Dr Ashmita Randhawa leads the work for the Digital Catapult in the North East & Tees Valley and is a Visiting Professor National Innovation Centre for Data, Newcastle University. At the Digital Catapult, she and her team are responsible for helping develop innovation programmes to respond to the region’s challenges, and to provide access to infrastructure and specialist lab facilities such as the Advanced Media Production and immersive labs at PROTO, in Gateshead ; a place for businesses to innovate in a collaborative environment. A biomedical engineer turned social scientist; she has a passion for innovation and skills programmes, and has led Digital Catapult's work on foresighting capability needs in Advanced Media production. She holds a PhD in education focused on understanding how policymaking and systems can impact educational innovation. She is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the SKOPE Research Centre, University of Oxford, where she continues to collaborate on research related to innovation and skills.