George Russell in new venture

ONE of the best-connected men in the City, one of the most quietly influential men in Whitehall and a world-renowned IT expert have teamed up to form one of the first technology venture companies.

Faced with a boring retirement, Sir George Russell, former chairman of Camelot and venture capital company 3i, Sir Murdo Maclean, former Private Secretary to the Government Whip, and Professor Achi Racov, an inventor in chip technology, have formed Tridos Solutions.

The VIP trio, who are longtime friends and share a love of opera, have hired a top floor office in an anonymous City building near Cannon Street. They decided they wanted to do something different in retirement.

Russell, 66, said: 'A year or so ago we were taking about what we would do in retirement and we came to the conclusion that we wanted to do something that was first of all fun and, second, would not take up all our time.

'But the main thing was that it had to be fun. So we dreamed up this idea of becoming Britain's first technology venture company. Instead of raising capital and investing it in a company in exchange for a stake, we would give our technology away.

'And if the technology, which would be based on the work and the patents owned by Professor Racov, worked we would be paid by that company or given a stake in it. If it does not, there would be no charge.

'I am sure that between us we know a few people. I have very good business contacts. Murdo, through his contacts in Government, is very well connected and Professor Racov is well known in his field.'

Russell said that the trio had decided to give the idea about four years to work.

'The idea is not to make lots of money - though that would be nice - but to have lots of fun,' he said.

Racov's ideas based on the chip had a wide range of applications, from credit card technology to heart monitoring, said Russell.