Catherine Duncan

Speaker Bio

Catherine leads work on frontier technologies at Challenge Works. Challenge Works design and run challenge prizes to spark innovation in science, technology and society.

We are part of Nesta, the research and innovation foundation.

Our prizes create immediate, tangible impacts for cities and residents. They break down industry inertia to make us climate resilient. They harness the power of frontier technology to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. We have run over 100 challenge prizes, awarding over £265m on behalf of public, private and philanthropic funders around the world.

From AI to mobility in cities, Open Banking to water on the moon - Catherine has led prizes that have created breakthrough innovations and transformed markets. Her background spans the public, private, and non-profit sectors, with a focus on powering social impact through technology.