British technology expert to speak at HBKU

Peter Cochrane, a British computing expert and thought leader in futuretechnologies, is to deliver a public lecture in Qatar to discussinsights from what he has learned over 45 years of revolution anddisruption in computing and communications.Prof Cochrane is visiting Qatar as a member of the Scientific AdvisoryCommittee for Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), part of HamadBin Khalifa University (HBKU). He has served on the QCRI committee since2013.Prof Cochrane’s talk, A Life Engineering, will be held at the HBKUResearch Complex at 4pm on April 15. He will focus on a variety ofsubjects including defining and quantifying artificial intelligence (AI), and software speciation by artificial life. “Quantum computing as a useable reality is still some years away. On theother hand AI is proving so very powerful despite being on just thefirst rung of a very long ladder,” Prof Cochrane said.He is regarded as a leading global consultant, advising multiplegovernment departments of  the UK, US and Singapore; as well ascompanies including HP, Motorola, 3M, Dupont, Ford, Sun, Apple, Cisco,Rolls Royce, BMW and Facebook.In 1999 he was awarded an Order of the British Empire for hiscontributions to international communications with BT (formerly BritishTelecommunications). He had progressed from a linesman to head ofresearch and chief technical officer at BT, managing a 1000-strong teamengaged in studies spanning optical fibre, fixed and mobile networks,AI, Artificial Life, future products, human behaviour and interfaces.After embarking on a consulting career, he also set up multiple startupsincluding eBookers and Shazam Entertainment. Dr Ahmed Elmagarmid, QCRI’s executive director, described Prof Cochrane as “a thought leader of the rarest ability”.“Peter has achieved notoriety as a technical consultant of the highestorder. He has helped build some of the most influential companies intechnology and consults for some of the world’s most powerful techcompanies,” Dr Elmagarmid said.“QCRI has benefited greatly from his expertise in the drivers of future technologies and he has helped align us to deal with future disruptions.”