A skilled innovation speaker brings fresh perspectives and cutting-edge strategies that challenge conventional thinking, inspiring teams to embrace new ideas and adapt quickly to change, they can offer insights on emerging trends, technological advancements, and creative problem-solving, all of which are vital for maintaining a competitive edge. By fostering a culture of innovation, businesses can equip their leadership teams with the tools needed to drive growth, enhance productivity, and navigate challenges in a rapidly changing landscape.
At Great Business Speakers, we understand that an innovative keynote speaker can be instrumental in helping organisations identify opportunities for improvement and growth. We take the time to understand your organisation’s unique needs—whether it’s fostering creativity, building resilience, or improving leadership skills – and only work with leading innovators who possess the expertise to tailor their message to specific team dynamics, leadership goals, or industry challenges, making their impact long-lasting. We will help you find the right match – an innovative leader that can inspire action, boost employee engagement, and cultivate an environment that encourages continuous learning and progress.
Discover our Innovation Speakers below, or contact the team at Great Business Speakers to enquire or book. +44 1753 439 289
Ed Vaizey, is a prominent British peer, former minister, and influential voice across politics, media, and the creative industries. A member of the House of Lords and the Privy Council, he brings deep insight to matters of technology, cultural policy, and the digital economy.
From 2005 to 2019, Ed represented Wantage as a Member of Parliament and was appointed Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries in 2010. Serving for six years, he became the longest-serving Culture Minister in British history, playing a pivotal role in shaping policies that drove unprecedented growth in the UK’s creative and tech sectors – including introducing tax reliefs, expanding broadband infrastructure, and championing the arts.
His ministerial legacy was publicly recognised by more than 150 leading figures from the arts and media, who signed an open letter thanking him for his dedication and impact. Today, Ed continues to influence public discourse as a media commentator, columnist, podcast host, and broadcaster, while also holding advisory positions with leading organisations in technology and communications.
A trained barrister, he speaks with authority and authenticity on the intersection of innovation, creativity, policy, and culture – making him a highly sought-after speaker for events around the world.
Lars Tvede is a professional investor, serial entrepreneur and author who over the last 30 years has founded a string of companies within telecommunication, software development, property and finance.
His work has won him numerous international awards, including the Wall Street Journal Europe Innovation Award, Red Herring Global 100 Award, and Swiss IMD Startup Award.
As Head of Innovation & Creativity at Disney, Duncan Wardle helped teams at Disney Parks, Lucasfilm, Marvel, Pixar, Imagineering and Animation to innovate, creating magical new storylines and amazing experiences for consumers around the globe.
He now brings his Disney experience to audiences around the world, delivering a series of keynotes, masterclasses, and ideation forums, that help people capture unlikely connections, leading to both disruptive thinking and revolutionary ideas.
He is a multiple TEDx speaker and has been featured in many publications including Fast Company, Forbes, INC., and more. He teaches Innovation and Creativity Masterclasses at Harvard, Yale and Edinburgh Universities. Duncan Wardle also holds the American Citizen Award presented at the White House, an Hons. MBA and Hons. Doctorate from Edinburgh University and the Duke of Edinburgh Award, presented by Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD, is an extraordinary polymath – a medical doctor and PhD, a world-class dancer, and later a C-Suite corporate leader with global retailers Mothercare and Selfridges Group.
Now he is a sought-after executive and strengths coach in the UK, Us and Europe, award-winning author, and inspiring leadership speaker. He is also the host of the hit leadership podcast ‘The Unlock Moment’, where he interviews many of the leading thinkers on finding purpose, achieving peak performance, and building leadership effectiveness from around the world.
Dr Gary Crotaz has featured in Forbes, the Telegraph, the Sunday Times and on TalkTV, and has spoken at events including CarFest, alongside Dr Rangan Chatterjee, Clive Branson, and Simon Ong. His innovative self-coaching book The IDEA Mindset by Dr Gary Crotaz was awarded Coaching Book of the Year by Henley Business School in 2022.
Dr Mark van Rijmenam is a leading strategic futurist, focussing on how technology development can affect and change companies, society and the metaverse.
Known as The Digital Speaker, Mark offers in-person keynotes, virtual keynotes, and even a hologram keynote, appearing on stage as a hologram, and has spoken to over 100,000 delegates across 25 countries.
Turnaround expert Kevin Gaskell fixes and builds companies. Recognised as one of the world’s foremost leadership and business revitalisation experts, Kevin is a sought after keynote speaker who shares his practical methods and solutions of how to lead through adversity and make the complex simple, inspire action and achieve commercial success.
A former MD of Porsche (GB) and BMW (GB), Kevin is now a leading entrepreneur and investor.
His earliest challenges were to rebuild a broken Porsche brand and then to inspire the team at BMW GB to achieve a 500% improvement in profit while transforming the service levels of an industry.
He is actively involved in many of the worldwide businesses he has built (and in some cases rebuilt) in sectors including: technology, data, manufacturing, professional services and consumer brands. Winning numerous awards for excellence along the way, his companies and teams have created £3 billion of shareholder value.
Dr Liberty Vittert is one of the top mathematicians and statisticians, specialising in facial shape analysis. She has a PhD in mathematics and statistics and is keen to bring her enthusiasm for maths to a wider audience.
Liberty Vittert is a Professor of the Practice of Data Science at the Olin Business School at the Washington University in St. Louis, and a visiting lecturer at Harvard University, as well as being the feature editor of the Harvard Data Science Review, and co-host of the Harvard Data Science Review podcast. She is also the host of the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) podcast for the Institute of Data, Systems and Society. She is a graduate of MIT as well as Le Cordon Bleu Paris and the University of Glasgow. She is also an Ambassador for the Royal Statistical Society and Female STEM ambassador.
As an approachable, likeable and intelligent woman in the male-dominated STEM world, Liberty Vittert is often asked to share her knowledge within the media and has appeared on STV Scottish News, BBC Radio Scotland, Channel 4, Fox News and PBS. In 2017, the BBC chose her – and 19 other women – to become an Expert Contributor for their TV and radio programs. In 2018, The Herald named her as one of the Coolest People in Scotland.
Named as one of the world’s Top 30 Professional Speakers by Global Guru, and one of the Top 10 Thought Leaders on AI by Thinkers360, Karl Lillrud is one of the most experienced eCommerce business professionals, as well as a business coach, and bestselling author.
His book You, Me and AI (2023), Karl delves into the AI revolution from 54 different angles, underscoring his extensive understanding of the subject. He also explores how AI is transforming society in areas such as education, creativity, work, and our sense of identity, identifying topics including digital immortality, machines understanding spirituality, and the reinvention of democracy through AI governance.
In huge demand, Karl provides keynotes on the topics of business growth, eCommerce, consumer behaviour, and online business strategies. He has worked with and spoken to clients across the globe, from the UK and the US to Norway, Sweden, Spain, and France.
Dr. Cristiana Pace is a leader and innovator in motorsport with a focus on sustainability and change management strategies.
Cristiana has made her mark in a 20 year career, which has seen her become the first woman to work alongside the FIA technical department in Formula 1, make key contributions to the FIA’s safety legacy and work with Williams Advanced Engineering to advance and utilise motorsport technology both in the industry and far beyond the racetrack.
In 2021, she was voted one of the Top 50 Women in Engineering by WES and The Guardian for her involvement with the Covid Appeal having worked on the development of the Oxford Box, a shield designed to protect NHS staff and patients during the intubation process. She is also an ambassador of the Silverstone Technology Cluster. Cristiana is a Chartered Engineer of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and a Fellow of the Women in Engineering Society (WES).
She is a well-respected speaker on technology transfer, motorsport, e-mobility, STEM and diversity.
From child prodigy to MBE, Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon is Head Stemette and co-founder of Stemettes, the award-winning social enterprise inspiring the next generations of females into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) roles via a series of events, talks and opportunities.
She completed her GCSEs whilst in primary school, won a scholarship to study mathematics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore at the age of 13, and was awarded a Masters degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Oxford at age 20, becoming one of the youngest people ever to do so. Unsurprisingly, Anne-Marie’s career has continued to soar.
In 2018 alone, Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon was named in Forbes’ list of the Top 50 Women in Tech in the World, voted the 5th most influential woman in IT by Computer Weekly and was the recipient of the prestigious Barclays UK Woman of the Year Award.
Named amongst the top 10 BAME Leaders in Tech by The Evening Standard, Anne-Marie’s impact in STEM is unmatched. A champion for women in the sector, she discusses the future of work, why technology needs diversity and company culture transformation.
Dr Aaron Balick, PhD. is a psychotherapist as well as a popular consultant, speaker and author.
He is recognised globally for his work in the understanding of psychology and how it can be used to support and benefit individuals, businesses and society as a whole. Aaron draws on more than twenty years of clinical and academic experience and is skilled at making psychology accessible to his varied audiences, in ways that are both engaging and entertaining.
He has appeared in a number of media organisations writing in the area of mental health with contributions in BBC Online, The Guardian, Newsweek and Wired Magazine. Aaron has offered his expertise across a variety of radio and television productions, including being the longest-running mental health contributor for BBC Radio 1’s phone-in Surgery programme for young people and appearing on BBC Radio 4’s The Moral Maze, and The Digital Human.
Dominic McGregor is a successful entrepreneur and advocate with a strong background in business, mental health, and sobriety.
Dominic co-founded Social Chain, a global marketing agency that achieved significant growth and success. After leaving Social Chain, Dominic co-founded Fearless Adventures, an investment fund focused on supporting and scaling new businesses.
Dominic is also involved in the Fearless Academy, which aims to provide education and skill development in the digital space.
Jules Coleman founded, built and sold UK based domestic cleaning marketplace start-up, Hassle.com, an online cleaning service platform.
Jonathan Holloway is a creative visionary, seasoned business leader and extraordinary storyteller who understands that every single organisation needs better tools to manage constant change, and create the unforgettable experiences that their customers and colleagues require.
His bold thinking and talent for connecting huge vision to practical action illustrate the compelling execution that great companies need to thrive in disruptive times.
For over a decade, Andrew Vorster was the Head of Technology Research for Visa Europe, gaining a reputation for fresh thinking, and proposing pragmatic solutions to complex problems.
Andrew has over 30 years of experience identifying and tracking trends in technology and business behaviours across a variety of industries. His colourful and engaging storytelling drawn from his real-life experiences helps businesses to harness the current pace of change, identify the opportunities it presents, and stimulates transformation.
Jon Burkhart is best known for being an international award-winning keynote speaker, strategist and author of the world-famous Newsjacking.
Through his consultancy company, TBC Global, he has helped brands rethink their business practices so that they stand out from their competitors with a more impactful and engaging story. He has also helped leaders solve problems in surprising ways that lead to growth. In his speeches and workshops, he uses his Constant Curiosity framework to solve problems in marketing, company culture, and customer experience.
In the last decade, Jon has travelled to over 25 different countries, inspiring clients such as BMW, Deloitte, Havanans, Microsoft and Salesforce to be more daring. He is also one of the very few people to speak at the South By South West (SXSW) conference 10 times, and he now serves on their advisory board. He has also hosted an event at Cannes Lions which led him to create his ‘beernote’ closing keynote speech.
In addition to his own published work, he has been featured in publications such as Rolling Stone, Fast Company, and The Guardian.
John Vincent is the co-founder and CEO of the natural-food chain LEON, which he founded in 2004 alongside Henry Dimbleby.
Prior to founding LEON, John was a strategy consultant for Bain & Company where his business travels made him realise that the majority of food available ‘on the go’ was unhealthy.
He is also known for his work in developing the 2013 School Food Plan, for which he was appointed and MBE, and for chairing the Council of Sustainable Business.
Former Squadron Leader John Peters came to the world’s attention in 1991, when his bruised and battered face flashed on our television screens. It was this shocking image that became a terrible symbol of Saddam Hussein’s ruthless aggression.
Since leaving the forces, John Peters has become a prominent keynote speaker, using his own dramatic, and sometimes harrowing, experiences to reach into our minds, and how us how we can overcome our worst fears.
David Rowan is one of the world’s leading technology speakers and thought leaders. He has invested in over 180 early-stage tech companies, including eight that became billion-dollar “unicorns”, and runs venture funds that invest in health-tech and climate-tech.
He is founding UK Editor-in-Chief of the highly respected WIRED magazine, and author of Amazon #1 business bestseller Non-Bullshit Innovation: Radical Ideas from the World’s Smartest Minds (Penguin). David Rowan has delivered over 900 keynote talks around the world and event moderator for governments, WIRED, TED and the World Economic Forum.
Elsewhere he is technology columnist on The Times, GQ and Condé Nast Traveller. Not just a speaker, David Rowan practice’s what he preaches, being an active adviser to & investor in 60+ tech start-ups to date.
Joe Britto’s passion for mindset as a lever of change is contagious. Author of The Six Attributes of a Leadership Mindset (Crown House Publishing, 2019), Joe works with a wide range of industries across the non-profit, public, and private sectors.
Psychological coach, mindset consultant, thinker, speaker, and writer, Joe Britto founded Innate Leaders, a mindset consultancy, in 2008. It operates in the UK and North America and has gone on to work with organisations including NASA, Lockheed Martin, intel, Coca Cola, and Bayer in the areas of change management, strategy, and the implementation of both.
In 2021 he developed ‘Mindset VI’, a visionary and innovative way to operationalise a shift in mindset around change and strategy in small business and multinationals.
Prior to founding Innate Leaders Joe Britto was an international trainer, radio producer, sound engineer, tree planter, and bush firefighter. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
David Coulthard is One of the world’s most widely recognised sports personalities, a former Formula 1 Grand Prix driver, television broadcaster, author and entrepreneur.
His business interests include co-founding Whisper Films, one of the UK’s fastest growing television production companies which produces sports and entertainment content including from NFL, Formula 1, SailGP, US Open Golf, FA Women’s Football and the Paralympic Games.
He is also a partner in Velocity Experience which develops and produces branded events for a wide range of corporate clients.
In 2010 he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Jo Malone has been described as an “English scent maverick” and the woman responsible for creating some of the world’s most-loved fragrances.
Originally a facial therapist, Jo fell in love with fragrance whilst working from her discreet skin care clinic which she set up from her London home. Discovering an instinctual talent for creating scented products by hand in her kitchen, word of her exceptional potions quickly spread and soon Jo was unable to keep up with demand.
From these artisan beginnings, Jo launched her first brand, Jo Malone London which gained cult status around the world.
In 1999, Jo sold the business to Estée Lauder Companies and remained Creative Director until she left in 2006.
David Constantine MBE is a pioneering expert in disability design, charity founder, and independent consultant.
Initially interested in pursuing a career in agriculture, a diving accident at 21 stopped him in his tracks, and he was forced to look down a new path.
Over his 30+ year career, David has built a worldwide reputation in the disability sector and was named an MBE in 2010 for services to disability. He also won the RSA Student Design Awards and the RSA Bicentenary Medal for his contribution to design advancement in industry and society.
David is now one of the most sought-after disability speakers on the circuit, speaking at expos, summits, and to individual business owners and companies.
Dave Birss is obsessed with creativity, what it is, how to make use of it, and why some people are better at it than others. It’s at the very centre of everything he does, and he is passionate about helping everyone to improve their creative thinking.
Dave’s talks are simple, easy-to-understand, funny, interesting, and captivating, and offer audiences tangible ideas that they can then implement in their own personal or professional lives.
As well as keynote speaking, Dave offers a number of training courses designed to help at every stage of the creative process, offers consulting work to a wide-range of companies to create better ideas and more successful innovation, and puts all his thoughts to paper, publishing a number of successful books.
