Dr Adrian Burden was a visiting Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence on attachment to the School one day per week from 1st April 2018 to 30th April 2021. He continues as an Honorary Senior Research Fellow to provide ad hoc advice and insights to undergraduates, postgraduates and academic staff interested in commercialising science and technology through collaboration, licensing and spinning-off.
Previously, Adrian co-founded and grew an award-winning high technology anti-counterfeiting solutions company headquartered in Singapore called Singular ID which span out from the Institute of Materials Research & Engineering (IMRE). As the founding CEO, he helped protect the intellectual property, develop the business, negotiate contracts, and raise venture capital finance before the company was acquired by a leading pharmaceutical packaging supplier.
Adrian has since co-founded Key IQ Ltd, a UK based business and technology catalyst that operates the Wyche Innovation Centre for the benefit of entrepreneurs keen to start and grow their own businesses. In 2012 he founded the Malvern Festival of Innovation which has grown to become a nationally recognised event showcasing science, technology and entrepreneurship to school students, business professionals and members of the public. He was also co-founding director of the social enterprise UK Cyber Security Forum CIC.
Adrian is currently the founding Chief Technology Officer of a blockchain startup BlockMark Technologies Ltd which offers the web-app called BlockMark Registry for enterprise management of certificates and credentials.
In the past, he has been an electron microscopist and worked on carbonaceous materials, plasma deposited thin films, materials for field emission displays, OLEDs and nano-composites. In 2015 he was recognised as a Maserati100 Entrepreneur by the Centre for Entrepreneurs in The Sunday Times.