Stephen Allott

Stephen Allott (born 29 August 1958) is a British business executive and the founder of the Cambridge Computer Lab Ring.^[1]

Career

In 1995, on leaving McKinsey & Company,^[2] Allott joined Micromuse where he oversaw the expansion of the London-based network management software provider.^[3] Following its IPO on the Nasdaq in 1998, Allott was appointed President of Micromuse and a main board director in addition to his role as Chief Financial Officer.^[4]

In 2002, Allott founded the Cambridge Computer Lab Ring, named after the Cambridge Ring (computer network) project led by Maurice Wilkes.^[5] According to the University of Cambridge Department of Computer Science and Technology, as of October 2025 there were 360 companies founded by the department's graduates and staff.^[6]

Allott delivered the 2006 Cambridge University Hughes Hall City Lecture 'From Science to Growth - what exactly is the mechanism by which scientific research turns into economic growth?' where the term "People Centric Approach" was first coined.^[7][8]

In 2011, Allott was appointed as the Crown Representative for Small and Medium Enterprises by the Cameron-Clegg coalition.^[9] Allott led the business development of the UK Government G-Cloud Marketplace, the Cabinet Office initiative for online procurement of cloud services.^[10][11]