Dr Laura James is Technology Principal at Doteveryone, a design-lead think tank championing responsible technology for the good of everyone in society. She is also Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, catalysing multidisciplinary research in the Trust and Technology Initiative. She has worked extensively in technology and leadership roles in R&D, startups, civil society, humanitarian relief and more. Laura holds Masters and PhD degrees in Engineering from the University of Cambridge.

She was the first employee and VP Engineering at an early connected home startup, and lead the team training an open domain conversational search AI at a startup acquired by Amazon. Laura cofounded Cambridge Makespace, was co-CEO of Open Knowledge International, and helped develop Field Ready, a humanitarian NGO using local manufacturing to meet essential needs. Most recently she became a cofounding member of the Digital Life Collective, a member-owned co-operative researching and supporting technologies that preserve dignity, privacy and equality – a grand experiment to see if a mass co-operative might be a better way to create the tech we all use everyday than the models of Silicon Valley.