Jonathan is the Chief of Innovation, Enterprise and Investment at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). He has spearheaded social innovation and social enterprise in public policy with numerous governments across the Asia-Pacific region. He has also set up a collaboration with the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) to build a stronger evidence base for policy makers with respect to impact investing.

He joined ESCAP from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) where he was the inaugural Head of Innovation. He has led the establishment of several high-profile innovation initiatives including the Global Innovation Fund (a partnership between the governments of the US, UK, Sweden, Australia, South Africa and the Omidyar Network), and the Amplify program (an open innovation platform for development in partnership with Ideo.org and OpenIdeo). A current focus of Jonathan’s work is on AI governance and policy in the context of the SDGs, on which he is currently partnering with several global tech corporations and think tanks in the Asia-Pacific region.

Jonathan has extensive experience in social innovation and entrepreneurship, impact investing and tech for good. He also has substantial technology and innovation policy expertise having advised governments across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

Jonathan has also served on APEC’s E-commerce Business Council and, prior to joining DFID, was a Founding Partner of a technology and innovation venture-capital fund and supported the establishment of the UK National Health Service Institute for Innovation and Improvement.