Mike Powell is former director of the IKM Emergent program, focusing on knowledge management in development, and now works as an independent consultant on ICT4D. His work focuses on being an effective intermediary between technology developers and users of information and communications systems at all levels in the development sector. This involves action to relate the technical choices that have to be made as ICT systems are developed to the intended relationships and information needs of those who want to use the result as a resource for development.  

Mike has championed action research work to understand the impact of emerging technologies such as linked data, noting that when new practices such as the use of linked data are being introduced, their impact on development dynamics is very often overlooked and underfunded.