Hermann Hauser
Hermann Maria Hauser, CBE FREng FinstP CPhys (born
23 October,
1948), is an
entrepreneur born in
Vienna,
Austria.
When he was 15 he came to the
United Kingdom to learn
English at a language school in
Cambridge. After his first degree in
Physics from
Vienna University, he returned to
Cambridge to do a
PhD in Physics at the
Cavendish Laboratory.
He is probably most well-known for his part in setting up
Acorn with
Chris Curry and
Andy Hopper. He was voted the UK's 'Computer Personality of the Year' of
1984. When
Olivetti took control of
Acorn in
1985, he became vice-president for research at
Olivetti where he was in charge of laboratories in the
US and
Europe. In
1986, Hauser co-founded the
Olivetti Research Laboratory (ORL) in Cambridge along with Professor
Andy Hopper. Hopper became the laboratory's Director.
In
1988, Hauser left Olivetti to start the
Active Book Company, investing one million pounds of his own money. Not wanting to repeat the mistakes made by Acorn, which had kept its technology to itself, he demonstrated the Active Book to as many large companies as he could.
AT&T acquired Active Book and incorporated it into
EO in July
1991. Hauser became Chief Technical Officer and Chairman of
EO Europe. EO folded on Friday, 29 July
1994.
In
1990, Hauser was involved in spinning out
Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) from Acorn.
In
1993, Hauser set up
Advanced Telecommunication Modules Ltd with Andy Hopper. The company was acquired by Conexant Systems on 1 March
2004. He founded
NetChannel Ltd in June
1996 as a holding company in order to begin work on marketing the NetStation. NetChannel was sold to AOL in
1998. In
1997 he co-founded
Amadeus Capital Partners Ltd, a venture capital company, and in
1998 he was a founder of
Cambridge Network Ltd.
In
1998, Hauser was elected into an Honorary Fellowship of
Hughes Hall, Cambridge, and he was also elected into an Honorary Fellowship of
King's College with effect from 1 January
2000.
Hauser was awarded an Honorary CBE for "innovative service to the UK enterprise sector" in
2001.
On 14 June
2001, the Hauser-Raspe Foundation was registered as a charity by Dr Hermann Hauser and Dr Pamela Raspe to advance education.
On 8 July
2002, Hauser was elected as a Fellow of the
Institute of Physics and as a Fellow of the
Royal Academy of Engineering.
In
2005, Hauser received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as a venture capitalist and entrepreneur. The award was presented at the annual
European Electronics Industry Awards in London.
Dr Hauser is a
Non-Executive Director of
Cambridge Display Technology Ltd and a Member of the Board of
Red-M (Communications) Ltd. He holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of
Bath and
Loughborough and from
Anglia Polytechnic University. He is a member of the
Advisory Board on the Higher Education Innovation Fund of the
Council for Science and Technology.
*
Public oration,
Loughborough University,
1998*
Herman Hauser's Second Chance by Christopher Anderson,
1996
