Hi, I’m Tristan,

anthropologist, filmmaker & founder exploring the human side of innovation & impact.

Over the past 15-years, I've embedded in some of the world's most unconventional teams: from NASA's Growing Food in Space program to the WikiLeaks US Diplomatic Cables release, Open Source Ecology's Global Village Construction Set to Kew Garden’s fungal innovation team.

As an ethnographer, filmmaker and founder of Panoramic Labs, I've captured and studied what dynamics make these teams capable of breakthroughs, what disrupts that capacity, and why culture is almost always the most pivotal (and least-understood) variable in creativity, productivity, and impact.

My work has contributed to The Guardian, Al Jazeera, HuffPost, and books such as Patterns of Commoning. My films have won numerous awards, and been screened at international festivals such as Sundance. I am currently acting Artist in Residence in the Humanities Department of SOAS, University of London.

Seeing Innovation

Open Source Philosophy, Directed by Tristan Copley Smith

I’m a serial-founder and MIT Innovator Under 35 . My work in eco-tech has been replicated by people around the world and published in The Guardian, BBC, Newsweek and others. Below are some of the companies I’ve been involved in founding:

  • OSBeehives: IoT hardware, software and open source designs for beekeepers to monitor honeybee health

  • AKER: open source hardware designs and products for micro-agricultural production

  • COACT: climate-tech incubation program developed in partnership with IAAC, Barcelona and Valldaura Labs

  • Possible Studio: film production studio focused on promoting climate tech innovation and research

  • Panoramic Labs: research and storytelling for climate and social innovation

Making Impact

Keynote address at Open Hardware Summit, 2014

Get in touch

I'm always open to conversations about new collaborations, send me an email on
tristan (at) panoramic (dot) earth