Speakers

Speaker profile

John Abbott is the CEO of the Satellite Application Catapult, a world-leading technology and innovation company, helping businesses of all sizes realise the potential from space. His previous role was at the Real Estate Registry in Saudi Arabia, where he was Chief Digital Officer. As employee number two, he was instrumental in delivering the Kingdom’s first-ever land ownership registry as part of a public-private partnership supported by the Public Investment Fund. John was previously Director of Digital Data and Technology and a member of the Executive Board at HM Land Registry, where he led a successful £200m digital transformation programme and the organisation’s pioneering open innovation programme, Digital Street. Before this, he was Head of Digital Products at Ordnance Survey, where he was responsible for digitising and publishing the organisation’s geospatial data as well as the Innovations Lab and Geovation, a successful start-up incubator, which has supported more than 150 early-stage businesses which together have raised £130m. Earlier roles included Product Director at Mimecast, the UK tech company acquired by Permira for $5.8Bn. He has an MBA from Imperial College London, is married with three children and enjoys playing tennis.