Ian Hughes

Ian Hughes, also known as epredator, (born 30 or 31 August 1967 in Norfolk, England) is a British metaverse evangelist, technology industry analyst, and television personality. In 2006, he set about leading a group of like-minded individuals and subsequently many thousands of colleagues at IBM into virtual worlds like Second Life, and beyond. (Hughes' effort in Second Life, where he is known as Epredator Potato was documented extensively in a 2007 report. ) This sparked a massive growth in interest from enterprises and press alike. Hughes was a public figure in Web 2.0 and, formerly, a blogger on Eightbar, a site maintained by former and current IBM employees on the fringes of innovation within their labs.

Early years and career A self-described programmer since he was 14, Hughes attended Oriel Grammar School in Gorleston, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and De Montfort University (formerly Leicester Polytechnic) in Leicester, Leicestershire, where he received a BSc in Information Technology.

Hughes is a former Consulting IT Specialist who worked on emerging technologies at IBM for 20 years. He is now an independent consultant under the business called Feeding Edge Ltd. As a gamer,

In 2015 and 2016, Hughes self-published two science fiction novels, Reconfigure and Cont3xt (as epredator). The books reflect many of the technologies and themes that he has been evangelising, including virtual worlds and the metaverse.

In 2018, Hughes was awarded an honorary doctorate in Emerging Technology, by Solent University.

Views As a public speaker and Internet personality (Tim Guest's book Second Lives: A Journey Through Virtual Worlds features Hughes in a chapter ) he shares his experiences both of the growing virtual worlds industry, the changes in culture, personal experiences of challenging the status quo and leading through doing. "Every time I see something as stupid, I realise it's the thing I should pay the most attention to," "When I'm in the metaverse, I'm physically at my computer, mentally I am at that virtual location," Hughes told the BBC in 2007. a term it is believed he first brought into popular use, he is an advocate for the widespread application and use of virtual worlds. Virtual worlds, Hughes says, extend to more than just entertainment or corporate communication. "They represent past cultures, existing places, instrumenting the planet, showing business process models in actions the list goes on. Metaverses can also be used to deliver virtual goods, but now making those virtual goods real again is possible. Rapid fabrication and the rise of the fabricaneur heralds another phase in our existence online."

Since 2016, he has worked as a Senior Analyst for Internet of Things and Metaverse at TMT 451 Research S&P Global Market Intelligence.