Louis Barson

The Future Sectors team lead Industrial Strategy approach to new and emerging sectors, such as Robotics, Drones and Quantum Technologies as well as coordinating ministerial reviews into ‘transforming sectors’ where technology substantially changing things such as Education, Insurance and Law.

Prior to this he was Head of Technology for Aerospace, Marine and Defence, responsible for the £3.9 billion Aerospace R&D budget and Deputy Director for Science and Innovation in UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), where he was responsible for leading the UKTI Innovation Gateway – a ‘front door’ to the UK innovation system for large international investors and corporates.

Prior to joining the Civil Service, Louis spent four years in Japan studying Japanese language to fluency, and carrying out postgraduate research into Japanese philosophy and non-classical mathematical Logic. Drawing on this experience he wrote a weekly column for the Japan Times for three years.

He graduated from Kings College London in 2005 with a first-class honours degree in philosophy. In his spare time, he is studying for a BA in physics with the Open University and enjoys recreational flying.