I retired as Chairman of Simulators for Teaching Limited (www.sim4t.com) in January 2016. Sim4t sell innovative new products for science teaching which allow students to run practical experiments using simulators. This gives access to experiments and technology which would not normally be affordable in teaching laboratories hence providing better education at lower cost.I worked at the forefront of science and technology for over 40 years. I gained a PhD in photophysics from Manchester University in 1976 and did postdoctoral research in polymer photophysics at Strathclyde University. In 1977, I was a founding director of “IBH Consultants Limited” which. under my directorship, grew to be a leading specialist company for fluorescence lifetime equipment and was bought in 2003 by Horiba, a Japanese multinational corporation and the world’s sixth largest instrument manufacturer.I have always been directly involved in product development and IBH built many “one off” instruments for laboratories worldwide. We won many awards (John Logie Baird Award for Innovation, SMART, SPUR, Millennium Products) and were involved in major international collaborations such as Eureka and the EU framework programmes. I have been invited to give numerous lectures on fluorescence lifetime topics and am a recognised expert in the analysis of fluorescence lifetime data.In addition to my scientific activities, I have worked as a software consultant on major projects for a variety of clients (e.g. Ferranti, Marconi, CEGB) in a range of industries (e.g. offshore oil and gas, satellite communications, nuclear power).