Freddie Quek | Co-Director
The Next Path Device Consortium

Freddie Quek is Research Associate at Henley Business School (HBS), Tech Leader, NED and Advisor to AI startups across healthTech, fintech, edtech and envirotech. Previously he was CTO at Times Higher Education. He is recognised as UK’s top IT leaders by CIO100 and Computing. He founded the #JoiningTheDots initiative to address digital inclusion becoming a Community Board member of the Digital Poverty Alliance and Chair of the BCS Digital Divide Specialist Group. Recently he co-founded The NextPath Device Consortium as a tech sector-driven initiative to solve one of the dots (devices) at scale. He serves on the boards at University of Bristol, BCS Influence Board, eLife and the Royal Society of Chemistry. Freddie is a Fellow of BCS and judge for the UK IT Industry, IT Apprenticeship Awards, Women in IT Awards and CIO 100. He has Masters degrees from the LSE and HBS and is an alumnus of Oxford University.

Appearances:

Connected Britain 2025 - Day 2 @ 11:20

Devices, Devices, Devices

In a world of ever-increasing connectivity, millions of people remain excluded - not because of coverage or connectivity options, but because they lack the most fundamental tool: a device.

Without it, there’s no point talking about skills, confidence, or affordability; you’re not even on the first rung of the digital ladder. We estimate that in the UK alone, 3 million people are digitally excluded for this reason. To tackle this, we are leading a tech sector consortium with a dual mission: to reduce e-waste and substantially increase device access for those who need it most. Officially launching shortly, The NextPath Device Consortium is building a collaborative ecosystem driven by industry partners, with the goal of turning corporate End-of-Life (EOL) devices into new opportunities for digital participation.

This session will highlight why devices must be recognised as essential digital infrastructure and how collective action from across the sector can put the right tools in the right hands, closing the gap for those currently locked out of the digital world.

Freddie Quek, Co-Director, The Next Path Device Consortium