John Seely Brown

John Seely Brown is recognized as an author, scientist, and innovation expert. He was the Chief Scientist of Xerox Corporation until April 2002, and the director of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) until June 2000. During his tenure at PARC, he transformed the organization into a dynamic multidisciplinary research hub, integrating social sciences and arts into the traditional fields of physics and computer science. He expanded the scope of corporate research to include radical innovation management, organizational learning, and complex adaptive systems.

Currently, he serves as the Independent Co-Chairman of Deloitte's Center for the Edge and is a visiting scholar and advisor to the Provost at the University of Southern California (USC). Here, he facilitates collaboration between the schools for communication and media and the Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT). His research at Deloitte focuses on institutional innovation and designing work environments that embrace digital culture, ubiquitous computing, and continuous learning and adaptability. He is also a co-founder of the Institute for Research on Learning (IRL).

Brown has authored several influential books including "The Social Life of Information," "The Only Sustainable Edge," "The Power of Pull," and his current work, "A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change," co-authored with Doug Thomas. This book discusses how learning environments can adapt to constant change and integrate innovation and creativity, proposing a fluid and evolving approach to learning shaped by imagination and collective experience.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Education, and a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence. He serves on numerous boards of directors. With a prolific output, he has published over 100 papers in scientific journals. Brown holds a BA from Brown University in mathematics and physics, and a PhD from the University of Michigan in computer and communication sciences. He has been awarded seven honorary degrees from institutions including Brown University, the London Business School, and the University of Michigan.

In his diverse roles, Brown has consistently emphasized the importance of adapting to a constantly changing world and integrating change into educational and organizational processes, maintaining a broad view of the human contexts in which technologies operate.