Gaming pioneer and creator of the seminal Elite, David Braben has received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Technology from Abertay University.
David is a founding trustee of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, which aims to bring affordable, pocket-sized computers to schools and individuals across the world – inspiring a whole new generation to learn programming.
Earlier this year David raised almost £1.6 million from over 25,000 supporters on Kickstarter for Elite: Dangerous and successfully listed his company Frontier Developments on the London Stock Exchange.
David Braben, said:
I’m delighted to receive an honorary degree today from Abertay University. As the first university in the world to teach a Computer Games Technology degree, and the organiser of the wonderful Dare to be Digital game design competition, Abertay has proven itself to be fantastically committed to educating the next generation of game developers. Computer science education is absolutely key to the future success of the UK, and linking strong school education – powered by initiatives like the Raspberry Pi – to world-leading university courses is exactly what we need to grow more great companies here.
Professor Nigel Seaton, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Abertay University, said:
David is a major inspiration to many of my colleagues at Abertay University and in the computer games industry, with his work guiding them into their careers. From the huge technical achievement of Elite over 30 years ago, to producing a succession of creatively and commercially successful games, to helping bring the Raspberry Pi into our schools, David is also a wonderful role model for our students graduating here today. It’s a great honour to present David with his Honorary Doctorate at the same time as celebrating the achievements and potential of our graduates, many of whom will follow in his footsteps and start their own exciting and innovative games companies.
David is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and a member of the Creative Skillset Computer Games Skills Council.
