Cade is the founder of The New Design Congress, an international research organisation forging a nuanced understanding of technology's role as a social, political and environmental accelerant. He studies, writes, consults and speaks regularly on topics such as digital power structures, privacy, information warfare, resilience, internet economies and the digitisation of cities.
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With a multi-disciplinary background in information security, interface politics and digital anthropology, Cade and his team study technology's macro-influence on subcultures, economic livelihoods, identity, conflict and ecological relationships. As New Design Congress' founder, Cade leads an ambitious research programme that anticipates how digital dependence creates brittle societies by accelerating risks across economics, infrastructure, identity, and ecology.
Cade’s expertise has informed projects across major institutions and civil society organisations – including the European Parliament, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, PEN America and others – and his team frequently collaborates with research institutions, civil society, technology firms and environmental groups. Cade serves on the executive board of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics and the observer board of the Digital Credentials for Europe (DC4EU), a European Union Digital Europe Programme pilot.
Prior to founding New Design Congress, Cade was a security researcher at Tactical Tech, a Berlin-based NGO focused on digital rights. He contributed to Signal’s initial launch in the early 2010s, and headed a design-led security practice at SpiderOak, a pioneering zero-knowledge cloud storage company. From 1999 to 2006, Cade represented Australia in international disability swimming, and holds Australian and world records.
Cade resides in Berlin with his partner and two Shiba Inus, Ripley and Kodak.
Collaboration List
Signal, Digital Credentials for Europe, the Australian and New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics, the World Ethical Data Foundation, PEN America, the University College London, the London College of Communication, Google, Gray Area, Mozilla, Bauhaus Earth, Webrecorder, Eyebeam, C/O Berlin, Art Sonje Center, Open Archive, Superbloom Design, WYNG Foundation, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Furtherfield, Ink & Switch, the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights, the International Institute for the Environment and Development, the European Commission, the World Health Organization, Protocol Labs, the Deutschland Bundestag Prototype Fund, the Center for Digital Resilience, Consumer Reports, the Algorithmic Transparency Institute and many others.
Portrait
