Tech Policy Expertise: Robotics

  • Saba Shaukat

    Saba Shaukat is a pioneering international business and technology executive with over 25 years of experience. She specialises in leveraging frontier technologies to drive transformative change and has a deep expertise in transitioning FTSE 250 companies into the next wave of growth and profitability.

    Currently, Saba is creating an AI Agency and heads Engagement and Innovation at the Accelerated Capability Environment (ACE), a joint venture between the Home Office and QinetiQ on AI, data analytics, deep fakes, economic crime and emerging technology. She helps the Government in accelerating digital transformation initiatives to drive disruptive innovation and implement policies to enhance security, national resilience, and UK prosperity.

    Previously, Saba was the Group Director of Technical Capability and Innovation at QinetiQ plc, where she led a team of top scientists and engineers. She focused on frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous systems, cyber technologies, immersive augmented reality, human-machine teaming, advanced materials, quantum computing, lasers, and human behaviour.

    Throughout her career, Saba has driven transformational technologies resulting in over £1 billion in new revenue. She has extensive international experience in strategy and commercial development and has held several board positions as a Non-Executive Director and Trustee. She recently became a Board Fellow at the world-wide renowned Royal College of Art(RCA), the leading school in innovation design engineering with the capability to tackle complex challenges faced by society and the planet.

    Saba’s career also includes significant roles at Capita, BT, Vodafone, Deloitte Consulting, and PwC, where she contributed to global market entry strategies, business turnarounds, and new technology ventures for both enterprise and consumer sectors.

    An alumna of Harvard University’s Kennedy School for Executive Leadership Training and the London Business School with an MBA, Saba is a thought leader and board advisor. As a former regional board member of The Prince’s Trust, she has inspired young people from disadvantaged communities to win national entrepreneurial awards.

    Saba is also a contributor to the bestselling book, The Power of Purpose. She is dedicated to embracing disruptive ideas and advancing skills, science, and technology for societal good amid rapid technological change.

    In her spare time, Saba is an avid sailor, traveller, and explorer of new science and technological innovations for the 21st century.

  • Lisa Johnson

    Lisa Johnson is Starship Technologies’ Vice President of Global Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. Starship is the world leader in autonomous robot delivery, having completed more than 8 million deliveries globally. Lisa leads on all aspects of regulatory policy, with a particular focus on market entry and creating supportive regulatory environments for first-of-a-kind technology. Her team is responsible for developing industry-leading social acceptance campaigns for the introduction of embodied AI into public spaces.

    Prior to joining Starship, Lisa worked in external relations and political affairs for UK trade unions and Members of Parliament.

  • Alexi Drew

    Dr Alexi Drew FRSA MBCS is a leading technology policy expert specialising in AI governance and digital rights, currently serving as Technology Policy Adviser at the International Committee of the Red Cross where she leads global advocacy on emerging technologies in humanitarian contexts. With a PhD in cyber-security and international governance from Royal Holloway, University of London, she has extensive experience translating complex AI risks into actionable policy recommendations across government, humanitarian, and private sectors. She co-authored the Humanitarian AI Framework for the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub and actively evaluates AI project funding applications from organisations worldwide, whilst her policy work has directly influenced EU AI Act provisions and UN discussions on autonomous weapons systems. Previously a Senior Analyst at RAND Europe and Postdoctoral Research Associate at King’s College London, Alexi serves on advisory boards for the Department for Science, Technology & Innovation and the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub, combining academic rigour with practical experience in shaping international technology governance frameworks.