Born in Cheshire, England and the child of a continent-hopping engineer, Kate Stone was often left to her own devices among some of the world's most disparate cultures. Whether learning to cook rice from Gurkhas or spending time alongside a garageful of car repairmen in Borneo, Stone quickly learned that nontraditional problem-solving was often the very best kind.

At 20, Stone moved to Australia and eventually to the outback, where she was soon herding 22,000 sheep on a 120,000-acre farm. She then returned to England and began her studies in electronics at Salford University, before being recruited to do her PhD work in physics at Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory, where her focus on moving electrons eventually led to the creation of her groundbreaking company, Novalia.

At Novalia, Stone says: "The work of my team and myself is the realization of my childhood fascinations. We put electronics into paper, and paper is all around us." Stone sees herself as a "creative scientist," blending art and science to create startling fusions of new and old technology. In addition to her work with Novalia, Stone is a member of the Editors Code of Practice committee.