Dr John M Taylor OBE, FRS, FREng
Director General of Research Councils,

Office of Science and Technology, DTI, London

John Taylor is Director General of Research Councils in the UK Office of Science and Technology, responsible for the seven Research Councils funding research across the whole spectrum of science and technology in the UK science and engineering base.

He was formerly director of Hewlett Packard Laboratories Bristol, the European arm of HP's worldwide long range research laboratories, where he developed major programs of research in the areas of information utilities, information appliances and mathematics, including internet security, wireless communications, telecomms and personal digital imaging. Earlier, he lead various research groups at RSRE and ASWE in areas including secure computing and communications, and command and control.

He was President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1998-9, and chaired the UK Technology Foresight Panel in IT Electronics and Communications until December 1998. He is an honorary fellow of Emmanuel College and sometime visiting industrial professor at Bristol University and a visiting professor at Imperial College, London.