Meet the award-winning AI and robotics expert, and visionary co-founder of Open Bionics. Discover how their ground-breaking work is shaping the future of technology.
Europe
United Kingdom
Core Intelligence Domain: Technology & Innovation
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom | Languages: English
Representation: Represented globally by PSpeakers Global Intelligence
Samantha Payne is the multi-award-winning Co-Founder of Open Bionics, a globally recognised robotics company transforming the medical technology landscape through 3D printing and inclusive design. As a trailblazing entrepreneur and advocate for ‘Tech for Good’, she has redefined how advanced bionics are manufactured, making the world’s first medically approved 3D-printed bionic arm—the Hero Arm—accessible to amputees worldwide. Her proprietary approach blends cutting-edge engineering with user-centric empowerment, challenging traditional healthcare models and pioneering a new frontier in accessible prosthetics.
Under Samantha’s strategic leadership, Open Bionics has disrupted a historically stagnant and highly expensive prosthetics industry. By leveraging open-source philosophies in its early days and advancing into proprietary, medically certified 3D-printing workflows, the company dramatically reduced the cost and weight of bionic limbs. Her visionary foresight led Open Bionics to become the first-ever company to secure royalty-free licensing agreements with The Walt Disney Company. This landmark partnership allows children to wear bionic arms styled after Marvel’s Iron Man, Star Wars, and Disney’s Frozen, transforming perceived disabilities into superhero empowerment.
Samantha’s ability to merge empathetic design with scalable hardware manufacturing has earned her extraordinary international acclaim. She is frequently recognised as one of the most influential young leaders in technology today. Her accolades include:
Beyond her corporate achievements, Samantha is a fierce advocate for diversity in the engineering and technology sectors. She actively mentors emerging talent and uses her global platform to dismantle the barriers women face when entering STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. Her narrative is a powerful blueprint for female founders navigating venture capital, hardware development, and scaling a purpose-driven enterprise.
Samantha delivers high-impact keynotes that blend emotional storytelling with hard-hitting business strategies. Her primary speaking topics include:
“I had the great pleasure of teaching and coaching Samantha and the Open Bionics Team during Intel's Make it Wearable Challenge (makeit.intel.com), where Open Bionics wowed the judges and took home the $250,000 second prize. Samantha is a talented and confident yet coachable professional. She will be an asset to every team she joins throughout her career.”
“I first witnessed Samantha's working processes and practice at KWMC, where I was struck by her enthusiasm and commitment, but also her creativity and insight. Sammy has a remarkable set of skills, but she also has a vision, based on solid principles, which steer her application of those skills. She applies herself to work that she feels passionately about and which will make a positive difference to the lives of others. She does this in innovative ways, coming up with strategic ideas about how to apply creative uses of new media, for example, in order to bring about positive social change. Based on her work at KWMC I invited Sammy to give a presentation to a group of young people I work with at Tate Modern, form the PHF funded Circuit programme, about the possible ways in which they might use creative applications of new media in their evaluation processes. Sammy prepared an excellent presentation which inspired the group to produce their own data visualisations. Sammy supported them to do this following her presentation and enthused the group, leading them to produce some excellent pieces of work.”
“Sammy is a really hardworking, ambitious young woman who is reliable, responsible and a good team leader. In her role as Junior Digital Producer at KWMC, she has demonstrated skills as a web developer, photographer and social media campaigner. She would be an asset to any company.”
‘Samantha approached me with some great ideas for stories for the Bristol Post Business section. I don't normally take speculative submissions but was impressed enough to make an exception. She has since written a number of pieces around Bristol's growing tech industry. Samantha writes well, has great passion for the subject and the ability to capture the people and energy of the story. I have also recently worked with Samantha as a speaker at an event she curated, which was well run and a great success.’
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