Dr Rick Robinson

Director of Smart Places, Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure, Jacobs


Dr. Rick Robinson FBCS CITP FRSA AoU is Director and Global Technology Leader for Smart, Connected and Secure Cities and Places for Jacobs.

He advises clients on the role of technology in transforming the built environment – improving places, infrastructure, and services in the interest of communities, business, and the environment. Previously, he has led Smart Cities businesses for Arup and IBM, and was Director of Technology for Amey, where he was responsible for an innovation programme driving advances in digital technology into services and infrastructure used by about 1 in 4 people in the UK every day.

Rick spent 8 years as a Non-Executive Director of Innovation Birmingham, the West Midlands leading digital tech campus, and is a member of the Birmingham Knowledge Quarter Advisory Board. In 2012 he founded the Birmingham Smart City Alliance, which has supported 100s of digital innovation projects through collaboration with over 50 city institutions.

He is currently working with innovation districts in London, Birmingham and Scotland, and leading the development of digital strategies for multi-£billion city developments in the Middle East.