Dr Eben Upton CBE FREng 

Dr Eben Upton has made a global name for himself as a technologist, entrepreneur, and advocate for young engineers. Having co-designed the Raspberry Pi computer, Upton uses his expertise and experience to pioneer outreach around increasing computer skills education in schools.   

Eben’s route into engineering was not an obvious one. After two years of a physics degree at the University of Cambridge, Eben built on his temporary experience at IBM and switched to the Electrical and Information Science Tripos (EIST) course.   

After completing his PhD, Eben took on a software engineering role at chip firm Broadcom. Here he continued work on Raspberry Pi, his response to the computing skills recruitment crisis he’d seen at Cambridge.    

The Raspberry Pi, a low-cost, credit card-sized computer, received widespread praise for its effects in engaging more children with computing education. It won a Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award, while Eben himself was named one of MIT’s 35 Innovators Under 35 in 2012.  

Raspberry Pi has sold over 75 million computers since 2012. Its 2024 IPO raised $180 million to fund the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s ongoing work in computing education.   

Eben is now credited with having established Britain as a world leader in computing skills and education. In 2016, he was awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours, and in 2017, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.