Simon C. Morris

Simon Morris is a serial technology entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience, leading three technology start-ups focused on the development of innovative signal processing technologies, in particular for automotive applications. Most recently he was founder CEO for IRYStec Software from January 2016, and in that role raised both seed and series-A financing while securing multiple automotive Tier-1 and OEM design wins leading to IRYStec’s acquisition by Faurecia-Clarion in March 2020. Simon was also CEO of CogniVue Corporation, which developed a patented low-power computer vision and neural net processor technology, tools and embedded vision libraries deployed in automotive camera systems and consumer smart camera products. With its computer vision processor in production vehicles, CogniVue was then acquired by Freescale Semiconductor (now NXP) in September 2015, delivering one of the highest ROIs for its venture investors. Prior to CogniVue, Mr. Morris was Director at BDC Venture Capital and from 1995 to 2006, he held various senior and executive leadership positions at Atsana Semiconductor, which was his first start-up, and senior management positions at Texas Instruments (TI) in Dallas, Texas and Nice, France, including leading the definition and development of TI’s first 3G wireless base station chipsets.

Currently, Mr. Morris provides venture coaching to several tech entrepreneurs, primarily in the automotive market, while he considers his next venture. Mr. Morris holds an M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering and a B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada and completed Queens University Executive Business Program. He is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario and was an E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year finalist in 2014.