11:00

Proving software systems work

Every business is experiencing an increasing reliance on distributed processing systems and software. Whether as part of a product or the support of a service, the reliability of these systems is often critical to business success and continuity. Formal Methods is a mathematical process from which D-RisQ has produced two systems and software development tools to ensure software code implements the required design. 

Nick Tudor, Business Director at D-RisQ Ltd.

Nick had 20 years experience with the Royal Air Force followed by over a decade of experience within aerospace, defence and automotive industry. He has worked in QinetiQ and more recently with Tudor Associates, Aeronautique Associates as well as D-RisQ. Nick is an active supporter of the international effort to refresh DO178 and is now a member of the Forum for Aeronautical Software.

11:20

Design for success

Innovators can use design tools and processes at various stages of their product development to create an appealing offering with market demand. Attention to detail in the initial stages of prototyping and testing can save significant amounts of time and money later on when the product is manufactured and sold to the customer.

Paddy Fawcett, Director of Invizio Ltd

Paddy is an award winning designer with 30 years of design and engineering experience. From Senior Product Design at top 5 agency – Philips Design to Head of Product Design at QinetiQ. He has been the Strategic Product Manager of a £16bn portfolio in Aerospace. As a founder of Invizio, Paddy loves applying his experience to new projects small and large. He finds great satisfaction in finding the perfect fusion between great function and appealing aesthetic.

11:40

The Future Is Decentralised. (But why should we care?)

Our current Internet is dominated by a small number of large organisations who have centralised its evolution. A backlash has begun, including Sir Tim Berners-Lee amongst others, to overhaul and properly decentralise the web to its original goals. This introduces issues of security, scalability and new forms of information handling requiring new approaches. This talk offers a personal perspective from a small corner of Malvern on how scientifically principled ideas can contribute towards a better Web.

Dr David Lowe, Syndial Ltd

Syndial is a company developing technology for the next generation of internet of everything. Borne out of Phase I of Malvern's Betaden, they have begun by creating a scalable superfast approach to consensus across decentralised networks of “things” that is asynchronously Byzantine fault tolerant, and now developing a new approach to machine learning which is fast, ethical, mathematically principled and efficient, contrary to current deep learning so-called “AI” models. They have already achieved world-record performance on international benchmark problems, and are developing prototypes for decision support of crtically ill children in high dependency wards (in collaboration with Birmingham Children’s Hospital), fraud detection in the insurance industry, and predicting cell membrane protein folding structures.

12:00

Creativity-filled packs delivered to your door

Most consumers are now delivery focused; people are going out to shop less and getting more ordered to them. Everything from furniture to meal kits. Combining delivery culture with the rise of the Great British Sewing Bee and the eco-driven philosophy of Make-do-and-mend, Penny and a Pearl has been created to bring luxury and specialist dressmaking items and fabric right to customers' doors.

Imogen Mornement, Founder of Penny and a Pearl

Imogen was the winner of the WINN Make it Happen Challenge 2019 and is a 4th-year student at the University of Worcester. She has been working on her business for around 9 months and went live with it in June. “Penny and a Pearl” provides patterns and kits to sew your own lingerie and sleepwear. Customers can order kits from their website with everything they need to complete a garment. Imogen is committed to helping build communities around small businesses and encouraging people to “Shop Small”.  Even if that is all done online. 

@pennyandapearl

12:20

BlockMark Registry - certificates on the blockchain

BlockMark Technologies has developed a platform to manage certifications and accreditations of both business and personal users, anchoring the data on the blockchain for added security and confidence.

Tom Alcott, CEO of BlockMark Technologies Ltd.

Tom is co-founder and CEO of BlockMark Technologies. He is a seasoned entrepreneur who has previously created five start ups including The Social Network Company (social network analytics software analysing bank social capital risk), the international water charity FRANK Water funding 300+ villages in India, and spice specialist Peppermongers, involving global supply chains.

@blockmarktech

12:40

Worcester Scientific: Developing nano-sensors for future markets

Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator (FBAR) sensors have a wide market opportunity, particularly in Internet of Things (IoT) devices and new sensors meetingthe demands of new technologies and processes.

Jon Wills, Business Development Officer at Worcester Scientific

Worcester Scientific is a start-up nanotechnology company specialising in sensor system production. Founded in May 2018, The company offers FBAR sensors for environmental, biological and chemical applications, especially relevant to medical, military, agri-tech and industrial markets where ultra-sensitivity, high selectivity, low cost, low power consumption and simplified systems integration is paramount. Worcester Scientific was in the first cohort of the BetaDen Tech Accelerator and is now a member of the Digi-Rail programme run by BCRRE at the University of Birmingham.

@WorcesterSci

13:00

Border in a Box: turning an idea into a product and taking it to market

Hear the story of how an idea was developed and turned it into a physical product. Particualr challenges were getting the design and packaging right and the PR needed to create awareness of a unique product when the public doesn’t know it exists. Border in a Box (BiaB) is a series of ready-made garden design kits to enable anyone create a gorgeous garden easily and in less than a day.

Nikki Hollier – Owner and Creator of Border in a Box

Nikki moved into a new-build property several years ago and the garden was a blank canvas and she had no clue (or money) to know what to do.  She retrained in horticulture and garden design and left her 20 year IT career to develop and launch her new product, eventually doing so on Amazon in March 2017. Nikki has since won awards for garden design and was also the first WINN winner for innovation in 2018.

@Borderinabox

13:20

Using your voice as a password

Remembering lots of passwords and being sure that user accounts, financial transactions and other actvities remain secure and authorised by the right person remains a key challenge in this connected world.  Voice biometrics as a means of authenticating a user offers a user friendly and secure solution.

Dr Clive Summerfield, founder and CTO of Auraya Systems

Founded in 2007, Auraya is the developer of ArmorVox, a language-independent machine learning voice biometric technology now used globally by Fujitsu, Vodafone, Amazon and many others. Previously, Clive had founded Syrinx, an Australian firm that became the largest supplier of natural language speech recognition outside Europe and the US. Clive’s new venture, Voice Biometrics Limited based at Malvern’s Betaden, is focused on new security technologies for the new wave of voice bots and IoT devices.

@Clive_Summerfie, @aurayasystems

13:40

LiveWorkGo - the new hyperlocal event app

Finding out what events of interest are on in your vicinity is a challenge. The web app liveworkgo.com works at a community level to crowd source, aggregate and display events within zones that you live, work and like to go.

Dr Adrian Burden, serial tech entrepreneur

Adrian is the founder of the Malvern Festival of Innovation, so he's taking the opportunity to sneak in as part of the session's lineup.  He is author of the business book Start to Exit, manages the Wyche Innovation Centre on the Malvern Hills, and he is a Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Birmingham. Liveworkgo has been developed by Key IQ Ltd where Adrian is Technical Director.

@apburden, @liveworkgo

14:00

It's a wrap.