Members of parliament’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee have given their backing to the appointment of tech entrepreneur Tom Adeyoola as the next executive chair of Innovate UK.
Adeyoola founded 3D clothes-modelling business Metail and co-founded not-for-profit organisation Extend Ventures, which aims to support entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds. He is also a board member of TV company Channel 4.
Last month, the ministerial team at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology announced Adeyoola as their preferred pick to lead Innovate UK, which is part of UK Research and Innovation. The role comes with base pay of £215,000 a year and a performance-related bonus potentially worth an additional 10%.
Following an interview hearing last week, members of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee endorsed Adeyoola’s appointment.
Committee chair Chi Onwurah said Adeyoola had satisfied the panel that he has the experience and knowledge to lead Innovate UK, which oversees the UK’s Catapult Network and runs the £100m Innovation Accelerator programme.
“Innovate UK needs strong leadership and vision to deliver much-needed growth and investment, particularly in the face of current global challenges around rising nationalism in trade and technology,” she said.
“We were impressed by his refreshing entrepreneurial approach and the clarity of his plans, as well as by his engagement with the innovation ecosystem across the UK. We look forward to seeing him deliver his plans for the organisation.
“The first few months are crucial in a role like this. Mr Adeyoola has the committee’s support to move quickly once appointed to set clear outcome metrics for his time in the role to make an impact, push through his vision for the future of Innovate UK, and deliver for the public.”
During the hearing, MPs asked Adeyoola about his motivation, background and experience. Questions included the challenges he would face in going from the private to the public sector and how he would manage this role alongside his other commitments, such as his position on the Channel 4 board.
Public sector tours of duty
Adeyoola was also asked how he felt people with strong tech backgrounds could be attracted to work for the public sector when the salary for entry-level artificial-intelligence engineers at Google was £150,000 and almost double that for a senior engineer.
Adeyoola said he was a strong believer in the principle of doing a “tour of duty” in the public sector and was encouraged to see several other entrepreneurs of his generation doing the same.
“The sense of wanting to do a tour of duty and make impact is there among many of my era,” he said. “The key thing, then, is creating the environment that will enable people to feel that they can flourish and have impact when they come into an organisation, and allowing for the ability for people to come in for two years or three years, time limited, in and out the other side.”
Adeyoola said he had been competing with Google for talented young staff at Metail and had co-funded PhD students at Cambridge University as part of the solution.
“They started working on my problem field and that meant they ended up coming to work for me, instead of going for three times more cash to work for a Google or an Apple and so on,” he said. “I ended up with 13 PhDs on that team, who could all have earned three times more somewhere else.”
He said those being targeted for a "tour of duty" needed clarity on the purpose for which they were moving to the public sector, the impact they would be able to have, and the timeframe they would be required for.
Adeyoola will succeed Stella Peace, who has served as interim executive chair at Innovate UK since Indro Mukerjee left the organisation in September last year.
Last month, Mukerjee was appointed as a non-executive board member at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.