The shape of things to come

Naweed Khan | Issue 6 | Comment, Magazine

From the Archive

Screenshot 2022-05-05 at 12.03.07

Naweed Khan hears from Future Shape’s tech guru Tony Fadell how skills honed in Silicon Valley can solve the climate crisis

"We call ourselves mentors with money,” says Tony Fadell, who is principal at Future Shape, a global advisory and investment firm coaching engineers and scientists working on foundational deep technology. He has been coaching founders and investing in their start-ups for the better part of the past decade, and with 250-plus start-ups in its portfolio, Future Shape is bringing technology out of the lab and into our lives.  The idea behind Future Shape, he says, was to “help all of these companies that are doing really difficult things”. Fadell and his crew have identified a few really difficult things that he sees as big investment areas going forward. They include the electrification of everything; the digital connection of everything; the rise of biomanufacturing; and the eradication of waste. Those themes drive some, though not all, of the work in Future Shape’s portfolio. Everyone deserves a mentor, Fadell believes. For every career crisis, every fork in the road, you need someone t...

Subscribe to The Mace

Join the member community shaping British politics and stay ahead of what's really happening in the world of politics and public affairs, with expert analysis, breaking news, and insider insights from Westminster and Brussels. The Mace is the leading news source and resource for the government affairs industry, offering required reading and lobby intelligence for professionals.

To see what you are missing out on by not subscribing to The Mace, click here to download our full membership info-pack. This includes having no paywall on op-ed content or profiles/interviews, allowing professional profiles to be read with maximum impact and visibility by government, special advisers, MPs, peers, civil servants, and policy and political decision-makers.



King Charles: The real ‘special ingredient’ in our relationship with the USA 

Lucy Carrier-Pilkington | April 29, 2026

King Charles’s address to Congress was designed to steady a strained special relationship. Twelve standing ovations later, the Palace had given Downing Street something politics could not: a

Did a “boys club” culture of Downing Street lead to the appointment of Peter Mandelson ?

Mace | April 29, 2026

Keir Starmer's "boys club" culture was called out during the grilling of Morgan McSweeney.

The Silent Engine: Why we must stop kicking the Civil Service and learn to love our Civil Servants

Neil Woollard | April 28, 2026

As the Charity for Civil Servants marks its 140th anniversary, Neil Woollard argues that the officials who keep Britain functioning are too often caricatured, underpaid and overlooked —

UK’s economic stability starts at sea, says the CEO of the Chamber of Shipping

Mace | April 28, 2026

Shipping moves 95 per cent of the UK’s trade. Most of the time, this happens smoothly until there is a global crisis, writes Rhett Hatcher, CEO of the

Modern history shows the Open University is key to rehabilitating extremists — so why are we making cuts to prison education?

Lucy Carrier-Pilkington | April 28, 2026

Amid cuts to prison education hours in England, Lucy Carrier-Pilkington looks back at the historic success of the Open University in Northern Ireland and why it is still

A lobby system not fit for purpose

Mace | April 22, 2026

CIPR's latest poll of 250 public affairs professionals makes clear that there is majority backing for radical reform of lobbying rules to make the profession more transparent.

Mobile phone ban in schools: lobby groups say “it’s about time”

Lucy Carrier-Pilkington | April 22, 2026

The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill will be amended to introduce a legal ban on mobile phones in schools in England.

Future-facing industries need 120,000 technicians

Dr Kelly Vere MBE | April 22, 2026

Dr Kelly Vere MBE, Director of the UK Institute for Technical Skills & Strategy and Director of Technical Strategy for the University of Nottingham highlights the technical skills

Whitehall continues to throw Starmer under the bus as the Robbins saga continues

Lucy Carrier-Pilkington | April 21, 2026

As the blame game between Keir Starmer and Olly Robbins unfolds, Lucy Carrier-Pilkington argues this is just the latest in a pattern of governments pinning responsibility on civil

Starmer’s successor may not be Labour’s knight in shining armour

Ted Newson | April 21, 2026

With Ed Milliband poised to be one of the favourites to succeed Starmer as Prime Minister, we must remember what a Milliband premiership would look like, writes Ted