Robin Kirkby

Robin Kirkby is a practitioner and recognized leader in the field of Competitive Intelligence or CI (see also: Business Intelligence, Strategic Intelligence). He is a Fellow of Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP), member of the Swiss Competitive Intelligence Association (SCIA) and an Advisory Board Member of Outward Insights. Kirkby is currently Director of Strategic Intelligence at Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. He has been a chair and keynote speaker for numerous Competitive Intelligence conferences and events hosted by Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals, Global Intelligence Alliance (GIA), SCIA, Pharma CI  and others. Some of his key ideas have included embedded intelligence processes and recruitment and mentoring of next-generation CI professionals.

Education
Kirkby received his BSc in Engineering and his diploma in Industrial Studies from Loughborough University of Technology in 1986. He received his diploma in Management Studies (Finance specialism) in 1991, and his diploma in Marketing in 1988, both from Thames Valley College.

Competitive Intelligence Career
Kirkby began his intelligence career in 1990 as a Strategic Intelligence Manager for The BOC Group (Windlesham, UK). From 1995-2003, he worked as an intelligence specialist for a variety of leading consultancies including IBM Consulting (London, UK) as a Senior Consultant and Deloitte Consulting (London, UK) as their Senior Insight Manager. He also served as Vice President and Director of European Consulting for CI consulting company Fuld & Company (London, UK and Cambridge, US) from 1999-2002, working with Leonard Fuld of the Fuld-Gilad-Herring Academy of Competitive Intelligence. In 2003 he became the Strategic Insight Director for Altana Pharma (Constance, Germany), which was acquired by Nycomed in 2006, with headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. Kirkby founded Nycomed's Strategic Intelligence function, which was deemed "close to best in class" in 2011 by Global Intelligence Alliance (GIA) in their Market Intelligence survey, the largest benchmarking study ever conducted on intelligence(n=989). Nycomed was acquired by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company in 2011, and Kirkby continues to serve as the company's Strategic Intelligence Director.

Other Intelligence Roles and Acknowledgements
Kirkby served as the London and Thames Valley coordinator for SCIP from 1998-2004. In 2012, he received one of the three Fellows awards from SCIP for his "valued and recognized service to the Society". He is an Advisory Board member of Outward Insights, and a member of the Swiss Competitive Intelligence Association (SCIA).

Key Ideas in Intelligence
Kirkby has championed the topic of recruiting and retaining talent in the Competitive Intelligence business, and has spoken and written widely on the subject. His concept has been outlined in Hans Hedin's The Handbook of Market Intelligence (2011), stating that success of a Competitive Intelligence team depends on both the hard and soft skills of team members. Kirkby has authored a list of qualities and skill sets that define an optimal Intelligence professional, including adaptability, integrity and approachability.