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About John Seely Brown
John Seely Brown is the Independent Co-Chairman of the Deloitte’s Center for the Edge and a visiting scholar and advisor to the Provost at University of Southern California (USC).
Prior to that he was the Chief Scientist of Xerox Corporation and the director of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)—a position he held for nearly two decades. While head of PARC, Brown expanded the role of corporate research to include such topics as the management of radical innovation, organizational learning, complex adaptive systems, and nano technologies. He was a cofounder of the Institute for Research on Learning (IRL). His personal research interests include digital youth culture, digital media and institutional innovation.
John, or as he is often called—JSB— is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Education, a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence and of AAAS and a Trustee of the MacArthur Foundation. He serves on numerous public boards (Amazon, Corning, and Varian Medical Systems) and private boards of directors. He has published over 100 papers in scientific journals. With Paul Duguid he co-authored the acclaimed book The Social Life of Information (HBS Press, 2000) that has been translated into 9 languages with a second addition in April 2002. With John Hagel he co-authored the book The Only Sustainable Edge which is about new forms of collaborative innovation and The Power of Pull: how small moves, smartly made can set big things in motion, published April 2010. His current book, The New Culture of Learning co-authored with Professor Doug Thomas at USC, was released January 2011.
JSB received a BA from Brown University in 1962 in mathematics and physics and a PhD from University of Michigan in 1970 in computer and communication sciences. He has received six honorary degrees including: May 2000, Brown University, Doctor of Science Degree; July 2001, the London Business School, Honorary Doctor of Science in Economics; May 2004, Claremont Graduate University, Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters; May 2005, University of Michigan, Honorary Doctor of Science Degree, and May 2009, North Carolina State University, Honorary Doctor of Science Degree, May 2011, Illinois Institute of Technology, Honorary Doctor of Design.
JSB is an avid reader, traveler and motorcyclist.
Part scientist, part artist and part strategist, JSB's views are unique and distinguished by a broad view of the human contexts in which technologies operate and a healthy skepticism about whether or not change always represents genuine progress
International Advisory Boards
Singapore Ministry of Education’s International Review Panel for R&D Programme on Digital Media in Education, 2007-present
Singapore Ministry of Education’s, Media Development Authority , International Advisory Panel, 2007 –present
Singapore Management University, School of Information Systems, Advisory Board, 2006-present
Singapore’s Scientific Advisory Board of the National Research Foundation, 2006-present
Barcelona, the Government of Catalonia’s Minister for Innovation, Universities and Enterprise International Advisory Panel on Research and Innovation, 2007 - 2010
- 2000 - Brown University - Doctor of Science
- 2001 - London Business School - Doctor of Science in Economics
- 2004 - Claremont Graduate School - Doctor of Humane Letters
- 2005 - University of Michigan - Doctor of Science
- 2009 - North Carolina State University - Doctor of Science
- 2011 - Illinois Institute of Technology - Doctor of Design
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