Louis Barson
Deputy Director, Future Sectors , BEIS

Louis Barson is Deputy Director of the Future Sectors team in the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy. The Future Sectors team lead the Industrial Strategy approach to new and emerging sectors, such as Robotics, Quantum Technologies and Drones, as well as ministerial reviews into clusters of disruption in ‘transforming sectors’ such as EdTech, InsurTech and GovTech. The team led work on the Artificial Intelligence policy framework in partnership with DCMS leading up to the Grand Challenge, Sector Deal, and establishment of the new Office for AI.

Prior to this role, Louis was Head of Technology for Aerospace, Marine and Defence, responsible for the £3.9bn Aerospace R&D budget, and Deputy Director for Science and Innovation in UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), where he was responsible for leading the UKTI Innovation Gateway – a ‘front door’ to the UK innovation system for large international investors and corporates.

Prior to joining the Civil Service, Louis spent four years in Japan studying Japanese language to fluency, and carrying out post-graduate research into Japanese Philosophy and non-classical Mathematical Logic. He graduated from Kings College London in 2005 with a first-class honours degree in Philosophy. In his spare time, he is studying Physics with the Open University and enjoys recreational flying as a private pilot.