Dr Chris Brauer
Staff details

Chris Brauer is Director of Innovation in the Institute of Management Studies (IMS) at Goldsmiths, University of London and is Founder of the Centre for Creative and Social Technologies (CAST). He is a Canadian-born academic and entrepreneur living and working in London. He revels in the intersections of disciplines and boundaries including those between industry and academic and those between academic disciplines.
His current research projects with industry partners include artificial intelligence, consumer behaviour, smart energy, connected homes, wearable technologies, cryptocurrencies, and mobile security.
Chris regularly appears in media and press analysing digital media, emerging technologies, and digital economies and politics. His primary current teaching and research interests are in management studies, innovation, digital journalism and sociology or the intersections of technologies and craft. He is Managing Director of Smoothmedia, holds numerous non-executive and Chairman roles with UK organisations and manages creative industry investments for London-based investment bank Clarity Capital.
Chris is the convener of the MSc Management of Innovation. He teaches the Innovation Case Studies and Project Management course modules and is a certified project manager in PMP, Agile, Scrum, and Prince2.
Public and Media engagement
Dr Chris Brauer appears extensively in the media as an analyst on emerging technologies, social and commercial innovation, management scenarios, and hi-tech markets and economics. Following is a sample of recent global media coverage of Dr Brauer's research:
Dr Brauer discusses with FT business journalist of the year Sarah O'Connor what organisations can learn from Sport Science.
- What can we learn from Sport Science? - Financial Times, 26 May, 2015
Dr Brauer writes a regular guest column for CNN on the impacts and relevance of emerging technologies on socio-economic life.
- Can an Apple Watch Read your Mind? - CNN.com, 28 May, 2015
- Workplace Wearables: Your boss knows when you've had a good night's sleep? - CNN.com, 7 May, 2014
- Can Wearable Technology Boost Productivity? - CNN.com 21 Oct, 2013
In a regular guest column for London-based financial daily CityAM, Dr Brauer investigates digital disruption trends.
- Bring on the Robots: We should welcome the demise of the human machine - CityAM 22 Feb, 2017
- Digital natives are having tech children and creating a tidal wave of disruption - CityAM 3 Feb, 2014
- Disruptive Technology isn't a Miracle - CityAM 16 Sep, 2013
- Forget a Bitcoin bubble: A wider crypto revolt is changing everything - CityAM 11 Dec, 2013
- Google Glass is Just the Beginning: Wearable Tech is about to Explode - CityAM 14 May, 2013
Dr Brauer's research on non-exec and C-level awareness, readiness, and vulnerabilities for cybersecurity is covered in the Wall Street Journal
Dr Brauer discusses the emerging impact of cryto-currencies on global markets and China in this extensive segment on CNBC's flagship morning financial news programme SquakBox.
In this wide-ranging interview with the Future Media Lab Dr Brauer discusses his research projects and the potential role now and in the future of wearable technologies in productivity and performance in the workplace.
Dr Brauer was featured in a BBC Radio 4 series on the state of Privacy in Britain.
Dr Brauer joins China Central Television's (CCTV) flagship current affairs programme World Insight in a panel discussion about the National Security Agency (NSA) PRISM system and data scraping from nine of the largest telecommunications providers in the world. Under discussion are the secrutiy, privacy, and espionage issues related to the highly publiced leaks about PRISM.
Wearable technology research led by Chris Brauer in the Institute of Management Studies (IMS) generated coverage in over 350 publications and media outlets worlwide from the USA Today to the Voice of Russia.
- Logging our Lives with Wearable Technology - BBC Newsnight 3 June, 2013
- Google Glass is Only The Beginning of Cloud-Powered Wearable Technology, Survey Suggests - Forbes June 5, 2013
- Wearable Tech Brings Health Benefits, but May Exclude Many - Wall Street Journal Europe June 3, 2013
- The Quantified Self - Vital Magazine July/August, 2013
Semi-serious discussion on BBC Breakfast on Twitter abuse. Dr Brauer is joined by footballer's wife Lizzie Cundy.
Dr Brauer's research on 'Generation Cloud' and the importance of digital inheritance is covered in over 500 publications worldwide.
- iWill: Britons leaving heirs "Digital Inheritance" - Reuters 17 October, 2011
- One in 10 Leave Internet Passwords in Wills - Sky News 13 October, 2011
- Britons Leave Internet Passwords in Wills - Telegrapg 13 October, 2011
Dr Brauer interviewed on BBC Newsnight in his role as head of creative industries for London-based investment bank Clarity Capital on the possibilities of another digital technology investment bubble in the market.
Research Interests
Current research interests
- Productivity
- Human Behaviour & Behavioural Economics
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Wearable Technologies
- Cybersecurity
- Smart Energy
- Social Economy
Current research projects
- Smart Energy and Connected Homes
- Wearable Technology in Lifestyle, Wellbeing, and the Workplace
- Artifical Intelligence and Productivity
- Bitcoin and crypto-currencies
- Virtual Assistants
Research Conferences and Keynotes
- Opportunities and Challenges of AI and Wearables for UK Productivity, Cabinet Office, London, 16 Jan, 2017
- The Scorpion & the Frog, Lloyds Innovation Awards Keynote, Lloyds of London, London, 26 October, 2016
- Cybersecurity Realities, Cybercrime Prevention Summitt, San Francisco, 8 October, 2015
- Wearable Technologies and Privacy Laws, Conference Presentation, Privacy Laws and Business, Queen's College, Cambridge, 8 July, 2014
- The Digital Imperative, Keynote Presentation, Nimbus Ninety Ignite, Skyloft, London, 20 May, 2014
- Trust, Trends, and Technologies, Keynote Presentation, Mobile Security Forum, Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, 24 Feb, 2014
- Trust and Managing Innovation, Keynote Presentation, Assocation of Corporate Treasurers, London, 12 Feb, 2014
- Wearable Technologies and the Future of Cities, Re.Work Cities, Tobacco Dock, London, 13 Dec, 2013
Publications and research outputs
Report
Brauer, Chris; Fotopoulou, Eurydice and Barth, Jenn. 2021. Creating a Blueprint for Microsoft UK Partner Competitiveness. Technical Report. Microsoft UK, Online.
Brauer, Chris; Fotopoulou, Eurydice; Barth, Jennifer and Ahsan, Areej. 2020. Creating a blueprint for UK competitiveness. Technical Report. Microsoft UK.
Thesis
Brauer, Christopher. 2011. Netmodern: Interventions in Digital Sociology. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London