The non-executive members of the DSIT board will provide overarching strategic guidance and insight to the government, as it looks to distribute government resources to improve innovation in the sector.

The seven non-executive members of the DSIT Board are: 

• Shonnel Malani – Managing Partner at Advent International and Chair of the Board at Cobham and Ultra Electronics
• Tim Peake CMG – former European Space Agency astronaut and British Army Air Corps Helicopter Pilot
• Ron Dennis CBE – Founding Shareholder and former Chairman and CEO of the McLaren Technology Group Ltd, Chairman of Podium Analytics
• Baroness Alison Wolf CBE – Professor at King’s College London, cross-bench House of Lords Peer and former government expert adviser on skills
• Melissa Di Donato – former CEO of SUSE Software Solutions, iNED at JPMorgan Chase, Supervisory Board member of Porsche AG, Senior Advisor at Hg Capital
• Saul Klein – co-founder and Managing Partner of Phoenix Court, home to LocalGlobe and Latitude, as well as co-founder of Seedcamp and ZINC
• Professor Jason Chin FRS – Fellow in Natural Sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge, and Head, Centre for Chemical and Synthetic Biology at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

“This is a group of genuine pioneers and leaders, who will guide this Department with a level of knowledge and expertise the rest of the world will follow,” said Michelle Donelan, Science and Technology Secretary.

The inaugural board members will serve for a period of nine months. After which, permanent non-executive members will be advertised “through a fair and open competitive process in due course,” according to the DSIT board. 

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Their appointment comes just months after the DSIT was set up in February, which has since seen hundreds of millions of pounds in funding. Since its conception, the DSIT has unveiled government strategies in AI, Quantum, and Wireless, as well as launching schemes such as the  Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund and the Innovation Accelerators programme.

“Throughout my business career I’ve been an advocate for embracing and advancing technology, and now I can’t wait to support this exciting new Department deliver on its ambitious plan to cement the UK’s place as a science and technology superpower by 2030,” said board appointee Shonnel Malani.

“This agenda will help businesses and the economy to grow and drive the innovations that will transform lives up and down the country.”