Doing things of value [profile of Sir John Chisholm]

Sir John Chisholm, the IEE´s 2005/6 President, is a firm believer in the importance of realising the economic potential of scientific discoveries and enjoys a formidable reputation as a business strategist. His career started in the motor industry with Vauxhaul, where his research on control engineering got him into computers. Sir John then joined Scicon, a computer consultancy wholly owned by BP, where he thrived for a time, but when it became clear that BP was not interested in what he was doing, he left to set up CAP Scientific. When this company became 90% French owned, Sir John became a civil servant, taking responsibility for the bulk of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) research establishments as head of the Defence Research Agency (DRA). Sir John played a prominent part in reforming government procurement strategies and was involved in the creation of agencies such as DERA (Defence Evaluation and Research Agency) in 1995 and, in 2001, QinetiQ. The article concludes by looking at his principal hobby, vintage car racing.