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

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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.

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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!

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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!

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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

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