Squaring the Circle > Speakers > Ian Angell
Ian Angell

Ian Angell

Professor of Information Systems

London School of Economics

Ian Angell is Professor of Information Systems at the London School of Economics. He has very radical, yet constructive views on his subject and he is highly critical of what he calls ‘the pseudo-science of academic Information Systems’.

Ian’s growing reputation comes as the culmination of ten years of work developing a new perspective on information systems, stressing that the social, economic and organisational issues are more important than the technological ones. His research work currently concentrates on strategic information systems, on computers and risk, and on organisational and national IT policies.

Ian Angell’s work has come to the attention of some of the world’s most senior business figures who have invited him for private discussions on his ideas. These include:

  • Tony O’Reilly of Heinz
  • Bernd Pischetsrieder at BMW
  • Dick Bodman of AT&T
  • Archie Norman of ASDA
  • Maurice Saatchi of Saatchi & Saatchi
  • George Soros of the Quantum Fund

He was booked to make the closing speech at the FORTUNE CIO FORUM following the formidable impact he made at the FORTUNE GLOBAL CONFERENCE in Paris.

Ian has delivered presentations to a large number of well known international companies and national organisations including UBS Warburg, Bankers Trust, Compuware (Amsterdam and Munich), Dunn and Bradstreet (Paris), Ernst & Young (London and Singapore), European Security Forum (Cologne), Glaxo, HM Customs and Excise, IBM, Royal Mail, Toshiba and UNESCO. He also acts as a consultant on the management and strategic impact of information systems to many national and international organisations and to a number of governments. He is a personal advisor to the Cabinet of the Director General of UNESCO, and a consultant to the Russian Ministry of Science on the impact of IT on employment.

Ian Angell has created the highly respected LSE Research Centre for the study of Computer Security, and a Masters course has been launched in this subject area. He is also launching another Masters course in forecasting socio-political consequences of IT. His radical and controversial views on the global consequences of information technology have earned him a high-profile reputation as a “futurologist”. In his book, The New Barbarian Manifesto, he lays out his advice on how to win in an increasingly brutal and brutish world.