Innovators of Barclays: Lee Braine

What are your favourite and least favourite innovations?

It's hard to argue that antibiotics weren't one of the most important discoveries in history. If I were to move into the computing space, I would highlight the invention of the PC and what flowed from that. I'd also look at communication: this goes for everything from the radio, through to the television, to the internet of today. There are some key innovations that start to transform an industry that are then built on by others.

Looking at my least favourite innovations, I would probably say cigarettes. Their impact on people's health is undisputed.

Which innovators do you look up to?

First of all, Steve Jobs. He wasn't just a visionary in introducing new products and ideas, but also delivering them to market and getting adoption across the industry. We as consumers and businesses have been transformed by his visions being deployed across the marketplace.

Reaching further into the past, I look up to the Wright brothers - their methodology, their application of science and the experimental techniques that helped them to produce an aeroplane that flies.

Lee Braine's favourite innovations and discoveries include antibiotics and the PC.

What do you think inspires people to innovate?

There are many things you can do in life, and you have a choice. Wouldn't it be great to be able to work on things that can change the world? To do things that people haven't done before? That may include inventing - or it may be taking an already existing invention and working out how to get people to use it.