Head of Strategy, Meridian Mobility

Policy Fellow Alumnus, Centre for Science and Policy

Michael Talbot is currently on a secondment as Head of Strategy at Meridian Mobility, the UK's gateway to self-driving vehicle development. He was previously Head of Strategy in the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), a joint policy unit between BEIS and DfT, addressing the interaction among vehicles, infrastructure, and data to achieve these technologies’ significant economic and social benefits. Michael was also the policy lead for intelligent mobility in BEIS.

CCAV provides a single point of contact for industry and academia for CAV technologies and is coordinating and enhancing government activity in the sector. It is also articulating the "UK Offer" and scoping R&D competition requirements, among other priorities. He manages the £100m for collaborative R&D projects in intelligent mobility announced in Budget 2015 (March) and matched by industry for a total of £200m, as well as developing the "UK Offer" in this sector and the relevant engagement and stakeholder strategies.

Previously, Michael was Head of Horizon Scanning in HMG’s Horizon Scanning Programme, building on his horizon-scanning work in GO-Science and BIS, reporting to the Cabinet Secretary's Advisory Group. He established and co-chaired the cross-Whitehall Emerging Technologies Community of Interest (EmTech COI), considering the UK economic and wider policy implications of the Eight Great Technologies, quantum techs, and Internet of Things. He has also worked in the BIS Strategy Unit developing the futures component of the Industrial Strategy; at UKTI promoting the UK’s low carbon economy; at BIS on training programmes for the unemployed; and in GO Science on the Sustainable Energy Management and Built Environment (SEMBE) Project.

Michael holds Masters degrees from the Universities of Toronto and Oxford.