Dr. Alan W. Brown
Professor in Digital Economy
Exeter Business School, University of Exeter, UK.
Alan has been delivering impact as an entrepreneur and in business for over 30 years, working predominantly in software engineering and software delivery to power business transformation. He is also a university professor, researcher, coach and trusted adviser to start-ups and established organizations across the public and private sector. He leads several research efforts exploring digital transformation in large established organizations and is engaged in a number of influential research strategy roles. His work is published in a variety of channels including research papers, whitepapers, blog pieces, and invited opinion pieces. He has also written several books on enterprise software delivery, software modelling, and digital transformation. He holds a Professorship in Digital Economy at the University of Exeter, UK and a Fellowship at the Alan Turing Institute, the UK National institute for data science and AI.
Previously, Alan spent almost 2 decades in the USA in commercial high-tech companies leading R&D teams, building leading-edge solutions, and driving innovation in software product delivery. He then spent 5 years in Madrid leading enterprise strategy as European CTO for IBM’s Software group. More recently Alan co-founded the Surrey Centre for the Digital Economy (CoDE) at the University of Surrey where he led research initiatives in 4 EPSRC-funded research projects before moving to set up the Initiative in the Digital Economy at Exeter (INDEX) at the University of Exeter.
In March 2021, Alan was appointed as Director of a new £11M UK National Research Centre investigating digital transformation in Large Established Organizations (LEOs). The DIGIT Lab works with several universities and business partners to drive impact and deliver new research insights into accelerating digital innovation in LEOs. In August 2022, Alan transitioned from this role to set up a new Defence Data Research Centre (DDRC). Funded by the Defence Science and Technology Lab (DSTL) with almost £4M, it is developing ways to improve the sate-of-the-practice in data science and AI across the defence sector.
The impact of Alan’s work is seen in his consulting activities where he advises several startups, and works with clients in the public and private sector including the UK National Audit Office, Centrica, SAP, Siemens, McLaren, and several UK Government agencies. He has published 5 books and numerous papers on software engineering, systems design, and digital business transformation. He was also named in the apolitical.co 2018 list of the world’s 100 most influential people in digital government. In March 2019 Alan received a Fellowship from the Alan Turing Institute, the UK national institute for AI and data science.
Alan’s latest work can be seen in his popular "Digital Economy Dispatches" blog posts, and the book on “Delivering Digital Transformation: A manager’s guide to the digital revolution”.
Previously, Alan spent almost 2 decades in the USA in commercial high-tech companies leading R&D teams, building leading-edge solutions, and driving innovation in software product delivery. He then spent 5 years in Madrid leading enterprise strategy as European CTO for IBM’s Software group. More recently Alan co-founded the Surrey Centre for the Digital Economy (CoDE) at the University of Surrey where he led research initiatives in 4 EPSRC-funded research projects before moving to set up the Initiative in the Digital Economy at Exeter (INDEX) at the University of Exeter.
In March 2021, Alan was appointed as Director of a new £11M UK National Research Centre investigating digital transformation in Large Established Organizations (LEOs). The DIGIT Lab works with several universities and business partners to drive impact and deliver new research insights into accelerating digital innovation in LEOs. In August 2022, Alan transitioned from this role to set up a new Defence Data Research Centre (DDRC). Funded by the Defence Science and Technology Lab (DSTL) with almost £4M, it is developing ways to improve the sate-of-the-practice in data science and AI across the defence sector.
The impact of Alan’s work is seen in his consulting activities where he advises several startups, and works with clients in the public and private sector including the UK National Audit Office, Centrica, SAP, Siemens, McLaren, and several UK Government agencies. He has published 5 books and numerous papers on software engineering, systems design, and digital business transformation. He was also named in the apolitical.co 2018 list of the world’s 100 most influential people in digital government. In March 2019 Alan received a Fellowship from the Alan Turing Institute, the UK national institute for AI and data science.
Alan’s latest work can be seen in his popular "Digital Economy Dispatches" blog posts, and the book on “Delivering Digital Transformation: A manager’s guide to the digital revolution”.