Who We Are

Fractal Minds was founded and is directed by Dr. Crighton Nichols. Crighton has spent most of his life at the interface between different cultures, navigating the tensions and opportunities between industry and academia, business and technology, start-ups and enterprises, not-for-profits/charities and for-profit firms, and Indigenous and Western world-views. This has taught him to appreciate the inherent creativity and innovation in diversity, and how to manage the associated frictions. He has also learned how to wear a number of different hats, often simultaneously, as demanded by the dynamic context. 

First and foremost, Crighton is an inspiring and engaging leader of innovation, disruption and transformation initiatives that benefit society, as they align with his core values and interests. He is also a creative, energetic, and social entrepreneur, researcher, strategist, and technologist with a PhD in cross-cultural design and innovation.

Professionally, over the past two decades Crighton has established a proven track record of initiating and developing customer and partner relationships, conducting research to reveal novel insights, and designing and implementing innovative solutions and business process/software re-engineering projects. Consequently, he has published articles or been invited to speak on topics as diverse as humanitarian engineering, enhancing user experience, digital transformation, enterprise applications of virtual reality, designing empowering e-learning environments, service learning programs for teachers, the role of design in enhancing freedoms, and enhancing the capability to design at the cultural interface between first Australian and western design paradigms.

Before founding Fractal Minds, Crighton was the Director of Digital Innovation and Head of Business Engagement for PwC Australia's core IT group. Previously, he lead a financially sustainable education-technology startup in Mexico that is empowering children to design a better world and transforming teacher training.

At the intersection of his earlier roles with One Laptop per Child Australia and his PhD research at the University of Sydney is the desire for a better understanding of the capabilities for First Australian (Indigenous) communities to design technological innovations they deem valuable.

Prior to commencing his PhD, Crighton spent a decade in the ICT industry throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle-East and North America. During this period he held a variety of leadership roles covering the full spectrum of the ICT industry, including executive strategy, research & development, professional consulting, and sales & marketing, with projects ranging in size from small non-profit organisations and commercial startups to some of the largest ICT projects in the world with leading multi-national organisations such as eBay, Yahoo!, Virgin Mobile, Telstra, and PwC.

Crighton has a proven track record of initiating and building customer and partner relationships, innovative solutions and business process / software re-engineering projects.

Specialties include: Leadership, Digital & Business Strategy, Design-lead Innovation, Research, Workshop Facilitation, Enterprise Architecture, Governance, Training & Mentoring, Lean Startups/Enterprises, Agile Methodologies, Social Entrepreneurship, Cross-Cultural Approaches, Third Sector/Nonprofits, Knowledge Management, Education/Pedagogical Approaches, Instructional Design/E-Learning, Design Patterns, User Interface Design, SOA, Systems Architecture, Program & Project Management, Sales Processes, Financial Analysis & Modelling, Fundraising