In conversation with Chris Holmes MBE

Tech means Business

Chris Holmes (Lord Holmes of Richmond) is Britain’s most successful paralympic swimmer, winning a total of nine golds, five silvers and one bronze. He was also Director of Paralympic Integration, responsible for the organization of the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

Chris is a passionate advocate for the potential of technology and the benefits of diversity and inclusion. He campaigns for more accessible environments for disabled people and has conducted an independent review for the UK Government that made recommendations on opening up public appointments to disabled people.

in the UK Parliament, Chris sits on the influential Science and Technology Select Committee but has previously been a member of specialist House of Lords select committees dealing with democracy and digital technologies, artificial intelligence, digital skills, social mobility, and financial exclusion.

In 2017 Chris’s report on 'Distributed Ledger Technology For Public Good' (DLT) urged the government to consider blockchain for public use cases. The Electronic Trade Documents Act, which Chris steered into law in 2023, is a fine example of that work coming to fruition. It represents the potential to kickstart mainstream adoption of blockchain systems for the wider digitalisation of trade documents.

In this episode of the Tech Means Business podcast, we talk about Chris's interests in distributed ledger technology, future legislation that's due to pass through Parliament in the current sitting, and how the UK can lead the world in data policy, privacy and soverignty.

You can read more about Chris here:
https://chrisholmes.co.uk/

And on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lord-chris-holmes/

About the Electronic Trade Documents Act:
https://chrisholmes.co.uk/news/electronic-trade-documents-act/

Chris' 2017 Report on DLT for public good:
https://chrisholmes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Distributed-Ledger-Technologies-for-Public-Good_leadership-collaboration-and-innovation.pdf [pdf]

Joe Green's LinkedIn page:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephedwardgreen/