Eva Pascoe

Eva Pascoe (born 1964) is a Polish-born internet entrepreneur and consultant residing in London who co-founded Britain's first internet cafe, Cyberia. She has previously written for The Independent newspaper and is a commentator on technology matters in the media and through her own blog. She was a key figure in introducing online shopping to Topshop, and has recently contributed to the Grimsey report on the future of UK High Street shopping. She also co-founded and is chair of the thinktank Cybersalon.

Eva Pascoe
Eva Pascoe at the Barbican Centre, August 2014
Born1964 (age 55–56)
OccupationInternet entrepreneur, e-commerce consultant
Years active1990s-present
Websitehttps://www.evapascoe.com/

Biography

Pascoe was born in Poland in 1964. Having moved to London, she studied Cognitive psychology at Birkbeck, University of London.

Work

Cyberia

She co-founded Britain's first internet cafe in London called Cyberia, in September 1994.[1][2]

She created the first HTML courses for the public in Cyberia and ran the first women-only courses for women interested in getting into technology. Pascoe and her co-founders were focusing on closing the gender gap in technology use as in 1994 women were less than 3% of Internet users.[3]

In the media

Pascoe was the technical journalist for The Independent from 1995 to 2001, commentating on the increase power of the Web, growth of Network society and increasing risk of cybersecurity issues. She has also contributed to Centre for London, BBC Newsnight, whilst running her innovation website and blog since 2013 covering online retail and social media technology.

Mobile internet

Pascoe correctly predicted in 1999 that mobile phones would in the future be used for shopping and browsing on daily commutes. This included a public exchange with Alan Sugar, who disagreed with her declaring: "If I am in the office, I use my computer, while at home I use my PC. Since most of the time I am in one or other location, there is no need to receive information on a mobile phone".[4]

Topshop

In 1999, she was invited by then CEO of Arcadia Group to set up an e-commerce team for the Topshop fashion brand. Her team developed the first e-commerce websites for fashion in UK and expanded online presence to all Arcadia brands. Pascoe became managing director of the venture Zoom which included not only building online shopping for Arcadia brands but also delivered news from Associated Newspapers.[5]

Cybersalon

Pascoe co-founded the thinktank Cybersalon in 1997 and is their chair. Cybersalon is a not for profit organisation focusing on current affairs and the effect of digital revolution upon society, business, and culture.[1][6]

Future High Street

In 2013, Pascoe was invited to join Bill Grimsey in the High Street Report, a group of experts who correctly forecast the imminent changes to the High Street, predicting move to online to eliminate need for High Street stores in UK.[7]

The report was presented to a House of Commons Committee in September 2013.[8]

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References
  1. "Interview with Eva Pascoe - Archive of IT". Archivesit.org.uk.
  2. Eric Pfanner (2 September 2004). "'The world's first,' Café Cyberia in London, takes a bow : A decade of Internet cafés". The New York Times.
  3. Matthew Brace (12 September 1994). "Cafe with a mission to explain". The Independent.
  4. Eva Pascoe (1 November 1999). "Put your faith in a wireless world". The Independent.
  5. Jon Scott (7 January 1999). "Zoom boost from Arcadia". Campaign Live.
  6. "What is Cybersalon?". Cybersalon.org.
  7. George MacDonald (25 June 2019). "Analysis: How technology can save the high street". Retail Week.
  8. Eva Pascoe (17 July 2013). "Report: The UK Networked High St". Evapascoe.com.
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