Jeff Hawkins is an engineer, serial entrepreneur, scientist, inventor, and author. He was a founder of two mobile computing companies, Palm and Handspring, and was the architect of many computing products such as the PalmPilot and Treo smartphone.

Throughout his life Jeff has also had a deep interest in neuroscience and theories of the neocortex. In 2002 he founded the Redwood Neuroscience Institute, a scientific institute focused on understanding how the neocortex processes information. The institute is now located at U.C. Berkeley. In 2004 he wrote the book On Intelligence, which describes progress on understanding the neocortex. In 2005 he co-founded Grok (formerly known as Numenta), a startup company building a technology based on neo-cortical theory. It is his hope that Grok will play a catalytic role in the emerging field of machine intelligence.

Jeff Hawkins earned his B.S. in electrical engineering from Cornell University in 1979. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2003.