He’s developed technology roadmaps, strategy and cultural transformations for mining houses worth over 500 billion dollars. These include BHP, Rio, Vale, South32, Kumba, AGA, Barrick, Gold Fields, and organisations such as CMIC, the Minerals Council of South Africa and the ICMM. He managed the technology strategy and roadmap of ATIC for seven years, which became the world’s largest technology innovation consortium in mining with over 150 partner companies.

As a member of IDEO’s global exco, Roby was part of the small group that invented Design Thinking. He was also head of product development and design at Nanosolar, with half a billion dollars in funding the best-funded start-up of its time, and an early unicorn.

Roby is a member of the technology advisory board at Sibanye Stillwater, the investment committee at Stanford Alumni Ventures/Spike and the start-up jury of the EU’s EIT Raw Materials. He’s an angel investor or board member in start-ups in Canada, the US, UK, EU, Switzerland, South Africa and Australia. Roby advises Chrysalix Venture Capital and other funds and has taught at universities including Stanford, Carnegie Mellon and TU Munich.