UKTN | The Podcast

Allan Nixon, head of science of technology at Onward, shares his assessment of the Spring Budget, outlines steps he thinks Whitehall could take to improve tech sector growth, and compares the Labour and Conservative parties' approach to tech policy.   

Nixon joined Onward, a centre-right think tank, in April 2023. In this episode, he unpacks Spring Budget announcements – from pension fund reform to PISCES. He explains why DSIT and the Treasury need to revamp their spending processes to ensure investments keep pace with the tech sector, particularly in areas like compute infrastructure. Elsewhere, Nixon shares suggestions for Whitehall to cut "bureaucratic red tape" that could support the UK's science and tech sector. Prior to joining Onward, Nixon served in various special advisor roles for the UK government – including to the prime minister, security minister and health secretary. He has also worked in Parliament.

Janine Hirt, CEO of Innovate Finance, unpacks what the UK must do to maintain its historical strength in financial technology, why clarity in regulation for crypto, BNPL and open banking is vital, and what needs to be done to tackle rising financial scams.   

Hirt has been with Innovate Finance, the UK fintech industry body, for the past nine years after joining as a community lead in 2015. Hirt then became the group’s ecosystem director, then COO before rising to the rank of chief executive in 2021. The independent group is responsible for championing the efforts of British fintech and advising government policy to support its growth. Before joining Innovate Finance, Hirt held roles at the think tank Chatham House and the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce. Elsewhere in this episode, Hirt looks at where fintech clusters are in the UK, why Big Tech must take some responsibility for financial crime, and what she’s hoping to see for the fintech sector in the Spring Statement. 

Jess Jackson, investment manager at Praetura Ventures, discusses the challenges startups in the north face, the stark gender divide in the tech and investment industries and how the government should be supporting small businesses and underrepresented entrepreneurs. 

Jackson joined the Manchester-based venture capital firm in 2022 after years of managing investments in the city at GC Angels. Praetura Ventures prides itself on its commitment to backing companies in the north of England, which traditionally have less access to funding than their counterparts in the south. Jackson is also a founding member of Fund Her North, a collective of northern women investors that campaigns for better treatment and opportunities for northern women in tech. 

Suki Fuller, founder of Miribure, discusses the power of advocacy to improve gender and ethnic diversity in tech, unpacks the importance of storytelling in data, and explains why we should dispel the myth that tech is a “highfalutin career path”. 

In this episode, Fuller shares her experience as a woman and person of colour working in tech and why it’s important to raise awareness “every single day with everything you do”. She explains how she “struggles” with the dichotomy of needing labels like ‘women in tech’ to highlight that change is needed, despite male entrepreneurs not being described in the same way. 

Fuller founded Miribure in 2015. It provides advice to businesses from startups to multinationals on how to mitigate risks. In addition to founding Miribure, Fuller is the co-lead of the Tech London Advocates Women in Tech and the co-chair of the Global Tech Advocates Black Women in Tech. She is also a fellow at the Council of Competitive Intelligence Fellows and was voted Computer Weekly’s ‘2023 Most Influential Woman in UK Tech’.  

Dr Angie Ma, co-founder of Faculty, explains how AI poses both a threat and an opportunity during an election year, explains why the company stopped doing political work post-Brexit referendum, and shares her top productivity tips for entrepreneurs.  

Ma founded Faculty with Dr Marc Warner and Andy Brookes in 2014. The London-based firm began as a fellowship to help academics become commercial data scientists. It now provides software and consulting services to businesses, with clients including HSBC, Tide and John Lewis. Faculty was controversially paid by Vote Leave to provide services during the 2016 Brexit referendum, but said it stopped doing political work in 2019. Ma, who holds a PhD in physics and applied optics from UCL, previously served as Faculty’s chief operating officer and chief people officer. 

Euan Blair, CEO of Multiverse, discusses the role that apprenticeships can play in the future of work, the impact of AI on skills, and the challenges of breaking into the US market.  

Blair founded Multiverse in 2016. The edtech company’s focus is on matching diverse talent from a range of backgrounds with upskilling opportunities. It has trained over 10,000 apprentices in partnership with more than 1,000 global employers. While the company reached a unicorn valuation in 2022, it is yet to achieve profitability. In 2021, the London-headquartered launched in the US. Multiverse recently scaled back its US workforce after the business missed revenue targets. Blair, who is the eldest son of former British prime minister Tony Blair, was awarded an MBE for services to education in 2022. 

Sunderland Software City CEO David Dunn explains how the North East can grow its tech sector, gives his assessment of the government’s tech department, and explains how increasing the number of regional startups can help the UK become a “tech powerhouse”. 

From Newcastle to Middlesbrough, the North East of England is bursting with clusters of tech innovation. But Dunn believes that with the right support, the North East “could be adding more value to UK PLC”. In this episode, Dunn explains how focusing on talent pipelines rather than job creation can stimulate tech sector growth. He also explains steps to overcome funding challenges for North East businesses and how to promote the region internationally. And ahead of an almost certain general election this year, Dunn looks at how the two main political parties have been faring when it comes to tech policy.  

Dunn has held leadership roles at Sunderland Software City since 2008. The not-for-profit provides support services to tech businesses in the region. Dunn also holds the CEO role at support organisation Dynamo North East and is a founding member of the UK Tech Cluster Group, an organisation representing regional tech businesses. 

Michelle Donelan, the tech secretary, discusses the government’s plan to make the UK a “scaleup powerhouse” and provides more detail on some of the policy support measures. The secretary of state answers questions about her goal to make the UK home to half of all European tech unicorns by 2030 and whether immigration policy is harming UK tech growth. Elsewhere, Donelan responds to concerns that scrapping parts of HS2 is a blow to regional tech growth, and is asked whether Fujitsu is still a trusted partner in the wake of the Post Office scandal.  

Donelan is the UK’s first secretary of state for science, innovation and technology. She was appointed to lead the department in February 2023 after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spun it out of the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport, which Donelan led from September 2022. Her responsibilities include all things UK tech, from skills to regulation to R&D. Her department brought the Online Safety Bill into law and negotiated the UK’s post-Brexit re-entry into the Horizon Europe research programme. Donelan and her department organised the first global summit on AI safety, which brought international leaders and experts to Bletchley Park last November. 

Simon Bumfrey, head of technology and life sciences at HSBC Innovation Banking, shares how the lender rebranded from Silicon Valley Bank UK, what happened immediately after that "seismic” rescue weekend in March, and a look ahead to the big themes defining the tech ecosystem in 2024. 

HSBC Innovation Banking offers flexible banking solutions for startups, scaleups, growth businesses, investors and those working towards IPO. It officially launched at London Tech Week in June, coming just months after HSBC stepped in at the eleventh hour to rescue Silicon Valley Bank UK. Bumfrey goes behind the scenes of the 100-day rebrand and migration, which would typically take more than 15 months. He delves into the "herculean effort" required to achieve this and the challenges that arose during the transition. Elsewhere, Bumfrey – whose career in banking spans three decades – shares his predictions for the innovation economy in 2024, HSBC Innovation Banking’s growth plans and explains why he’s optimistic about a turnaround in the funding environment.  

Rory Cellan-Jones, former BBC technology correspondent, revisits career highlights interviewing the biggest names in tech, from Elon Musk to Bill Gates. The writer and author recalls the frenzy of the dot-com bubble in the UK – and explains the similarities and differences between the plummeting valuations of startups today.    

Cellan-Jones left the BBC in 2021 after four decades at the broadcaster, spending the last 14 of those years as technology correspondent. During his career, he witnessed landmark tech moments, including the launch of the iPhone. Elsewhere on the show, Cellan-Jones explains why cryptocurrency is "infested with snake oil merchants", shares his thoughts on the metaverse and explains why there are "question marks" over how well large language models will be integrated into businesses.   

In 2019, Cellan-Jones announced via Twitter that he had been diagnosed with early Parkinson's disease. He has since written and spoken about living with the disease and engaged with health tech startups developing tools to alleviate symptoms. He has written several books, including ‘Dot.Bomb’, which tracked the rise and fall of startups in the dot-com crash, and more recently a memoir. Since leaving the BBC, Cellan-Jones has turned his attention to writing, podcasting and adopting a nervous rescue dog from Romania with his wife – the economist Diane Coyle. 

Baroness Martha Lane Fox reflects on a challenging year for tech businesses, explains why we should be more concerned about a “profound shift in information flows” than destruction by robots, and unpacks why we shouldn’t be too pessimistic about startup funding. Elsewhere on the show, she looks ahead to a year of political uncertainty and explains why the first trillionaire in the world will “probably” come from the green transition. 

Lane Fox is a British businesswoman, philanthropist and public servant. She co-founded Last Minute during the dotcom boom in 1998 with Brent Hoberman, taking it to a public listing two years later. She entered the House of Lords as a crossbencher in 2013, becoming Baroness Martha Lane-Fox of Soho and the youngest female life peer. That same year, Lane Fox was appointed CBE for "services to the digital economy and charity". And in 2014 she was appointed chancellor of the Open University, a role that she continues to hold. Since October 2022 the entrepreneur has been president of the British Chambers of Commerce, a business network spanning companies of different sizes across all sectors.   

Dr Nicky Dee, founder and CEO of Carbon13, explains why climate tech innovation is cause for optimism despite a lack of progress from initiatives like COP, unpacks why carbon offsetting is still the “Wild West” and reveals which climate solutions provide the “best bang for buck”.  

Carbon13 is a venture builder for the climate emergency. The Cambridge-based firm selects, supports and invests in startups focused on building scalable climate ventures that will reduce and remove emissions on a global scale. It has made 65 investments since 2021. Dee has previously worked with UNEP, Nesta and the UK government on climate projects, among others. Dee, who has also been an entrepreneur, is a fellow at CISL, the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. 

Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, CEO and co-founder of the Stemettes, discusses the power of role models for women in tech, how AI for good shouldn’t just focus on boosting productivity, and why a fixation on ‘wokeism’ is a roadblock to the government's science and tech superpower goals.  

Imafidon is a British-Nigerian social entrepreneur and computer scientist. She founded Stemettes, a social enterprise promoting women in STEM, in 2013. Imafidon launched the Stemettes after becoming aware of the lack of diversity in degrees like science and maths. The University of Oxford alumna says that while there has been progress in improving diversity in tech, the root cause is yet to be addressed. Elsewhere on the show, Imafidon recalls the backlash she received as a Black woman appearing on Countdown, and why more work is needed on skills to hit the government’s tech superpower goals. Imafidon has previously served as a trustee for the Future of Work and held a board role for the government’s Department for Digital up until 2022. She was awarded an MBE for services to young women and the STEM sector in 2017. 

Dom Hallas, executive director of the Startup Coalition, reveals his top policy wishes for UK tech in the upcoming Autumn Statement and shares his assessment of the tech legislation agenda for 2024, including the Automated Vehicles Bill. Elsewhere in this episode, Hallas explains why he thinks the UK’s AI Safety Summit was a success, why he’s optimistic about either a Labour or Conservative government and what regions need to do to build a strong tech ecosystem. 

Hallas leads the Startup Coalition, a lobby group that was formerly known as Coadec that acts as a conduit between Westminster and the UK’s startup ecosystem. Hallas, a former civil servant in the Brexit department, has been executive director of the Startup Coalition since 2018. He is also a member of the Digital Economy Council, a government advisory committee, and a member of Seedcamp’s advisory council. Hallas was a key figure in lobbying the government to save Silicon Valley Bank UK earlier this year, which resulted in HSBC acquiring the specialist lender in an eleventh-hour deal.

Amman Ahmed, founder of Music For Pets, discusses building a successful brand from nothing, how music can become an integral part of an animal's life, and the importance of being genuinely human in business. Ahmed explains how trusting yourself, your team and your product is essential and urges founders to consider their priorities when seeking lofty valuations. 

Ahmed launched Music For Pets as a side project with business partner Ricardo Henriquez in 2017. The pair researched how music can have a therapeutic effect on anxious and overly excited animals. After Music For Pets' online content grew rapidly in popularity, Ahmed scaled the company to serve more than 20 million pets around the world, who listen to over 12 million hours of music each month. That growth – all without raising external funding and minimal marketing spend – saw Music For Pets acquired by Create Music Group for a life-changing sum earlier this year.

Priya Guha, venture partner at Merian Ventures, discusses the skills gap and the shortage of women in STEM roles, why tech companies shouldn’t overlook the arts, and how the early-stage gender funding gap is holding back UK growth. Elsewhere on the show, the investor and former diplomat discusses the UK’s “untapped capital pool” and reveals what she wants to see from the next British government.  

Guha has been at Merian Ventures since 2019, where she invests in women-led innovation. She was previously a career diplomat, most recently as British Consul General to San Francisco where she was embedded in Silicon Valley. In addition to her current role at Merian, Guha holds non-executive director roles at UKRI and Digital Capital, along with advisory roles at Kheiron Medical Technologies and Gallos Technologies. In addition to these roles, she is a member of the investment governance board at Future Planet Capital, council member at Innovate UK and a NED at Reach PLC. In 2021, she was awarded an MBE for services to international trade and women in innovation.  

Nigel Toon, co-founder and CEO of Graphcore, discusses the goals of the AI Safety Summit, the danger of letting commercial interests and Big Tech shape regulations, and the shortcomings of government when it comes to reining in AI risks.  

Bristol-based Graphcore designs hardware and software for intelligent processing unit (IPU) systems. Its technology is used to power AI and machine learning applications. As Toon puts it, Graphcore is the “seller of the picks and shovels” powering the AI revolution. It became one of the UK’s most valuable private tech companies in 2020 after a $222m funding round gave it a valuation of $2.8bn. Toon answers questions about the company’s plan to seek new investment after losses widened last year. Toon was previously CEO at two VC-backed processor companies and co-founder and board director at Icera, a 3G cellular modem chip company, which was sold to Nvidia in 2011.

Bianca Cefalo, co-founder of Space DOTS, discusses how the space tech industry in the UK and beyond is rapidly growing and ready for commercialisation. The engineer and CEO explains what it's like to be a woman in an industry dominated by men and encourages women to ignore the doubters and follow their engineering dreams. 

Space DOTS is a British startup that offers in-space research and development and testing for the quality control of advanced materials. Cefalo co-founded the company in 2021 and it has since raised over £1m in investments and grants. 

Eileen Burbidge, partner at Passion Capital, discusses the lessons she learned working in Silicon Valley before and during the dot-com crash, explains how luck plays a big role in success, examines the differences between the UK and US tech sectors, and shares how reproductive health support is the new frontier for employee benefits.  

Burbidge, a British-American venture capitalist, moved to London from Silicon Valley in 2004. During her early career, Burbidge held roles at Apple, Sun Microsystems and Skype. She is a founding partner of Passion Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm that has invested in 96 startup since 2011, including Monzo, Go Cardless and Tide. Burbidge is also the director of Fertifa, a reproductive healthcare startup. In 2015, Burbidge received an MBE for services to entrepreneurship. 

Richard Robinson, co-founder of Robin AI, discusses how artificial intelligence has the power to massively transform the legal sector – though not without considerable risks. The CEO explains why people will always be needed despite the rise of automation, how the government can regulate AI without sacrificing innovation, and shares funding advice for startups. 

Robin AI is a London-based startup using generative artificial intelligence to automate time-consuming administrative work in the legal sector, such as contract drafting. Robinson co-founded the company in 2019 and it has since raised $16m from the likes of Google and Monzo’s Tom Blomfield. Robin AI’s technology is based in part on the work of Californian AI unicorn Anthropic.