Paul Finnis | Co-Director
The Next Path Device Consortium

Paul Finnis, former CEO of Digital Poverty Alliance, Co-Director of The NextPath Device Consortium I have worked for the last 40 years with and for NGOs in the UK, internationally and in Vietnam. My personal focus has always been on helping young people to thrive in a difficult world and mainly through enabling their access to good education. My focus for the last 10 years has been specifically on digital inclusion and learning as well as connecting individuals around the globe who are unable to get online – predominantly schoolchildren. I founded the UK-based Digital Poverty Alliance in 2018. I thought that I had retired on leaving my last role but that was not to be as there remains much to be done and great people to do that with! I have just co-founded The NextPath Device Consortium working with the tech sector to substantively increase the number of laptops being made available for reuse by those who have no access to the digital world.

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