Further information
To receive meeting notices by email, please sign up to our monthly email updates.
The Duncan Davies Lecture: From start up in a barn in Cambridge to global standard and beyond
Sir Robin Saxby,
Chairman Emeritus of ARM and President of the IET
Tuesday 19 June 2007, 6.30pm
The Royal Society, 7 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG - map
Sir Robin talked through the early days of starting ARM with 12 engineers and himself in Cambridge to becoming the global standard embedded microprocessor used in the most digital devices on the planet today. In calendar year 2006, ARM's partners shipped over 2.3 billion ARM Powered chips used in mobile phones, digital cameras, set top boxes, electronic games, Apple iPods, global positioning systems and so on.
A key focus for ARM has been Research and Development and the company spends around 25% of sales in this area annually. Robin's talk included the phases of start up, going, public, and expansion from the core business. It also discussed the evolving roles of people in the company and the importance of developing a strong people development as well as technology development culture.
Sir Robin Saxby was involved in founding ARM and served as President and Chief Executive Officer and then Chairman until October 2006, when he became President of the IET. Previously, he was with ES2, Motorola Semiconductors and Henderson Security Systems Limited. He was Chairman of the Open Microprocessor Initiative Advisory Group, which advised on collaborative R&D activity within Europe. He holds a BEng in Electronics and is a chartered engineer, Hon FIEE and FREng.
A visiting professor at the University of Liverpool, he has honorary doctorates from Liverpool, Loughborough and Essex universities. Knighted in the 2002 New Year's Honours List, he has received the Faraday Medal of the IEE, now IET). He is a non-executive director of Glotel plc.