From branding to big tech, Edward’s career has always centred on using innovation for good. With a background that spans creative agencies, AI strategy at EY, and advisory roles with purpose-led startups, he’s now focused on building a consultancy for human-centred AI. A Fellow of the RSA and alumnus of Cambridge and Imperial, Edward brings a multidisciplinary lens to ethical innovation, sustainability, and shaping a more thoughtful future through tech.

Which talk/panel did you speak at?

Sustainable Development from the Inside Out: Driving Change Within Tech Teams

Can you share a bit about your background?

I began in brand communications at Ogilvy, but founding a video production company and discovering the B Corp movement redirected me toward telling CleanTech and GreenTech stories. I later deepened at this work at EY, where I secured R&D funding for sustainable innovators, and at an accelerator for SDG-focused start-ups. Alongside certificates from Cambridge in Business Sustainability Management and Imperial in AI for Business Innovation, I have hosted the Brighton chapter of People Planet Pint and founded a CISL Alumni “AI for Good” group. I’m now launching a consultancy that helps purpose-led companies use AI and data, through a human-first lens, to scale their positive impact.

What inspired you to speak at EVOLVE [25]?

I put my name forward because EVOLVE gathers the exact people (product leaders, engineers, and change-makers) I have enjoyed supporting so far in my career. After watching sustainability initiatives stall inside otherwise brilliant tech teams, I’m keen to share the “inside-out” tactics I’ve learned from my B-Corp-inspired video agency days through facilitating funding for sustainable innovators at EY and, most recently, ‘AI for Good’ work, to help translate big environmental goals into everyday engineering practice. EVOLVE’s collaborative spirit (and its focus on practical, next-step solutions) makes it the perfect place to spark that conversation.

What was the key message or idea you most wanted the audience to take away from your talk?

Sustainability isn’t a side project owned by the boardroom; it’s a mindset every coder, analyst and designer can weave into their day-to-day work and choices, Small, consistent actions that, when shared and repeated, ripple outward and reshape the whole culture.

Were there any audience reactions or questions that really stood out to you?

Is minimalism the answer to sustainable design and if so, how do we avoid design monotony?

How does the topic you spoke about connect to your current work or passion projects?

The “inside-out” sustainability mindset we discussed on stage is exactly what I’m building into my day-to-day work: through my new consultancy I help purpose-led companies bake impact metrics and human-first AI into routine decisions. Outside client projects, hosting Brighton’s People Planet Pint meet-ups and founding an “AI for Good” network, both environments where I’ve tested and shared the same practical tactics we highlighted at EVOLVE.

What emerging trends or challenges in tech (or your field) are you most excited about right now?

I’m energised by the convergence of responsible AI and low-carbon software engineering, tools that let developers see a build’s CO₂ cost in their IDE and then auto-route workloads to greener grids are finally crossing from research into the real-world. At the same time, new disclosure rules (like the EU’s CSRD) are forcing companies to treat digital carbon footprints with the same rigour as financial metrics, which is accelerating demand for “impact-by-design” practices. The big challenge is translating those policies and dashboards into everyday habits so that climate-smart decisions happen on autopilot, not as an after-thought.

What advice would you give to someone looking to make an impact in your area of expertise?

Start where you already have influence: pick one everyday decision (whether it’s how you write code, store data, or source suppliers) and add a simple sustainability metric (energy use, CO₂-e, social benefit) next to the usual cost or speed KPI, then share the result. Momentum tends to follow transparency, so communicate those quick wins in Slack or sprint reviews and invite others to iterate with you; the combination of lived example plus open data is far more persuasive than a slide deck. Finally, plug into a community (meet-ups like People Planet Pint or the Green Software Foundation) because swapping experiments with peers will accelerate your learning curve and keep the spark alive when corporate inertia hits.

How do you see the future evolving in your industry over the next few years?

Digital sustainability is about to move from “nice to have” to non-negotiable: carbon budgets for code, data and AI workloads will sit alongside financial targets as EU CSRD-style disclosures and procurement standards tighten worldwide. At the same time, the next wave of human-centred AI will make it easier for every developer and product owner to choose lower-impact patterns by default. The consultancies, tools and teams that can fuse those two forces (regulatory rigour and user-friendly automation) will set the pace for the industry over the next three to five years.

What was your favourite part of the EVOLVE experience?

My standout moment was feeling the Brighton Dome hum with genuine connection. Silicon Brighton’s careful event design turned casual chats between speakers, volunteers and attendees into sparks of collaboration. That contagious energy peaked during and after our panel: the audience’s thoughtful questions and follow-ups showed how ready this community is to translate inspiration into action.

What’s next for you? Any upcoming projects, initiatives, or goals you’re excited to share?

Launching my AI consultancy, Kintara

What’s one book, podcast, or resource that’s inspired you recently?

‘Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI’ by Ethan Mollick. This book resonates because it recasts AI as a “teammate” that boosts human creativity rather than replacing it, offering clear principles (experiment broadly, keep people in the loop, and talk to the system as you would a colleague) that mirror my own human-first consulting ethos. His real-world evidence that pairing professionals with AI can lift performance by roughly 40 percent, coupled with his pragmatic playbook for weaving the technology into everyday tasks, reinforces my conviction that thoughtful AI adoption can accelerate sustainable impact inside tech teams right now.

How can people connect with you or follow your work after the event?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-chinn/

Anything else you would like to share with our community?

I’m always looking for fellow “inside-out” change makers, so if you’re experimenting with practical ways to marry sustainability and AI, do get in touch and let’s have a chat.