Entrepreneur & Inventor; Founder of Gravity Industries
Richard Browning: Biography at a Glance
- Inventor of the World’s First Jet Suit & Founder of Gravity Industries – Richard Browning turned human flight into reality, building a $100M company whose jet suit demonstrations have reached over 2 billion people globally through media, TED Talks, and 300+ live events in 30+ countries.
- Corporate Innovator Turned Aviation Pioneer – After 16 years at BP (including during the Deepwater Horizon era), Richard speaks the language of big business and knows firsthand how to balance the risks and rewards of real innovation in complex organizations.
- Hardwired for Risk-Tolerant Innovation – Richard challenges leaders to rethink how they measure performance, arguing that “if you’re not failing in recoverable ways, you’re not innovating”—because in today’s world, standing still is the fastest way to become obsolete.
- Military Discipline Meets Entrepreneurial Grit – With a Royal Marines background and experience advising government and defense, Richard brings structured thinking to disruptive problem-solving, with real-world applications.
- A Dynamic, Visually Stunning Keynote Experience – Whether flying live or virtually taking audiences behind the scenes, Richard delivers unforgettable talks that blend engineering spectacle with deeply human insight on leadership, culture, and courage.
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CAA Speakers represents Richard Browning for speaking engagements. Contact CAA Speakers at (424) 288-2898 or speakers@caa.com to book Richard Browning to speak at corporate or private events, keynote speeches, speaking engagements, workshops, fireside chats, motivational speaking, or virtual appearances.
Videos
Biography
Richard Browning is the Founder, CEO, and Chief Test Pilot of the pioneering aeronautical innovation company, Gravity Industries, who has turned the impossible dream of human flight into a ground-breaking $100m business.
Once thought impossible, Richard has delivered a dream mankind has had for millennia.
Launching the world’s first human Jet Suit in 2017, and inspired by his maverick-innovator father who left much unfulfilled ambition, he has challenged the perceived boundaries of human aviation and inspires others to dare to ask, “What if?”.
Today, Gravity has transformed Special Forces mobility and remote medic response, and its flights have been experienced by over two billion people globally, with Richard and his cohort of pilots completing over 300 flight events around the world, including in its inaugural International Race Series, and through its Flight Training Schools in the UK and US.
Prior to Gravity, Richard was a successful commodity trader for 16 years in the City of London with BP, and the pioneer of several major entrepreneurial breakthroughs, including a world-first, $500m cargo tracking platform (winning the BP Group innovation Award).
He has developed businesses and conducted trade relations across five continents and is a key participant and investor in several successful start-up ventures. A passionate STEM advocate, he holds the belief that entrepreneurship and ambition should be taught from early-years education.
A confident and inspirational speaker on embracing innovation through adversity, Richard has delivered keynote speeches on global stages, including as a TED Mainstage speaker, and in corporate engagements for CISCO, Microsoft, BP, Google, and more.
He also works with top-level C-Suite groups and Government leadership, including the UK Ministry of Defence, to deliver tangible guidance on embedding authentic cultures of innovation that deliver results, overcome big-organisation inertia, and inspire teams to push boundaries within their own industries.
In addition to being an Ultra Marathon Runner and serial entrepreneur, Richard spent six years in the Special Forces as a Royal Marine Reservist.
His debut biography, Taking On Gravity, charting the remarkable business journey behind Gravity, and the innovation insights along the way, is out now.
Topics
From Zero to Lift-Off: Developing Bold Ideas That Soar
In this electrifying keynote, innovator and Gravity Industries founder Richard Browning takes audiences on a high-octane journey from oil trading floors to defying gravity—literally. Drawing on his bold transition from a 16-year career at BP to pioneering human flight, Richard shares a riveting, real-world blueprint for innovation that challenges conventional thinking and ignites transformative change.
With stories of launching a $30k idea into a $50 million platform, building skunkworks teams inside a global energy giant, and founding a world-renowned aeronautical engineering company, Richard demonstrates how the most groundbreaking innovations are born from audacity, experimentation, and a relentless refusal to accept “impossible.”
Failure Isn't the End—It's Liftoff
In this dynamic and deeply human talk, Richard Browning shares the thrilling and often painful story behind inventing the Gravity Industries Jet Suit. From crashing into fields and rivers during early flight tests to pushing through skepticism and setbacks, Browning reveals how falling, both literally and figuratively, became his greatest teacher.
With humor, humility, and hard-won insight, he unpacks how every failure was a vital step toward achieving what many thought was impossible: human flight. His message is clear and powerful: if you’re not falling, you’re probably not pushing hard enough.
