Episodes
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James Lee, CEO and co-founder of Wave Photonics, talks to us about how they are enabling rapid photonic integrated circuit development for any wavelength or platform.
James explains how the design for integrated photonics uses the same scalable process used to make semiconductor electronics chips to make circuits for light. And he talks about the market opportunity for both tackling energy and bandwidth, and longer term with sensing and quantum.
We gain great insights about:
· Quitting a job maybe too early to start a business
· You don’t have to be impossibly smart and motivated to be an entrepreneur
· Building technology from scratch
· Experiencing different universities and accelerator programmes (both sides of the pond)
· Recruiting the right people
· Experiencing Silicon Valley next-level optimism and vision
· Targeting clients at such an early stage of a company
Watch this space as Wave develops their products and builds their go-to-market outreach.
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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It’s not often that you get to talk to someone who has seen every press release and been part of innovation discussions for the last 35 years, not to mention who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the opportunities and challenges for our tech and science businesses.
In this episode we caught up with Tony Quested and Jamie Quested to talk about not just their #BusinessWeeklyAwards, but the much broader impact and reach of Business Weekly since 1990.
Here are some highlights
· Current trends include a rise in genomics, synthetic biology, and quantum computing
· The US will continue to buy up our companies, to access the brain power and innovation across Cambridge and the East of England cluster…
· …but they will now keep the business here - like Featurespace (Visa), IQGeo (KKR), and Darktrace (Thoma Bravo) – rather than lifting and shifting to the US
· The demand for 100,000 engineers by leading tech companies will require different thinking
· The importance of ‘Brain Gain’ and how 70% (£1.65bn) of fundraising in the last year came out of the University of Cambridge…
· … and how overall funding in the last year topped £2.3bn of which £1bn was for tech (remainder life sciences), and 50% of all funding went to Cambridge Science Park tenant companies
· Whether our entrepreneurs are thinking strategically enough, especially when VCs and funders may have different priorities
· And then we finally talk about the Awards, and the ability to spot the successes based on a level of due diligence that is incomparable.
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Episodes manquant?
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In the second part of our conversation with David Cleevely, we talk about the Cambridge Cluster, the vital work with government and on policy, and the phenomena of serendipity and paying it forward.
David has been instrumental in the Cambridge Cluster for decades, with the founding of groups like Cambridge Network and Cambridge Wireless; creating a vision for Cambridge (a few times); the importance of marketing and having a logo; and keeping Cambridge competitive.
A charitable contributor, David firmly believes that if you make some money, you should give back to the community – something Sara Allen at The Cambridge Pledge will be delighted to hear. And we hear about David’s pivotal role at Raspberry Pi and the eight years from formulating a plan to a flotation.
We talk about why an active involvement in public policy and government liaison is vital, and how entrepreneurs can help to fill gaps and stop us sleepwalking into growth challenges – locally and globally.
And we finish with a discussion on serendipity – the approach that will determine your path by making chance encounters happen. Tune in for a future episode when we’ll cover David’s Book – ‘Serendipity – it doesn’t happen by accident’.
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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We talk with David Cleevely – telecoms, wireless and technology expert, a serial entrepreneur, investor in 55 companies, and an adviser to Government on both a national and local level. David is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and last but by no means least, awarded a CBE, for services to technology and innovation. As an active and respected businessman, David vigorously promotes networking, collaboration and the City of Cambridge.
The episode starts with David giving his views on the 2024 UK budget announcement which included providing “funding for Cambridge to help it reach its growth potential”.
We then take a journey into David’s education, career, and entrepreneurial journey including many of the investments he has made and been involved in. What you will hear as a continuous thread - and what we’ll talk about more in Part 2 - is how serendipity shapes careers.
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Kathryn Chapman, Innovate Cambridge’s Executive Director joins us to provide an update on the initiative which started 3 years ago to bring a strategy together that is now supported by over 200 companies and 500 individuals.
Focussed on three pillars - Frictionless Innovation – Value for the Local Community – Partnering to scale across the UK - the programme under Kathryn’s leadership is now moving into the delivery phase. We talk through last week’s Innovate Cambridge Summit and some of the other progress that has been made including:
· The new narrative to ‘sell’ Cambridge
· A co-created Life Sciences strategy, including the recently announced ARIA funding
· Building the tech strategy and amplifying the tech sectors voice
· Bringing Cambridge and Manchester closer together for the benefit of the local region as well as economic growth for the UK, including an update from Lou Cordwell
· An update on ‘The Glasshouse’ – a new hub for everyone to utilise that opens in November – a front door into Cambridge as people arrive and meet in Cambridge close to the central train station
· An announcement of The Cambridge Pledge – with an insight from Sara Allen as to how entrepreneurs and businesses can pledge and donate to solve regional social problems
Find out more at innovatecambridge.com and get involved!
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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From China to Cambridge – the story of a new type of #ElectricBike developed by Dave Henderson and Alex Murray. In this week’s episode we’re joined by Managing Director of FLIT, Alex who shares:
· the evolution of the company
· complexities of the market for ‘#ebikes’
· the benefit of setting up in Cambridge
· the development stages to the FLIT M2
· functionality of the FLIT M2
· design and manufacturing
· funding and go to market.
We’re amazed at the number of things we didn’t know about mobility, electric bikes, ownership models and recycling which makes this episode another really interesting founders’ story.
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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This week’s episode starts with Dr Nicky Dee telling us about how she went from an accidental PhD to entrepreneurship, and from #cleantech to #climatetech, culminating in a 20-year (to date) career in impact-driven innovation.
Nicky’s early experiences highlighted that there were lots of startups with ideas, most with great intent, but that they were hard to scale and that the measure of a company should not be dictated by what they earn, but by what they do.
As CEO of Carbon13 Nicky now creates action on climate through innovation and entrepreneurship by bringing together talented individuals to build and scale impactful ventures capable of mitigating 10 million tonnes (net) of CO2E per year.
With a portfolio of 70 companies, representing 30 nationalities, there is no shortage of great Climate Tech to showcase, and Nicky talks to us about the venture builder and launchpad programmes, setting up in Berlin and funding. We also talk about whether Cambridge is doing enough to drive Climate Tech, look at other centres of excellence including Berlin, South East Asia, and the US, and start to discuss what we need to do to keep Cambridge / UK companies migrating to the US.
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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This week we talk about a career in tech transfer, commercialisation, and seed funding with Anne Dobree.
We hear about the growth of Cambridge Enterprise, the introduction of new programmes like Founders at The University of Cambridge, how the relationship with Parkwalk Advisors began, and how Cambridge Innovation Capital started.
It’s a fascinating discussion about how Cambridge developed from nascent to buoyant for science and tech innovators, with Anne as a key anchor for over two decades.
Anne shares some sound advice to entrepreneurs, including:
· Don’t underestimate the value of boards
· Connect on LinkedIn
· Use your network to get an introduction
· And one we particularly like – never underestimate young teams!
Anne, now Investor Director at Parkwalk Advisors, also talks about how things are different on a practical level. She talks about seeking companies to invest in and helping them as they grow, deal flow, and how she’s more likely to say ‘no’ now than in the Cambridge Enterprise Ventures.
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Join us for the first episode of the THIRD series of #CamTechPod.
Joined by Linh Richardson, Programme Manager of impulse, Thomas Albrow-Owen, CTO of Prospectral, and Tim Jones, Product Manager for Digital Engineer and Data Science from NPL.
Linh talks to us about the impulse programme and how it takes hi potential tech innovators and helps them to determine if there is potential for their invention, including alumni such as Steve Brierley from Riverlane, Marc Rodriguez Garcia from Xampla, Jean de la Verpilliere from Echion Technologies, Cyan Williams from Radiant Matters, and Andrew Kadis from Cambridge Vision Technologies.
Tim talks to us about the role of NPL and how he found himself on the impulse programme in 2023 as a lifelong learner.
Tom talks about the huge opportunity for computer vision - the branch of AI on how software recognises images - from the innovative work at Prospectral.
And we collectively talk about the importance of taking the leap from an academic idea into the commercial domain, the ability to leverage very impressive mentors and advisors through the programme and making new connections.
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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From ARU to Allia to Cambridge Enterprise, this week’s guest, Caroline Hyde of IE Cambridge, shares her long-held passion for supporting the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the importance of connectedness.
We talk about the new Innovation and Entrepreneurship report and the investment the University of Cambridge is making to support its students, researchers and alumni.
Did you know that for every £1 the university spends, it creates £11.70 of economic impact? And that out of £30bn of economic impact annually, more than £23bn comes from commercialising University research?
Caroline reiterates that it’s not just economic impact but societal impact where companies like Xampla, Colorifix, T-Therapeutics are making a huge impact in the world.
You can find the link to the report here https://ie.cam.ac.uk/resource/innovation-and-entrepreneurship-at-the-university-of-cambridge-2024/
And check out the new website that Caroline refers to for even more information https://www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk/
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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In this special episode of #CamTechPod, recorded with a live audience during #CamTechWeek, we talk to guests Ray Anderson, Executive Chair of Bango, and Marc Rodríguez, CTO of Xampla, about how to scale smarter, not harder.
We talk about two huge components of successfully scaling.
Firstly, we hear about the inflection points that have signalled key points in the scale up journey, how to set targets, adapt structures, and even how to take a company public.
Both Ray and Marc also share thoughtful advice on the second topic - culture and leadership. How do you navigate from startup to scaleup whilst not losing the culture and people dynamics? and, When do you know it’s time for changes to be made in the leadership team?
We have audience questions before challenging Ray and Marc to answer what they are most proud of, and what they’d go back and change if they did it all again – you’ll need to tune in to find out what they said!
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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In this episode we talk more about the business than ‘tech’ so get ready for a super interesting conversation with the person behind a successful Cambridge portfolio business. As the founder and now Executive Chair we caught up with Ciaron Dunne who talked to us about:
· Growing up with business in mind
· Doing ‘everything’ in startups
· The importance of luck and good judgement
· Having excitement and passion for what you’re doing (even Bingo!)
· Being inherently commercial, and
· Doing recruitment a little differently.
Ciaron talks to us about Genie Ventures which includes Broadband Genie, Genie Goals and Genie Shopping, and celebrates the importance of team and doing the right thing.
And I think we can all aspire to be the ‘last click’ – you’ll have to tune in to find out more.
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Hot off the press, we have a company soft launching right now with a database approach that is needed by most SMEs to improve their efficiency.
Entrepreneurship started at school for this week’s guest, amplified by family connections in building tech businesses, and we’re thrilled to talk to Jason Mashinchi, Managing Director at Cambridge Kinetics.
Jason talks to us about the rationale for creating Kinabase – and AI alternative to traditional databases how they are using the power of AI to eliminate the cumbersome and costly development previously required with incumbent alternatives.
Jason also shares some of the lessons learnt along the way, including:
· Selling expertise vs going down the funding route
· Leveraging grant funding
· Disrupting a market that hasn’t changed for decades
· Starting a company straight from university and the lessons along the way
· The importance of being well networked, and
· Mentoring and paying it forward.
See it to believe it, and watch a tailored system being built before your eyes! And if you’re in the Creative Industries, there may even be funding available for Jason to help you!
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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We can’t let a $75million raise go without a fanfare, so we invited Rebecca Simmons back on to tell us about the latest fundraise, and provide a moment to pause, reflect and celebrate their news.
Tune in as Bek answers:
· What was the process like?
· How long did it take?
· What are the differences between A, B and C rounds (the answer may be a surprise)?
· What does this mean to the board and decision making?
· How do you spend $75m to scale?
· What are some of the new challenges?
And keep listening to be (re)inspired by Bek’s episode from January 2024.
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Cleantech Venture Day searches for the most interesting 16 companies across pre-seed, seed and Series A in a range of cleantech areas. In this week’s episode Sylvie Russell, COO of Cambridge Cleantech shares details of the day, the industry and the new #Cleantech Super Cluster.
We also hear from two of the founders who pitched on the day:
Sarah Blake, Commercial Director and Co-Founder of Minimass – a construction tech company focussed on reproducing beams in a more sustainable way - tells us about her startup experience and the funding journey they have been on.
Chloe So, CEO and Co-Founder of Pulpatronics – a RFID company who are simplifying the production of tags and revolutionizing sustainability with chipless, metal-free, paper RFID tags – shares her rather different experience from Sarah’s.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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It’s our 100th episode!
We thought this episode we’d pick three tech areas that are gaining in traction – do you agree with our choices? What other technologies are the ones to watch?
#FemTech - Stasa Stankovic – talks to us about her goal to crack the code on reproductive genomics. Stasa talks about how #FemTech as a term often remains taboo, and how it was only in 1993 that women started to be included in female clinical trials. We need government, investment and funding, and research and innovation, to increase awareness and interventions around infertility, contraception, menopause, and broader women’s health.
Who do you know in the #FemTech space? Faye referred to two of the recent impulse alumni - Melis Eda Ekinci, Lorna MacLean
#BatteryTech - Dr Simon Engelke, Founder and Chair of Battery Associates joins to talk about the battery industry and the extensive range of batteries not only available but in development. The industry is still driven greatly by cost, but niche applications offer more room for novel improvements which may change future trends for the larger industries.
We have some great showcase companies here in Cambridge in the #Battery space – Nyobolt, Prof Clare Grey, Sai Shivareddy, Ismail Sami, Molyon, Echion Technologies.
#Dementia #Alzheimer #Technology - Andrew Kadis of Cambridge Vision Technology talks through how Alzheimer’s is the leading cause of death with one in three people not even being aware that they have it. Not only does Andrew share some huge statistics, but he also demonstrates the economic impact of not identifying Alzheimer’s early enough. Andrew shares their focus on biomarkers in the eye, iterating a business plan, and being part of future policy.
And having put the overview together, we’ve just realised that our guests, and many of the companies mentioned in the episode are all previous #21toWatch or Trinity Bradfield Prize winners!
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Hear from Forbes 30 under 30 for social impact, and founder Tamzin Lent whose objective is to help people find friends in busy venues.
Using technology, Where You At is essentially a map of a large facility – festivals, conferences, stadiums – which allows users to stay connected when a mobile phone signal or GPS doesn’t typically work. Using a Bluetooth beacon system, and a mesh system between mobile phones users can feel safer and enjoy their experience without worry.
Where you at also provides insights for the providers who can understand more about flow and footfall within their venues, which in turn can result in a better experience for their guests.
Tamzin talks to us about:
· Being a sole founder and the value of the support network
· Using lockdown to reset the venue industry
· Building, and maintaining strong relationships
· The progress with product market fit
· Making the decision to bring tech development inhouse
· Receiving seamless support from Cambridge
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Chris Bruce is back on to talk us through the ‘rich array’ of content planned for Cambridge Tech Week.
Monday - International Day bringing together national and international guests with Cambridge
Tuesday - Innovation and Investment Day showcasing the tech landscape and ecosystem in Cambridge. 50+ #startups and #scaleups in #InnovationAlley where winners will be crowned at the end of the day.
Also a roundtable on Corporate Innovation with Cambridge Consultants and Cambridge Management Consulting who also host a dinner in the evening.
Wednesday - Deep dive #AI and #Quantum. Finishing with big tech debate. Wednesday also sees the annual Business Weekly newspaper dinner #BusinessWeeklyAwards
Thursday - Deep Dive #Semiconductor and #Climate Tech. And also, Scaleup Day kicking off with #CamTechPod live episode, and then hearing from entrepreneurs who have scaled and a series of workshops in the afternoon. Wrapping up with a drink’s reception.
Friday - Tech Futures Day with Form the Future to help the next generation consider a tech role in the future.
Check out the programme and the fringe events at https://cambridgetechweek.co.uk/
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Laura Hood joins us from Anglia Capital Group (ACG) talks to us about the angel investment network and the Halo Programme.
Our guest Mark Merrywest tells us that 84% travellers are influenced by social media and Yond brings together a way to book your holiday and activities all in one place. The programme helped to direct the seed of an idea into something funded and ready to launch.
And from the most recent cohort Alex Howard Founder of AAH Software providing clinical research, shares how his company has morphed from services to technology led.
We talk about
· How the size of opportunities developed in Norwich might not be the same magnitude as some of the #Cambridge #deeptech startups, but there is still applicability and marketability.
· Getting guidance on the valuation of a startup
· The importance of refining your message to the different audiences
· How important pitch practice is and the subsequent constructive discussion post-pitch – is nice feedback ever useful?
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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In an episode of two halves, we talk to Amy Weatherup about two decades leading iTeams and her personal journey before and since.
iTeams bridges the gap between students who are experts in their own sector, and entrepreneurs and innovators who are looking to drive commercialisation and turn their ideas to reality.
Amy tells us more including three lessons she’s learnt along the way:
· Technology is far earlier than you think it is
· It’s going to cost you a lot more money
· IP and patents are only part of what you have.
We then talk about Amy’s own career at the start of the commercial internet and supporting schools to startups. We cover:
· Being a young entrepreneur
· Building a company, quickly, and keeping cash flowing
· Contracts with some of the largest electronics companies
· How securing funding has changed over the last decades
· Being open with corporates
· Angel investing
· Paying it forward.
Produced by Cambridge TV
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Montre plus
