James is an engineer with varied experience in innovative organisations and sectors, focussed on enabling new technologies to help people and society. She is Technical Director at Doteveryone, demonstrating how digital technologies can create public value in healthcare and more. Laura is also a co-founder of Field Ready, an NGO transforming humanitarian aid through distributed digital manufacturing. She co-founded Makespace, a community workshop and inventing shed in Cambridge, and was previously CEO of Open Knowledge, a global non-profit network unlocking knowledge to empower people. Laura has worked at startups including AlertMe.com, a connected home system, where she was the first employee and VP Engineering, and Evi.com, building an AI platform for search. Laura has also worked in R&D at AT&T Labs in the US and UK, and as Chief Operating Officer at CARET, a dynamic innovation department of the University of Cambridge, developing open source systems to support teaching and research. Laura holds Masters and PhD degrees in Engineering from the University of Cambridge, received the Royal Academy of Engineering Leadership Award and a NESTA Crucible Fellowship, and is a Chartered Engineer. Laura is an advisor to Weir PLC, Good Night Lamp, Polysolar, and the ContentMine.