Sophie Hackford is a futurist, business builder, and speaker, synthesising explosive and interconnected technology and science breakthroughs from around the world. From satellite swarms to AI demonstrating intuition, we are becoming entangled with machines and will be surprised by the consequences. Sophie’s talks are designed to create enthusiasm and constructive dialogue around emerging technologies, which are often viewed with fear and inertia by the business community. She wants to help audiences ask big questions about the future and tries to provoke positive debate amongst decision makers.
Sophie is currently on an under-theradar research programme, to discover extraordinary tech breakthroughs and investigate the social contexts in which they are built and used. The curriculum requires time amongst weirdos and troublemakers in creative communities, new markets and universities - whether satellites in Buenos Aires, eGaming in Scandinavia, drones in China, astropreneurs in LA.
The aim is to map these technologies over shifting demographics, economics, geopolitics, and hopefully provide a richer understanding of the interconnected challenges and opportunities ahead.
Sophie previously launched and ran WIRED magazine’s consulting business, bringing the entrepreneurs building the future into boardrooms. She spent two years in Silicon Valley working at Singularity University, a group based at a NASA research park tasked with understanding and harnessing exponential technologies. Prior to California, she worked at Oxford University, bringing more than $120m of investment to a futures research group called the Oxford Martin School. She speaks regularly for corporate audiences on our explosive tech future.
