The TechTalk Show

Oli Barrett is a serial founder who enjoys making useful connections between people and ideas. In 2011 he co-founded StartUp Britain, which was launched by the British Prime Minister and funded by the private sector. The campaign led to the creation of PitchUp Britain (in partnership with John Lewis and Sainsbury’s) and PopUp Britain. Oli joins Russ Shaw and Sue Nelson to discuss talent and diversity in tech. With a nearly a million tech jobs expected to be created in the coming years, just where are we going to get that talent? Brexit seems to have made it even more difficult and the team discuss this uncertain situation with no holds barred! Oli will be hosting the upcoming Tech London Advocates Investor Showcase 2.0 on the 2 May.

Ella Goldner started her career as an engineer in Tel Aviv’s hi tech aerospace industry and is now Co-Founder of Zinc VC, the company building a new eco-system for Social Innovation. She joins Russ Shaw and Sue Nelson to discuss the positive social impact of new technologies. Can it really be a force for good? Don't forget to also catch Ella at the forthcoming Tech London Advocates Investor Showcase 2.0 on the 2 May at Here East.

John Zai is the Founder and CEO of CENTI Group and the Founder and Chairman at Tech Shanghai Advocates, and will be speaking at the upcoming Tech London Advocates Investor Showcase 2.0 on the 2 May. John joins Russ Shaw and Sue Nelson to discuss the relationship between China and the UK in terms of technology and investment. He explains how the west generally misunderstands Chinese culture and context and how it's moving fast to capitalise on technological innovation. Will this be the centre of tech in ten years time?

Gavin Poole is the CEO of Here East, London’s largest tech and creative campus, with 4,000 students, entrepreneurs and corporates working across a range of tech-enabled specialisms. Gavin joins Russ and Sue to discuss the importance of trust in tech and tech companies and, of course, the upcoming Tech London Advocates Investor Showcase 2.0 on the 2 May, being held at Here East.

Sarah Luxford and Tamsin Anastasi-Pace join us for a discussion around women in tech The wind is howling, the cold is biting, and shops are blaring Christmas music out of their speakers…in mid-November. There are many forces at play that will make you want to elope back to your duvet covers on this miserable Monday, but don’t. We’ve got something that will get your brain juices flowing with debate and discussion; it’s the last (for now) of four GTA TechTalk Show podcasts in partnership with Russ Shaw and the Tech London Advocates. Today we tackle the huge subject of Women In Tech, with two women at the heart of innovative tech innovation. Sarah Luxford, group lead on TLA Women and a prominent female recruiter for the industry, and Tamsin Anastasi-Pace of The Economist Group join us on the microphones. Download and stream now via the website or you can find us later on the Podcast App, iTunes, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, Spotify or any popular podcast streaming service.

Pat Saini of Penningtons Manches joins Russ Shaw and Sue Nelson to discuss to effect of immigration against the tech industry We are nearly there, folks. Fridays are the last hurdle before the weekend and we’ve got you a podcast to take half hour off the waiting time. This is the third of our four GTA TechTalk Show podcasts, hosted by Russ Shaw of Tech London Advocates. For this show we’ll be catching up with the brilliant Pat Saini, Head of Immigration at law firm Penningtons Manches. With uncertainty shrouding the UK among the murky world of Brexit, ensuring that we have tech skills in our country to keep innovating is vital. Download and stream now via the website or you can find us later on the Podcast App, iTunes, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, Spotify or any popular podcast streaming service.

This Wednesday will be wonderful, welcome to the second episode of the GTA TechTalk Show…hosted by Tech London Advocates founder, Russ Shaw, and Sue Nelson, who heads up the TLA Food Tech group. On this episode, the focus is how to inspire young people to take up roles within the ever growing and exciting tech industry. Joining us to tackle the subject is Mark Martin, aka the Urban Teacher, and Julian Hall, CEO of Ultra Education. Download and stream now via the website or you can find us later on the Podcast App, iTunes, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, Spotify or any popular podcast streaming service.

Join us for the first of our GTA TechTalk Show specials with Anthony Impey of Optimity What a way to start the working week…The TechTalk Show, in partnership with the Global Tech Advocates, is back. Welcome to the GTA TechTalk Show. Joining the Global Tech Advocates founder Russ Shaw and our very own Sue Nelson, is the fantastic Anthony Impey of Optimity. The tech entrepreneur joins us in the studio to discuss all things Digital Infrastructure. Download and stream now via the website or you can find us later on the Podcast App, iTunes, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher or any popular podcast streaming service.

Erin Platts from SVB is joined by Animal Dynamics founder Alex Caccia We read an article last week that said reading your phone in bed can badly damage your mental health… so we suggest something a little different – download this podcast and listen to another fantastic TechTalk Podcast like it’s an interesting lullaby. The only problem is that it’ll be too interesting and you won’t fall asleep… oh well. As this show gets aired on a Thursday, we thought we’d try a little throwback… with a difference. You may recall that we had Tom Butterworth from Silicon Valley Bank on our show last year, it was a great interview and SVB do some great work and we wanted an update. Erin Platts, Managing Director of Silicon Valley Bank Commercial Banking, came to visit us to discuss some extensive research they’ve compiled about women in tech. Erin had some valuable insight for us; are things improving? You’d better listen to find out. Our next guest is involved in some tech which is truly mind-blowing. Alex Caccia found himself on our TechTalk22 list recently because of the work his company, Animal Dynamics, are undertaking. They’ve ripped up the rulebook on design and are building better machines based on animal movements – makes sense really. Hear about their drone based on a dragonfly.

James Dearsley of TLA PropTech & The Digital Marketing Bureau is joined by Jon Scott of TLC This is the last TechTalk podcast that you’ll get to enjoy while you’re deleting all of those horrible spammy emails (hopefully)… with the GDPR deadline set for tomorrow, it will be interesting to see how our inboxes start looking. To be fair, the inboxes of both Paul and Sue are usually a little bit colourful after recording these shows, but they promised to be on their best behaviour for this one. Our first guests introduced us to a new term, but one that will no doubt become a household name (literally) within the next couple of years. PropTech… not proper technology, not technology for props but property technology. James Dearsley heads the PropTech working group for the Tech London Advocates and talks us through how it’s likely to influence the landscape of buying and selling your home in the future. Our next guest is using the technology industry as a motor for positive change, particularly when it comes to charity. Jon Scott founded TLC (Thinking Loud & Clear), the creative industry that is pouring its profits back into charitable causes.

This week we welcome Anthony Parker from Cuberoot64 and Sebastien Conran from Consequential Robotics. Are you ready for a Royal Wedding? While bride-to-be Meghan Markle is no stranger to TV screens, Prince Harry may be a little less comfortable at having his wedding day broadcast to the world. However, we hear that TechTalk is his favourite podcast and he’ll be listening on the morning of the big day to calm his nerves. Well, Harry, we have just the show for you. One would imagine that his bank balance (and the taxpayers’) will be running dry – so he may want to consider plumping up his resources by delving into some cryptocurrency. Anthony Parker from Cuberoot64 came on to the show to walk us through how it all works. So, if you’ve heard of blockchain and bitcoin and fancy the thrill of the market – this is the episode for you. If digital currencies aren’t your bag, surely robotic dogs will be? You may recall our TechTalk22 feature last year – where we had a run through of the innovative companies to look out for in 2018 – Consequential Robotics particularly caught the eye. Sebastien Conran came on to the show to discuss the uses for the amazing Miro – yep, a fully mobile robotic dog.

Apparently, this week marks the 40th anniversary of the first-ever spam mail being sent…will GDPR mark the end of this? No more curious sexual remedies, no more $100 billion waiting for us in a Nigerian bank account – what will we do? Clearly for some companies, GDPR could be a bit of a nightmare. However, refreshingly, we had IT expert, Perry Ashby, on the show who explained that, for most, the new rules won’t be as jarring as they sound. Perry founded Urban Network and, as well as running through GDPR, he gave us the lowdown on what to do in an IT emergency and how his company could help. Sorry to stick with the topic, but GDPR will cause slightly more aggro in the recruitment world…so we were grateful that Lucy Smith made the time to talk to us. Lucy founded Digital Grads – a firm focused on helping graduates turn their university-taught skills into employable traits.

As well as catching up on the TLA event with Russ Shaw, we chat with Joao Fernandes of BuzzStreets and Adi Gaskell. We were at the TLA 5th birthday event a few weeks ago, hosted by Russ Shaw (who features as presenter in this episode), and we were wowed by the little delivery robots which are disrupting the food industry. Well, it’s happening sooner than expected as it was announced this week that 1,000 of them will be hitting UK streets soon. It wasn’t the only dazzling thing at the event that night and Russ was delighted with how it all went and how London is on its way to becoming the tech capital of the world. To make that happen, we need our Tech Heroes and thankfully we had a few in the studio. Adi Gaskell is a pretty key one too. Adi has his finger on the pulse for all things technology and writes for all sorts of publications like Forbes, Huffington Post and BBC – in this podcast we talk all about the new technologies that are influencing business. Another one of the Heroes is helping us to find our way across London, but with a difference. Yep, Google Maps helps you through the streets but BuzzStreets goes as far as helping you in nightmare locations like shopping centres and sporting arenas. Joao Fernandes tells us where the idea comes from.

In a bit of a start-up special, we welcome Maryam Mazraei from Autopsy and Matt Jonns of Ucreate We, as Producers, didn’t really set-out to do this…but it just so happens that we’ve got a start-up special podcast for you. Our guests this week have lived through the highs and lows of being a start-up and base their current businesses around those trials and tribulations. We hope it’s not the case but the first half of the podcast could scare people away from building a business (both guests are big advocates of starting your own business). Maryam Mazraei has compiled a list of failed start-ups through her company Autopsy, rather than being a scare though – it was actually an extremely educational discussion and is a great pointer of the things to avoid when going into business. Matt Jonns is also used to working with start-ups, but successful ones! He founded Ucreate - A startup studio for non-tech founders who want to build ambitious tech businesses. They have helped over 20 businesses to build and launch so far – and that number is sure to keep rising.

Jillian Kowalchuk talks about her app, Safe and The City, while Ivo Weevers talks us through Albert. Feeling hot, hot, hot…the mercury is finally rising and it’s giving us those happy vibes. Don’t bother booking a summer holiday just yet, there’s plenty of quality tech happening here in the UK. London has a number of different sun traps to discover in beautiful weather like this, but if you’ve followed the news recently you’ll know that it’s not always the safest city. Our first guest on this week’s show is Jillian Kowalchuk – she has founded the fantastic Safe In The City App. It allows its users to indicate incidents of sexual assault, harassment, stalking and lots of other things. Primarily for women, we discuss how it can be tough for some women to come forward and speak out about their experiences. We meet a lot of companies on this show who have built amazing tech companies, having started as a one-man band. Somebody fighting their corner is Ivo Weevers, he has created the Albert platform which is saving time against time consuming chores like expenses.

Dr Sue Black explains how she helped to save Bletchley Park, Philip Sheppard discusses music and Jo Davies talks branding with VIM Group Mark Zuckerberg sat in a booster chair during a five-hour Facebook grilling, YouTube had its highest-viewed video of all time deleted and Trump probably upset people on Social Media – a week in the world of tech…thankfully we’ve got another brilliant TechTalk podcast to keep you sane. We’re excited about this one. Our first guest this week is arguably one of the most inspiring women in tech. It was an honour to have Dr Sue Black on the show. She’s done just about everything and I don’t get paid by the word, so I’ll keep it to the point and say that she’s a computer scientist, academic and social entrepreneur who helped to save Bletchley Park. Oh, and she has an OBE. Just click play to hear the full inspiring story. Although the bar was set high by our first guest, Philip Sheppard also wowed us with his knowledge, innovation and experience within the music industry – not something we’ve covered before. Phillip is working on some amazing technology which you need to keep your eye on – he is about to disrupt the market. Branding is an important element to both Dr Black and Philip Sheppard, so it was great to welcome Jo Davies on to the show too. Jo is the Managing Director of VIM Group – a company with over 25 years of experience, achieving success on over 1,000 projects.

Hussain Hilli talks Byoot and Anthony Impey introduces Optimity Word on the street this week is that Apple’s next iPhone won’t even need to be touched – because using your thumb is far too much exercise in 2018... We’re on-board with it all though, as long as it can read your mind and stream TechTalk at all hours of the day. Rivalling Apple for their innovation is our first guest on this week’s podcast, Hussain Hilli. He’s a bit of a star in the tech world. He has been named in the Forbes 30 under 30 list and has founded Byoot. The company are helping you build your designs from the ground up. Moving on……………………………………oh, sorry about that. Looks like we’re having some buffering issues. Must be dodgy internet. We’d better call Optimity. Anthony Impey founded the company who are coming to the aid of businesses who are stuck with rubbish speeds, thanks to their solutions in the sky.

Tom Adeyoola talks Metail while Grant Dudson & Luca Amaduzzi introduce us to Cycl When it rains, it pours, and things continue to pour down on Facebook. By contrast, we’ll be basking in the Easter sunshine (hopefully, but probably not) with another great hour of TechTalk. Four days off work…yes please. Our first guest on this week’s show introduced a topic which we haven’t really talked about before…clothes. Ever find yourself giving the postie a backache by ordering bag after bag of online shopping? We don’t blame you, it’s quite tough and none of it ever fits. However, Tom Adeyoola has a solution with Metail. They are using the cleverest tools in tech to make sure that everything fits just right. Our other guests on the show are on a mission to get the country cycling safer. They already wooed the judges on Dragons Den and now they’ve got our presenters impressed with their winglights. Why do we still use hand signals? Luca Amaduzzi & Grant Dudson pondered the same and went about setting up Cycl.

Innovation aplenty with Andrea Zitna's Elvie product and Emma Maslen's expenses revolution with SAP Concur. The folk at Facebook have taken a bit of a beating this week – they’ve been a bit naughty and Mark Zuckerberg’s earnings have taken a multi-billion-dollar hit. While we probably don’t need to set up a JustGiving page for him, the American innovator might be relieved to find that his favourite podcast is back with another episode and is entirety free to stream and download. Facebook is arguably the pinnacle of Social Media, but our first guest on the show this week is leading the way in FemTech. You may recall our TechTalk 22 feature just before Christmas – our top 22 innovative companies to watch out for in 2018 – and Elvie were extremely highly regarded. Previously a taboo topc, Andrea Zitna explains how her company are tackling an important female health issue with their Kegel trainer. We also welcomed Emma Maslen on to the show. Why? We needed to talk about expenses, that’s why. Emma is the Managing Director of SAP Concur – they are a big company who are aiming to tackle the nightmare of the recurring receipts. They’re making it more techy and easier…sign us up!

Bernadine Brocker from Vastari, Mostafa El Sayed from Automata Technologies and James Gupta from Synap. New Zealand are winning the race for pilotless air taxis with their release this week, but we still think the UK is flying highest in the world of technology. We had three guests this week to help us get off the ground. Even Russ Shaw, from the USA, believes that the British Isles – and London in particular – are the right places to be in this tech revolution. That’s why he created the Tech London Advocates. To kick us off, we delved into a topic that we haven’t really explored in the past art exhibitions. You may think that art & tech don’t mix – but there’s so much going on behind the glass of the exhibits that you wouldn’t even be aware of. Bernadine Brocker is our tour guide and walks us through the story. From art on to robots, we spoke to Mostafa El Sayed who builds robots for a living. Imagine that. His Automata Technologies company have developed Eva – an elegant, simple and affordable robot arm built for professionals. It improves productivity on a production line, in a lab or in a classroom. Let’s end things with a quiz. How cool is the Synap platform? Answer: very cool. Synap makes it easy to create, practice and share multiple choice tests and quizzes – James Gupta talks us through.