CEO, Simon Birrell
Simon Birrell has always worked ahead of the curve, deep in the nexus of technology and entertainment.
While still at high school in the UK, Simon programmed and sold videogames. He was Virgin Games’ first ever programmer and developed four titles for them before leaving to study Natural Sciences at Cambridge University. After graduating, he joined Palace Software as a project manager, eventually becoming Head of Development. Palace, part of the Palace Pictures empire, published Barbarian and other legendary titles. While there Simon also designed “Jekyll & Hyde“ a ground-breaking title that incorporated acted video sequences and autonomous, intelligent interactive characters, years ahead of the rest of the industry.
Relocating to Spain in 1992, Simon joined Realidad Virtual SL., a pioneering virtual reality company as Technical Director. After three years of developing interactive 3D environments and lecturing on VR, he developed Pandora, one of the Internet’s first ever multi-user 3D worlds. During this period he also contributed a chapter to the book Information Design, published by MIT.
In 1996 he founded Silicon Artists with a corporate investment by Tandem (later Compaq) Computers, and continues to run the company to this day, having produced over two hundred new media projects. As head of Silicon Artists and as a principal in Palo Alto Ventures he has provided high-level consultancy and strategic planning to Philips, Compaq and Telefonica.
Throughout his career he has also worked in “old“ media, directing a documentary in 1991, two thirty-minute features and a large number of animated cartoon episodes for various clients. In his film work he has collaborated with cult legends Jess Franco, José Ramón Larraz and Jack Taylor.
Simon is based in Madrid, Spain