Cambridge Tech Podcast

We learn all about Crystallography in this week’s episode with Suzanna Ward, Head of Data and Community at CCDC - The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre – a non-profit organisation whose mission is to advance chemistry and crystallography for the public benefit. CCDC was created by Dr Olga Kennard OBE FRS and J D Bernal who believed the collective use of data would be beneficial and wanted to collect data and making it accessible, transform the data into knowledge banks, and generate new insights. We learn about the structural database and how researchers use it, and how their work now fosters innovation globally. It’s also a great story of how tech advancement has changed the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) over the years, and their support of the next generation of scientists. And we think this is the first episode where knitting needles have been referenced. Tune in on your chosen podcast platform to subscribe and listen. Apple podcast: https://apple.co/3P9RegV Spotify: https://lnkd.in/enP_4QVr Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/3VHqGGs YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eAg5Wv42 #CamTechPod In this week’s news and updates: European Bioinformatics Institute | EMBL-EBI, University of Cambridge, Stuart Clarke MBE, #UKTechWeek, #UKTW25, #BirminghamTechWeek, techUK, Startup Coalition, Tech Cornwall, Tech Exeter, UKRI - Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge (IDC), UKBlackTech

We’re back with our regular slot with the insights team at Deloitte with the #TMT Predictions for 2025. We welcome Ben Stanton back, and this year we also have Paul Lee join us. We talk #GenAI; Media, Entertainment and Sports; and Tech and Telecoms - the three main themes for 2025 - and then dig down into some of the specifics, including: • Datacentres accounting for 2% of global energy consumption in 2025, and expected to double by 2030 as a result of AI running in the cloud • Gender parity in the use of AU should be achieved by end of 2025, closing the gap quicker than in many other areas • The growth of autonomous generative AI agents - #AgenticAI – next generation of LLM 25% of companies looking • An expectation of much more telecoms consolidation , globally • And much more, including a nod to other rising trends and updates such as cyber defence, chiplets, silicon photonics, GenAI at the edge, 5G standalone. And as usual, we have a review of any hits and misses from previous years. Tune in on your chosen podcast platform to subscribe and listen. Apple podcast: https://apple.co/3P9RegV Spotify: https://lnkd.in/enP_4QVr Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/3VHqGGs YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eAg5Wv42 #CamTechPod

As we take a short break for Christmas, we decided to re-run one of our most popular episodes of 2024, the one with Pam Garside, chair of local angel network, Cambridge Angels. The episode originally aired in January 2024 and has generated hundreds of downloads, and it's easy to see why. Pam gave us an introduction to Cambridge Angels, their focus areas, and how their process works - vital information for any founder looking to pitch to Cambridge Angels. Pam shares her priorities as chair of the Cambridge Angels, which includes navigating a challenging market environment, adding investor diversity, and raising the profile of its members' depth of expertise. And we learn about Pam’s unique background, and her journey into investing. And we talk about healthcare and how AI and automation is revolutionising the sector but requires caution – it’s not an area to ‘move fast and break things’ as Mark Zuckerberg advises! Tune in on your chosen podcast platform to subscribe and listen. Apple podcast: https://apple.co/3P9RegV Spotify: https://lnkd.in/enP_4QVr Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/3VHqGGs YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eAg5Wv42 #CamTechPod Durham University, Imperial College London, Cambridge Judge Business School, Peter Cowley (he/him), Simon Thorpe, Robert Sansom, David Cleevely CBE FREng FIET, Beauhurst, Simon Blakely, Jonathan Milner, Sherry Coutu CBE, Amy Weatherup, William Tunstoe-Pedoe, Jenny Tooth OBE, UK Business Angels Association, Angel Academe - increasing female investment, Kheiron Medical, DeepMind, The Trinity Bradfield Prize, Cambridge Enterprise, Emmi Nicholl, Paragraf, Arecor Therapeutics plc, Privitar, Abcam, 10TO8 LIMITED, Arachnys, FLUSSO LIMITED, Unlikely AI, Monument Therapeutics, Kalium Health, Qureight, Spotta, University of Cambridge

What a list of interesting speakers we have for you in this episode as we visited the pioneers of the Cambridge Phenomenon at the launch of the Cambridge History of Innovation Project (CHIP). We’ve ended up with a kind of mini-CHIP showcase: Shailendra Vyakarnam talks about the storytellers from Cambridge Scientific Instruments to date and how the CHIP project aims at cataloguing and sharing the history of Cambridge. But importantly how innovation started and the drivers for innovation as a source of inspiration for future academics and entrepreneurs. Matthew Bullock tells us about the decision to provide Acorn Computers the £1 million, and the importance of gathering 45 years of history. Alan Barrell takes us on a journey from Domino Printing to Innovate Cambridge Professor Barbara Sahakian gave the first example we have heard of science and tech coming together Mike Evans talks about his days as a student and starting a business that is still running today, 40 years later. We end with Catrina Dean telling us about the Cambridge University Library and its various collections, and Peter Rees who explains how to get involved with the CHIP project. Imagine a repository where you could see defining emails, business plans, prototypes, images – all in one archive. Well, now it’s underway so get involved or find out more in the link in the comments. Tune in on your chosen podcast platform to subscribe and listen. Apple podcast: https://apple.co/3P9RegV Spotify: https://lnkd.in/enP_4QVr Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/3VHqGGs YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eAg5Wv42 #CamTechPod Yupar Myint, Hermann Hauser, Glenn Collinson, Barclays Cambridge Consultants, Sir Gregory Winter, ASTEX THERAPEUTICS LIMITED, Cambridge Network, Cambridge Wireless Ltd, The Lab, CAMBRIDGE COGNITION LIMITED, AVEVA In this week’s news and updates: The Trinity Bradfield Prize, Will Foote, Cambridge Mechatronics Ltd, illumion, Foresight Group, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Parkwalk Advisors, Cambridge Angels, Callan MacDonald, PlayFusion, Build A Rocket Boy, Mark Gerhard, Leslie Benzies, The Cambridge Pledge, Lucy Jung, Charco

A new generation of Cambridge founders and business leaders are pledging a percentage of their current or future personal wealth to address the city’s growing inequality.  Having benefited from the success and reputation of the famed Cambridge cluster, these next-gen entrepreneurs are paying it forward so that the city’s innovation and success benefits the wider Cambridge community.  Through The Cambridge Pledge, the entrepreneurs are making a donation, or pledging at least 5% of their future wealth, to create a multimillion-pound fund. This will then be used to tackle some of the region’s most critical issues, including youth education, homes for children in care, homelessness and health disparities. Find out more about why Lucy Jung, Marcel Gehrung, PhD, Tony Kouzarides, and others are getting involved https://lnkd.in/eadUEPHf. And if you’re interested in finding out more - whether you’d like to discuss pledging or donating, to explore being a trustee, or just to say hello – please get in touch https://lnkd.in/ecfQahGy. Sara Allen, Cambridge City Council, Innovate Cambridge, Kathryn Chapman, Daniel Zeichner, Councillor Mike Davey, Edward Benthall, Clare Sutcliffe MBE, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Mishcon de Reya LLP, Jemma Little, Faye Holland

In this episode we talk about a lifelong passion with tech and ‘trying stuff out’ with founder and chair of Cambridge Spark, Dr. Raoul-Gabriel Urma. We have a rich conversation about: • A passion for education and teaching the most spoken language in the world – computer code • Doing more with less in the startup environment vs the corporate world • Taking a B2C coding model to a very successful B2B model • Tapping a market need by developing corporate AI skills, and learning how to ‘sell’ • Building data scientist sandbox environment with EDUKATE.AI • Being bootstrapped, but with lots of support from people like Hanadi Jabado DL and non-dilutive funding like from Innovate UK • The transition from CEO to Chair • The importance of growth, development and strategic decisions • Oh, and Raoul has his own podcast – The Data & AI Mastery podcast – check it out!! Tune in on your chosen podcast platform to subscribe and listen. Apple podcast: https://apple.co/3P9RegV Spotify: https://lnkd.in/enP_4QVr Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/3VHqGGs YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eAg5Wv42 #CamTechPod Stanford University, University of Oxford, Imperial College London, Professor Alan Mycroft, Raspberry Pi, University of Cambridge, Google, Oracle, Goldman Sachs, Cambridge Coding Academy, The Bradfield Centre, FLIT, Heartfelt Technologies Ltd, Nu Quantum Ray Anderson, Bango In this week’s news and updates: Liz Upton, Rafie Faruq, Nitish M., Genie AI, GV (Google Ventures), Khosla Ventures, Connect Ventures, Pragmatic Semiconductor, James Davey, Alastair Hanlon

Festive greetings to you all. 🎅 🎄 The final newsletter of 2024 is out today.

Telling us all about #EnterpriseTuesday #NorwichEnterprise we talk to Sheng Qi, University of East Anglia and Roz Bird, Anglia Innovation Partnership LLP, who introduce the Innovation Hothouse. The Innovation Hothouse is an example of co-creation and collaboration between all the agencies in Norwich Research Park who are passionate about working together to achieve further impact and innovation. Dr Soraya Jones, The Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence is supporting this initiative because she is excited about the potential of a vibrant ecosystem working together “so much more can be achieved together than in isolation”. We talk about some of the 2023 winners – TraitSeq (we also caught up with Joshua Colmer and Felicity Knowles in the episode), Virilitas Labs, Ediform, Opau And we catch up with two of the finalists for 2024 - Rosaria Campilongo of PfBIO and Safir Jamal of Vida Vodka before hearing all eight finalists pitch – the other six were Knee3D, Healthium Platform, iBoxit, PathoProst Detect Test, Bioscopic, Birthview/Birth4cast. Congrats to all the finalists and the three ultimate winners: 🥇 iBoxit and we hear from JOHN FARLEY at the end of the episode 🥈 KNEE3D 🥉 PfBio Incredible work from the team on raising the awareness of the amazing work in Norwich and the East of England and we can’t wait to find out more about Norwich in the New Year. Tune in on your chosen podcast platform to subscribe and listen. Apple podcast: https://apple.co/3P9RegV Spotify: https://lnkd.in/enP_4QVr Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/3VHqGGs YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eAg5Wv42 #CamTechPod, KPMG Global Tech Innovators Award, Cambridge Tech Week, Cellexcel Earlham Institute, Innovate UK, Mills & Reeve, Anglia Capital Group, Barclays Eagle Labs, Simon Blakey, Zickie Lim,Dr. Jerry Wu, Emmi Nicholl, Jason Mellad, Cambridge Wireless Ltd, cofinitive

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 may be 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. Tune in on your chosen podcast platform to subscribe and listen. Apple podcast: https://apple.co/3P9RegV Spotify: https://lnkd.in/enP_4QVr Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/3VHqGGs YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eAg5Wv42 #CamTechPod University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, David Cleevely CBE FREng FIET, Matthew A., Deep Tech Labs, Berkeley SkyDeck, Ben Stanton, Deloitte In this week’s updates and news: Peter Cowley (episodes 46 in 2023 and 84 earlier this year) passed away peacefully on Saturday 16th November at his home, surrounded by his family. Levidian, DNA Ascendancy

Our latest newsletter is out today.