Vice-Chancellor. 

Nigel Toon is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Graphcore. Graphcore has pioneered the production of “intelligence processing units” (IPUs).The IPU is a completely new processor, specifically designed for AI computing. Its unique architecture lets AI researchers undertake entirely new types of work, not possible using current technologies, to drive the next advances in machine intelligence. The need for this technology is expected to grow substantiallyasthings such as driverless cars and automated factories become increasingly commonplace.  

Since it was founded in 2016, following a two-year incubation at XMOS, Graphcore has received significant interest and financial backing from investors including Microsoft, Dell, BMW, and Bosch. In 2018, the company achieved unicorn status (a unicorn being a company valued at over $1billion), and by the end of 2020, Graphcore was valued at $2.5billion, having raised nearly $700million in funding within just four years. 

Graphcore’s success at securing investment is in part due to the reputation of its co-founder Nigel and his successful history of building, developing, and selling technology companies. He started his career as a Vice President at the Altera Corporation and later became General Manager for Europe, establishing their business unit on the continent which grew to produce annual sales of over $400million. In 2002, he co-founded Icera, a 3G cellular modem chip manufacturer, and led itsPhone Business Unit. In 2011, Icera was acquired in a $367million deal.  

Nigel moved on to become President and CEO at picoChip, a Bath-based semiconductor manufacturer. During his three year tenure, the company enjoyed significant growth and was itself acquired in 2012. In the same year, Nigel joined XMOS, a University of Bristol spin-out, as CEO. When Graphcore was spun out from XMOS in 2016, Nigel stood down as CEO but remained Chairman until 2017. 

As you can see, Nigel has had an illustrious career, and it won’t surprise you to learn that he has been recognised in many ways for his achievements. In 2019, Nigel won Icon of the Year at the Barclays Entrepreneur Awards. In 2021 he was appointed as a non-executive director of the UK Research and Innovation board, and in 2022, he was also appointed to the Prime Minister’s Business Council.  

As though that wasn’t enough to keep Nigel busy, he has managed to find time to write a book. How AI Thinks will be published early in 2024, and Nigel and I have agreed that we will invite him back to the University to give an invited lecture to the wider academic and student community. He tells me that the book is a hopeful guide written to help everyone understand how AI works, what its enormous potential can deliver, and - crucially - how we can control it. It also draws parallels with how our brain works to help make a personal connection for the reader. And just before you reach for your phones and personal devices, I have already placed my pre-order with Penguin Books, so you’ll need to join the queue! 

Nigel has a number of impactful and enduring connections to the city, and the University, of Bristol. He moved to Bristol in 2002 and – at least according to my research – cites the weather and the local beer as two factors that encouraged him to make it his home for now more than 20 years.XMOS, for whom Nigel was CEO,was spun out of the University in 2005 , with its key products being microcontrollers that were developed by University researchers led by Professor David May. Both XMOS and Graphcorefund awards for computer science graduates in the Faculty of Engineering, and representatives from both companies regularly take part in speaking events at the University, including with the Jean Golding Institute and the Centre for Doctoral Training in Interactive Artificial Intelligence. Graphcore’s IPU technology has also featured in research undertaken by the University’s High-Performance Computing Group and the School of Physics. 

As the University seeks to grow and diversify its portfolio of entrepreneurial students, graduates and staff, I believe that conferring Nigel with this honour appropriately recognises his achievements, and alsogives a powerful message to the University and the wider community, of the value and impact we see in entrepreneurship and innovation. Nigel is an inspirational figure to those who are taking their first steps into the world of innovation and enterprise. 

Vice-Chancellor, I present to you Nigel Toon as eminently worthy of the degree of Doctor of Sciencehonoris causa.