The UKtech50: The top 20

Engineer, computer scientist and academic Sir Tim-Berners Lee is a UK IT personality who needs little introduction. Rather than plunging into academic obscurity, the inventor of the World Wide Web remains active in the industry.

Berners-Lee was recruited by then-prime minister Gordon Brown in 2009 to help make government data more accessible on the web and alongside Professor Nigel Shadbolt, he launched public data repository Data.gov.uk. The coalition government recently appointed Berners-Lee and Shadbolt as directors of the Open Data Institute which will innovate, exploit and research open data opportunities with business and academia.