Tom Inns is Chair of Design at the University of Dundee and Director of the AHRC & EPSRC funded Designing for the 21st Century Research Initiative. He has a degree in Engineering (Bristol), a Masters in Industrial Design Engineering (RCA & Imperial) and a PHD in Innovation Enhancement of Small Companies (Brunel). He is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and a Fellow of the RSA.

Tom was appointed as Director of the Design Research Centre (DRC), Brunel University in 1996. In 2000 he joined the School of Design, University of Dundee. He has a strong interest in the future of design and the way design is used as a strategic tool within business to support collaborative innovation. He leads a portfolio of research projects in this area and runs postgraduate modules in Branding at the University of Dundee and in Product Development at the University of St Andrews, School of Management.