AI is transforming biotechnology from the inside out. What was once a world of petri dishes and pipettes is now increasingly powered by algorithms, models, and digital twins. But as machine learning accelerates drug discovery and reshapes clinical trials, how far can we go before biology itself becomes the follower, not the leader?

In this episode of Tech Tomorrow, David Elliman speaks with Bibi Ephraim, Head of Digital Sciences at Genentech, about how artificial intelligence is redefining the biotech landscape. They explore how data-driven approaches are rapidly compressing timelines in drug discovery, enabling precision medicine, and even simulating virtual clinical trials.

They also tackle the cultural and organisational transformations needed to make digital biotech work; from breaking down data silos and fostering collaboration across competitors, to treating data as a product and investing in strong governance. 

Drawing parallels with digital transformation in other industries, they ask what it will take for biotech to move from project-based to product-based innovation, and why pre-competitive collaboration could unlock the next generation of cures.

Episode Highlights:

01:40 – What do AI, data science, and digital governance in the biotech landscape look like today?

03:06 – Biotech and the data foundations needed for transformation.

04:52 – Examples of successful data-driven approaches in biotech.

08:10 – Will parts of the medical process be completely handed over to AI?

09:39 – David’s thoughts: The importance of sustained, iterative innovation.

11:49 – The biggest mistake Bibi sees executives make in relation to data.

13:08 – The huge issue of low-quality data.

14:59 – Data sharing is critical in this field.

19:03 – David’s thoughts: How pre-competitive collaboration benefits everyone.

21:17 – Is biotech reaching a standardisation tipping point?

24:11 – Can biotech scale digitally and effectively?

26:30 – Will the next biotech breakthrough be digital before it’s biological?

28:33 – If digitalisation expands, will researchers miss the “happy accidents” of drug discovery?

About Zühlke:
Zühlke is a global transformation partner, with engineering and innovation at its core. We help clients envision and build their businesses for the future – running smarter today while adapting for tomorrow’s markets, customers, and communities.

Our multidisciplinary teams specialise in technology strategy and business innovation, digital solutions and applications, and device and systems engineering. We thrive in complex, regulated sectors such as healthcare and finance, connecting strategy, implementation, and operations to help clients build more effective and resilient businesses.

Links:

• Zühlke Website
• Zühlke on LinkedIn
• David Elliman on LinkedIn
• Bibi Ephraim on LinkedIn
• Genentech Website

The UK’s 2025 Data Act marks a turning point in how data is shared and governed. Just as common standards in telecoms and banking unlocked innovation, trusted data could be the key to credible climate action. But with carbon reporting fragmented and confidence in the numbers low, can open data really help us reach net zero?

In this episode of Tech Tomorrow, David Elliman speaks with Gavin Starks, founder of Icebreaker One, about why net zero is impossible without shared, reliable data. They draw lessons from open banking—how standards, governance, and collaboration turned a technical challenge into a multi-billion-pound ecosystem—and ask what it would take to do the same for climate.

They also spotlight Icebreaker One’s project Perseus, which is building the data infrastructure to automate SME sustainability reporting and connect emissions data directly with green finance. By cutting friction for small businesses and giving banks numbers they can trust, Perseus shows how shared data can turn compliance into opportunity.

Episode Highlights:

01:00 – An introduction to Gavin.

01:25 – When we talk about open data in the context of climate action, what do we actually mean?

04:17 – The parallels between open banking and net zero.

06:25 – David’s thoughts: Finding clarity in carbon reporting.

07:47  – The current crisis in carbon reporting.

11:05  – When it comes to getting this right, 90% of the work is governance.

13:37  – David’s thoughts: The power of narrow use cases.

15:02  – Why open banking was a success.

16:54  – When it comes to sustainability, compliance should really be the floor and opportunity should be the ceiling.

19:04  – David’s thoughts: The 2025 UK Data Act.

20:43  – Why 2025 is an inflection point for data in the UK.

22:57  – What does Gavin think will happen next?

25:53 – Is net zero even possible without open data?

About Zühlke:
Zühlke is a global transformation partner, with engineering and innovation at its core. We help clients envision and build their businesses for the future – running smarter today while adapting for tomorrow’s markets, customers, and communities.

Our multidisciplinary teams specialise in technology strategy and business innovation, digital solutions and applications, and device and systems engineering. We thrive in complex, regulated sectors such as healthcare and finance, connecting strategy, implementation, and operations to help clients build more effective and resilient businesses.

Links:

• Zühlke Website
• Zühlke on LinkedIn
• David Elliman on LinkedIn
• Gavin Starks on LinkedIn
• Icebreaker One Website
• Persus Website

According to the United Nations, the world’s population is projected to exceed 9.5 billion by 2050, placing unprecedented strain on our food systems. Climate change, land scarcity, and rising demand for protein mean that traditional agriculture alone may no longer be enough. Could cultivated meat and other food technologies provide the answer?

In this episode of Tech Tomorrow, David Elliman speaks with Illtud Dunsford, CEO and co-founder of Cellular Agriculture Ltd, about the promise and limitations of lab-grown foods. Together, they explore whether technology alone can solve the global food crisis or whether the deeper challenge lies in human choices and culture.

They also discuss the parallels between scaling in biotech and software engineering. How ambitious visions must be broken into achievable steps, the risks of hype cycles, and why collaboration across disciplines is essential. Just as DevOps reshaped software delivery, cultivated foods may depend on breaking down silos.

Episode Highlights:

01:49 – What is cultivated meat?

02:46 – How cultivated meat may help optimise and reduce waste.

04:03 – How the extremities of technology and ideas help us push forward.

05:02 – David’s thoughts: What does pushing the boundaries look like in software engineering?

06:21 – The story of Cellular Agriculture Ltd and how their technology works.

09:53 – Where is the cultivated meat industry today?

11:45 – David’s thoughts: Are long R&D cycles necessary for software engineers?

12:31 – What challenges are cultivated foods trying to tackle?

16:29 – What’s stopping this technology from expanding?

18:35 – How long is it going to take for this technology to reach an inflection point?

20:13 – David’s thoughts: Why cross-collaboration is so important in software engineering.

22:34 – What does the future of cultivated food look like?

25:03 – What could we miss about this field if we only concentrate on the technology?

27:58 – Is the global food crisis a problem that only tech can solve?

About Zühlke:
Zühlke is a global transformation partner, with engineering and innovation at its core. We help clients envision and build their businesses for the future – running smarter today while adapting for tomorrow’s markets, customers, and communities.

Our multidisciplinary teams specialise in technology strategy and business innovation, digital solutions and applications, and device and systems engineering. We thrive in complex, regulated sectors such as healthcare and finance, connecting strategy, implementation, and operations to help clients build more effective and resilient businesses.

Links:

• Zühlke Website
• Zühlke on LinkedIn
• David Elliman on LinkedIn
• Illtud Dunsford on LinkedIn
• Cellular Agriculture Ltd Website

By 2026, Europol estimates that more than 90% of online content could be AI-generated – from music and written work to imagery and beyond. But what does this shift mean for creativity, originality, and the role of human value in the process?

In this episode of Tech Tomorrow, David Elliman speaks with Anjana Susarla, Professor of Responsible AI at the Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University. Together, they explore whether AI can truly be trusted as a creative collaborator in both work and wider society.

Their conversation looks at how the traditional process of drafting and redrafting may change when AI enters the picture, and the rise of so-called ‘AI slop’ – mass-produced, low-quality outputs – in areas such as writing, design, and programming. 

They also consider whether agentic AI might one day predict our preferences more accurately than we can ourselves, and reflect on the persistent hype and ‘magic’ surrounding new AI tools, asking what this means for the future of creativity, business, and work.

Episode Highlights:

00:47 – What happens to the iterative creative process when AI is introduced?

02:59 – The polarising reactions to AI tools.

04:03 – Do we even like the creative outputs of AI?

05:16 – David’s thoughts: Can we put a qualitative value on creativity?

06:31 – What was the AI-generated podcast based on  Anjana’s paper like?

10:28 – The homogenising effect of AI.

11:45 – Feedback loops and the halo effect.

13:04 – David’s thoughts: AI prediction models.

16:28 – Human oversight in AI creativity.

19:08 – Maintaining the quality of AI-generated outputs.

21:05 – David’s thoughts: What happens when AI tools enter the workplace?

23:08 – AI creativity, brain drain, and deskilling

24:58 – Should we trust AI as a creative collaborator?

About Zühlke:
Zühlke is a global transformation partner, with engineering and innovation at its core. We help clients envision and build their businesses for the future – running smarter today while adapting for tomorrow’s markets, customers, and communities.

Our multidisciplinary teams specialise in technology strategy and business innovation, digital solutions and applications, and device and systems engineering. We thrive in complex, regulated sectors such as healthcare and finance, connecting strategy, implementation, and operations to help clients build more effective and resilient businesses.

Links:

• Zühlke Website
• Zühlke on LinkedIn
• David Elliman on LinkedIn
• Prof. Anjana Susarla on LinkedIn

Tech Tomorrow is your front-row seat to the conversations redefining the future.

Each episode explores a big, thought-provoking question, from how we collaborate with machines to the possibilities intelligent systems could unlock in the future. Created for leaders steering innovation through complexity, the show cuts through the noise, connecting cross-disciplinary trends so you can make confident decisions in a rapidly changing world.

Your host, David Elliman, Chief of Software Engineering at Zühlke, draws on four decades of global experience in technology and innovation. An expert in enterprise-scale solutions and emerging technologies, including AI, IoT, blockchain, and cloud computing, David brings clarity and insight to even the most complex topics.

Tech Tomorrow, from Zühlke – coming soon, wherever you get your podcasts.

About Zühlke:

Zühlke is a global transformation partner, with engineering and innovation in our DNA. We're trusted to help clients envision and build their businesses for the future – to run smarter today while adapting for tomorrow’s markets, customers, and communities.

Our multidisciplinary teams specialise in tech strategy and business innovation, digital solutions and applications, and device and systems engineering. We excel in complex, regulated spaces, including health and finance, connecting strategy, tech implementation, and operational services to help clients become more effective, resilient businesses.

Links:

Zühlke Website

Zühlke on LinkedIn

David Elliman on LinkedIn

Neural networks are the backbone of many AI and machine learning systems. But how can they be applied to real-world scenarios?

Today’s guest is Damian Borth, Professor of Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning at the University of St. Gallen. He is also the director of the Computer Science Institute at St. Gallen.

His work on neural networks has taken him to several subject areas including climate change, financial fraud detection, and text-to-speech. He is also the recipient of a Google Research Scholar Award.

We discuss what neural networks are, what they do, and how their application could help us save the world.

00:00 - Intro

02:02 - Damian’s background

03:01 - What is a neural network?

09:21 - Neural networks and climate change

12:44 - Neural networks and text-to-speech

14:56 - Bias in AI training data

12:44 - Academia and the real world

27:12 - Dan's final thoughts

LINKS:

Damian Borth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianborth/?originalSubdomain=ch

Dan Klein: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/dplklein

Zühlke: https://www.zuehlke.com/en

Welcome to Data Today, a podcast from Zühlke.

We're living in a world of opportunities. But to fully realise them, we have to reshape the way we innovate.

We need to stop siloing data, ring-fencing knowledge and looking at traditional value chains. And that's what this podcast is about. Every two weeks, we’re taking a look at data outside the box to see how amazing individuals from disparate fields and industries are transforming the way they work with data, the challenges they are overcoming, and what we can all learn from them.

Zühlke is a global innovation service provider. We envisage ideas and create new business models for our clients by developing services and products based on new technologies – from the initial vision through development to deployment, production and operation.

According to Alzheimer's Disease International, the number of people around the world with the condition will reach 78 million in 2030, and 139 million in 2050. As of 2024, there is no known cure for Alzheimer's, dementia, or similar degenerative brain conditions. So, how are those testing for these diseases using data and technology to help improve health outcomes?

Today’s guest is Rhoda Au, Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Neurology, and Epidemiology at Boston University, and Director of Neuropsychology at the Framingham Heart Study. She’s also the Director of Global Cohort Development at the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative.

We discuss Rhoda’s experience of paper-and-pen Alzheimer's testing in the early 90s, her switch to voice capture in 2005, and her thoughts about how medical data should be shared. 

00:00 - Intro

02:02 - The pen-and-paper days of Altizmer’s testing

12:34 - The ethics of voice capture

20:20 - Why we need to open up health data to the community

26:07 - Dan's final thoughts

LINKS:

Rhoda Au: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhoda-au-1687277/

Boston University School of Medicine & Public Health: https://www.bu.edu/sph/

Framingham Heart Study: https://www.framinghamheartstudy.org/

Alzheimer's Disease International: https://www.alzint.org/

Alzheimer's Disease Data Initiative: https://www.alzheimersdata.org/

Dan Klein: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/dplklein

Zühlke: https://www.zuehlke.com/en

Welcome to Data Today, a podcast from Zühlke.

We're living in a world of opportunities. But to fully realise them, we have to reshape the way we innovate.

We need to stop siloing data, ring-fencing knowledge and looking at traditional value chains. And that's what this podcast is about. Every two weeks, we’re taking a look at data outside the box to see how amazing individuals from disparate fields and industries are transforming the way they work with data, the challenges they are overcoming, and what we can all learn from them.

Zühlke is a global innovation service provider. We envisage ideas and create new business models for our clients by developing services and products based on new technologies – from the initial vision through development to deployment, production and operation.

We don’t often think about what's going on beneath the surface of our cities and towns. But how could more understanding of this underground world help deliver better public services and tackle environmental impact?

Today’s guest is Holger Kessler, a renowned geoscientist who has racked up an astonishing 25 years at the British Geological Survey. In early 2024, he started a new role at AtkinsRéalis but previously worked at the Government Office for Science as the Science Lead of the Future of the Subsurface Foresight Programme.

We discuss the siloed nature of data underground, the benefits of digital twins, and why it's so important to use the utilities we have underground. 

00:00 - Intro

12:24 - Why is subsurface data so siloed?

23:05 - Holger’s work in the London subterranean

28:15 - Dan's final thoughts

LINKS:

Holger Kessler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holgerkessler/

British Geological Survey: https://www.bgs.ac.uk/

Dan Klein: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/dplklein

Zühlke: https://www.zuehlke.com/en

Welcome to Data Today, a podcast from Zühlke.

We're living in a world of opportunities. But to fully realise them, we have to reshape the way we innovate.

We need to stop siloing data, ring-fencing knowledge and looking at traditional value chains. And that's what this podcast is about. Every two weeks, we’re taking a look at data outside the box to see how amazing individuals from disparate fields and industries are transforming the way they work with data, the challenges they are overcoming, and what we can all learn from them.

Zühlke is a global innovation service provider. We envisage ideas and create new business models for our clients by developing services and products based on new technologies – from the initial vision through development to deployment, production, and operation.

Public services and higher education facilities are under enormous pressure to keep track of their funds. But what if they were able to utilise some of that money, and put it back into the hands of the communities they serve?

Today’s guest is Peter Forsgren, co-founder and COO of three+one, an organisation that assists clients across the United States in identifying opportunities to increase their revenue.

Peter has worked in public sector finance for a long time but also serves on his local school board. 

We discuss Peter’s first role out of college with the Oneida Indian Nation, break down just how much financial data is required to optimise funds and examine a few case studies that show the power of money saved.

00:00 - Intro

02:30 - Peter’s experience with the Oneida Indian Nation

10:53 - What does scalability look like for three+one?

18:33 - The plan for national domination

27:34 - Dan's final thoughts

LINKS:

Peter Forsgren: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterdforsgren/

three+one: https://threeplusone.us/

Oneida Indian Nation: https://www.oneidaindiannation.com/

Dan Klein: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/dplklein

Zühlke: https://www.zuehlke.com/en

Welcome to Data Today, a podcast from Zühlke.

We're living in a world of opportunities. But to fully realise them, we have to reshape the way we innovate.

We need to stop siloing data, ring-fencing knowledge, and looking at traditional value chains. And that's what this podcast is about. Every two weeks, we’re taking a look at data outside the box to see how amazing individuals from disparate fields and industries are transforming the way they work with data, the challenges they are overcoming, and what we can all learn from them.

Zühlke is a global innovation service provider. We envisage ideas and create new business models for our clients by developing services and products based on new technologies – from the initial vision through development to deployment, production, and operation.

The UK’s public sector uses vast quantities of data to keep its vital services running. But what's the best way to communicate with the public about these services?

Today’s guest is Giuseppe Sollazzo, who currently heads up data products and services at the Department of Work and Pensions. He’s spent his entire career at the heart of the public sector. Giuseppe initially aspired to be an academic, but one failed Ph.D. later, he realised he needed to be more agile in his career trajectory. This led him into the NHS, the Department for Transport, and placed him squarely at the nexus of how we communicate data across society. 

Giuseppe and his team also pen the famous Quantum of Sollazzo newsletter, which has become a staple in the open data community.

We discuss communicating data to citizens, the role of AI in the public sector, and the UK’s digital skills gap.

00:00 - Intro

02:46 - Legacy systems, public discourse, and information gathering at DWP

06:37 - The role of AI in the public sector

17:36 - The digital skills gap in the public sector

30:10 - Dan's final thoughts

LINKS:

Giuseppe Sollazzo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuseppesollazzo

The Quantum of Sollazzo: https://puntofisso.net/newsletter/

Dan Klein: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/dplklein

Zühlke: https://www.zuehlke.com/en

Welcome to Data Today, a podcast from Zühlke.

We're living in a world of opportunities. But to fully realise them, we have to reshape the way we innovate.

We need to stop siloing data, ring-fencing knowledge and looking at traditional value chains. And that's what this podcast is about. Every two weeks, we’re taking a look at data outside the box to see how amazing individuals from disparate fields and industries are transforming the way they work with data, the challenges they are overcoming, and what we can all learn from them.

Zühlke is a global innovation service provider. We envisage ideas and create new business models for our clients by developing services and products based on new technologies – from the initial vision through development to deployment, production, and operation.