Ian Cleland Ritchie

Software engineer whose breakthrough in hypertext authoring tools predated the World Wide Web

Engineering Achievements

Ian Ritchie founded and managed Office Workstations Limited (OWL) in Edinburgh in 1984 and its subsidiary OWL International Inc in Seattle from 1985. OWL became the first and largest supplier of Hypertext/Hypermedia authoring tools (a forerunner to the World Wide Web) for personal computers based on its Guide product. OWL's customers used its systems to implement large interactive multimedia documentation systems in industry sectors such as automobile, defence, publishing, finance, and education.

Since 1992, Ian has nurtured early stage companies, and given time freely to philanthropic organisations promoting engineering, entrepreneurship and the Arts. 

He is currently Chairman of Tern plc (AIM: TERN), Computer Application Services Ltd., and Krotos Ltd. He is a board member of Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum Theatre, and the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI).

His Life

1. 1950 Born on 29 June 1950
2. 1969 Age: 19 Matriculated at Heriot-Watt University, graduating BSc (Hons) in Computing Science in 1973
3. 1974 Age: 24 Development Engineer and Manager, ICL, Dalkeith Palace, Midlothian
4. 1984 Age: 34 CEO and Managing Director, Office Workstations Ltd (OWL), Edinburgh and Seattle
5. 1989 Age: 39 OWL sold to Panasonic
6. 1992 Age: 42 Retired from Panasonic
7. 1994 Age: 44 Chairman, Voxar Ltd (to 2002)
8. 1995 Age: 44 Chairman, Orbital Software Gp Ltd (to 2001)
9. 1995 Age: 45 Chairman, Vis Entertainment (formerly Vis Interactive) plc (later Deputy Chairman, to 2004)
10. 1996 Age: 46 Director, Northern Venture Trust (to 2001)
11. 1996 Age: 46 Director, SCRAN
12. 1997 Age: 47 Chairman, Active Navigation Ltd. (to 2004)
13. 1997 Age: 47 Director, Indigo Active Vision Systems Ltd. (to 2000)
14. 1998 Age: 48 President, British Computer Society
15. 1999 Age: 49 Director, Scottish Enterprise (to 2005)
16. 1999 Age: 49 Trustee, Bletchley Park (to 2009)
17. 1999 Age: 49 Trustee, the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (to 2003)
18. 1999 Age: 49 Director, Epic Group, the UK's leading e-learning company (to 2005)
19. 2000 Age: 50 Chairman, Digital Bridges Ltd. (Director from 2003)
20. 2000 Age: 50 Director, Channel 4 Television (to 2005)
21. 2001 Age: 51 elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
22. 2001 Age: 51 Trustee, Scottish Science Trust (to 2003)
23. 2001 Age: 51 Member of the advisory board of Pentech Ventures (to 2016)
24. 2002 Age: 52 elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
25. 2002 Age: 52 Trustee, the Scottish Higher and Further Education Funding Council (to 2007)
26. 2003 Age: 53 Awarded CBE for services to enterprise and education
27. 2003 Age: 53 Founding Chairman, Sonaptic Ltd. (to 2006)
28. 2004 Age: 54 Trustee, Dynamic Earth. Chairman (2010-18)
29. 2004 Age: 54 Director, National Museums of Scotland (to 2010)
30. 2005 Age: 55 Member of Scotland's Cultural Commission (to 2006)
31. 2008 Age: 58 Chairman, iomart Group plc (to 2018)
32. 2012 Age: 62 Vice President of Royal Society of Edinburgh (to 2016)
33. 2012 Age: 62 Honorary Treasurer of the Royal Academy of Engineering (to 2016)
34. 2014 Age: 64 Co-Chair, Scottish Science Advisory Council (to 2016)
35. 2022 Age: 72 Inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame on 7 October
36. 2022 Age: 72 Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers in Scotland on 7 October

More Information

Ian was a founding director, and Chairman (1988-1990), of the Scottish Software Federation (now ScotlandIS).

Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in July 2000,

Honorary Doctorate from the Robert Gordon University in July 2001

Honorary Doctorate from the University of Abertay Dundee in June 2002

Honorary Doctorate from the University of Edinburgh in December 2003

He has also been a judge on the joint UK Research Councils Business Plan awards, the Economist Innovation awards, the Converge Challenge and the Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Awards (the UK's premier award for engineering innovation). He was Chairman of the Judges for the Scottish Young Software Engineer awards (from inception to 2019). 

He currently acts as a judge in the Spectator Disruptive Business award.

He is the author of 'New Media Publishing - Opportunities from the digital revolution' . Financial Times Telecoms and Media Publishing (1996).

His TED talk has been viewed over 600,000 times.

Download: IanRitchieAcceptance Speech on being inducted to the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame, James Watt Dinner, 7 October 2022

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