Biography of Peter MacKinnon

Email: mackinnon.peter@gmail.com

Today, Peter MacKinnon is a management consultant and academic. He has a professional background built on a wide range of experiences derived from holding positions as a scientist, business manager, entrepreneur, bureaucrat, executive, diplomat, management advisor and academic. His experiences span the world. He has worked with clients on every continent and a number of island nations.

His consultancy practice is global in scope and focusses on strategic management issues associated with government policies and programs, business formation, corporate development and change management, often with an underlying current related to advanced information and communications technologies.

One of his current academic areas of interest is the interface between engineering and business; in particular the roles played by disruptive technologies and disruptive business models within organisations and political economy more generally. He also is involved in the workforce and supply chain development for emerging strategic technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum and post quantum computing, SMRs – small modular reactors, and the emerging Hydrogen Economy.

He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) – USA Artificial Intelligence Systems Policy Committee; Chair of the Foresight Synergy Network, a professional futures group, sponsored by the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa; serves as a Senior Research Associate in the Faculty of Engineering at uOttawa, Member of the Board of National Capital FreeNet, a social enterprise; blogs on Artificial Intelligence for the Institute for Science Society and Policy at uOttawa. He is also a Senior Associate of Global Advantage Consulting Group based in Ottawa, Canada; and he is a Member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council

Some Accomplishments

• Pioneer in the commercialisation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the mid-1980s and a continuing advisor today regarding AI business, policy and ethics
• One of the principals who created the Internet in Canada while on secondment to the Government of Canada in the mid-80’s
• Both inside and outside government championed the establishment of Advanced Computer Networking in Canada (e.g., promoted the concept and developed the Business Plan for Canarie, Canada’s national research and education network)
• Created a $100 million Business Plan (for a TED Prize) to establish 15 centres of excellence in mathematical sciences in Africa known as the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (there are six centres to date)
• Pioneer in the development of telehealth/telemedicine in Canada (e.g., establishing the Office of Health & the Information Highway at Health Canada and a $70 million telehealth fund) and abroad (e.g., international survey report on Interoperability in Telehealth & Telemedicine Networks for G7 Ministers)
• Key participant in the transformation of health systems in a number of countries (e.g., Bahamas, Canada, and China)
• Early contributor to the development of the literature and practice of establishing Strategic Alliances and Public Private Partnerships
• Engaged in various Smart City initiatives domestically and internationally since the mid-90’s
• Contributor to the development of the nuclear weapons induced catastrophic climate change scenario known as ‘Nuclear Winter’
• Represented Canada as an Arctic explorer (e.g., Polar Continental Shelf Project); as a Diplomat (e.g., London, UK); and as a Senior Policy Advisor (e.g., Canadian Ministry of State for Science & Technology and a Canadian representative to the OECD in Paris)
• Played a central role in Canadian policy and program development to employ High Performance Computing to business, government and academic activities in Canada (e.g., Compute Canada, Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform)
• Co-authored with four Chinese academics an ISBN-labelled book published in Mandarin, on the role of the Chief Information Officer in modern organisations
• Advisor to the Canadian Space Program’s contributions to the International Space Station (e.g., robotics and machine vision)
• Developed a primer on the use of Big Data for both developing and delivering public policy (e.g., ICE Committee – tri-level of government – city, province, national)
• Routinely provide by request ethical perspectives on artificial intelligence, autonomous weapons, nuclear weapons, and engineering education (e.g., Ethical Standards for AI – Future of Life Institute; banning of autonomous weapons – Prime Minister of Canada; banning of nuclear weapons – UN Secretary General, ethics in engineering – University of Ottawa)
• Academic appointments have included: Senior Research Associate, Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder; Adjunct Research Professor, Carleton University, Faculty of Engineering and Design; Research Associate and Senior Research Associate, University of Ottawa, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Research Associate Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and Sessional Lecturer in the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa
• Member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council by invitation
• Made several astronomical discoveries as an amateur astronomer that have been noted in Bulletins issued by the International Astronomical Union
• Placed, by invitation, photographs in coffee table books (e.g., Kanada – Germany), magazines (e.g., Life – USA), and national collections (e.g., Government of Canada)

November 11, 2024