Patrick Cook

Patrick Cook directs PARC's Innovation Services team, which provides human-centered insights to clients and projects spanning a variety of disciplines and application spaces. By breaking down the silos that commonly separate research, engineering, social science, design, and business strategy, the Innovation Services team identifies unmet needs, recommends practices that work, and helps create products and services that sell.

A key method in Patrick's team is ethnography, the naturalistic study of human behavior in context, which PARC pioneered into the realm of technology innovation. By combining systematic data capture and rigorous analysis, ethnography helps uncover and reveal a detailed, nuanced, and complete picture of what people actually do -- as opposed to just what they say they do. 

Patrick has a diverse background in a variety of roles at the intersection of business, technology, research, and market/ product delivery. Prior to joining PARC, he was responsible for developing business and technology consulting and training products and services for the federal Small Business Administration’s SBDC Program. Other experience includes senior executive positions in IT, strategic planning, banking, and financial risk analysis for Global Fortune 50 companies and venture-funded startups. Patrick has collaborated on research, product development, and strategic market development with technology companies such as Intel, HP, Symantec, and SAP.

Patrick received a B.A. in English Language and Literature from Durham University. As an expert on global SMB technology markets, he has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, Fortune Small Business, Inc.com, IT Business Edge, destinationCRM.com, Priority Magazine, and other publications.