Samantha Payne was featured in the Science and Healthcare category in the Forbes 30 Under 30 List in 2018 in recognition of her work as the Co-Founder ad COO of Open Bionics. Determined to create affordable prosthetics that fuse robotics, fashion and wearable technology, Open Bionics has won a myriad of awards including the James Dyson Award for Innovative Engineering in 2015, Limbless Association's 'Prosthetic Innovation of the Year' award in 2014, and Robotics Business Review named it one of the top 50 most influential robotics companies in 2015. Runner Up on Intel’s Make It Wearable in 2014, taking home a whopping £250,000 cash prize, Samantha is now available to speak at a range of events on artificial intelligence, the future of bionics, and other related subjects.
Starting out her career as part of BBC’s Face2Face Programme, she worked as a Digital Media Producer at Knowle West Media Centre, a Digital Marketing Manager at Noisy Little Monkey Ltd., and a Freelance Reporter at The Bristol Post before she switched gears to the world of robotics. Apart from being the Co-Founder and COO at Open Bionics, Samantha is an Innovation Fellow at WIRED, a Board Member at the Bristol and Bath Creative Cluster and South West Creative Technology Network and an Angel Investor at Ada Ventures where she invests on UK technology companies in sectors like climate, economic empowerment and healthcare.
Having been mentored by some of the most notable personalities in the field such as Philip Kongsgaard Døssing, The Senior Concept Designer at Lego, Ralph Guggenheim from Pixar, and Guy Kawasaki formerly a marketer at Apple, she is a seasoned leader. Samantha received an MBE in 2020 for her efforts to make bionic technology, an otherwise exclusive product, more accessible to people. She was also the recipient of Bloomberg’s Business Innovator UK award in 2016, Marie Claire’s Future Shaper Award – Tech Pioneer in 2016, and was named one of UK’s Top 100 Coolest People in Tech by Business Insider in 2017.
Serving as an inspiration to women who aspire to flourish in STEM, she was shortlisted for the Women in Business ‘Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ award in 2015. A seasoned speaker as well, Samantha has spoken at conferences all over the world including, Russia, Singapore and Brazil. A force to be reckoned with when it comes to AI, robotics, and the technology space, Samantha can now be booked as a speaker at a wide range of events. If you are looking for a speaker who is innovative, business-savvy and skilled at management, Samantha Payne is the perfect choice for your next event!
