24.3: Securing the UK’s Future Through Technology - Speaker Announcements

Join CyNam and The Western Gateway Cyber & Technology Supercluster to explore technology's vital role in safeguarding the UK's future prosperity and resilience. This event combines a half-day conference which we will be joined by the below speakers, engaging networking opportunities, and a forward-looking session at The Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival.

Discover groundbreaking innovations from South Wales and Western England that are countering emerging threats. From energy and deep tech to economic advancements, we will delve into the critical role these technologies play in bolstering the UK’s resilience.

In partnership with The Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival, we also invite attendees to ‘Future75’, where leading thinkers and creatives will share their visions for the next 75 years.

This event offers a unique opportunity to gain valuable insights into securing the UK's future through technology, while also providing a platform for networking with like-minded individuals across the Western Gateway ecosystem.

What is the Western Gateway ?

Steph Jary, Deputy Director, Western Gateway

Steph?Jary?is a Deputy Director for the Western Gateway Partnership.

Leading on Investment and Innovation she brings over 25 years of experience in the public sector.

Her varied career around a wide-variety of roles has seen her develop a counter-fraud approach protecting trillions of pounds of property, lead masterclasses in systems thinking and leadership, recoup around ￡2bn of avoided tax, administer the largest and most complex project portfolio in Europe, and work through six Budgets and three spending reviews in just two years.

A self-avowed jack of all trades, she now uses her curiosity, energy and experience to benefit the people and business of South Wales and Western England.

Panel 1: Securing the Future of Energy- Exploring the role of technological advancements in achieving UK energy security. The focus will be on three key sectors: renewable energy, agritech, and advanced manufacturing and engineering. And we are joined by the following:

Raechel Kelly , Planet Cheltenham: Raechel Kelly is project coordinator of the Planet Cheltenham project which aims to create a community climate hub for the town, and is currently running the Future Fit Homes Cheltenham project, a collective of 50 homeowners retrofitting their homes for the future. She is passionate about empowering and enabling collective climate action, working as a freelance climate consultant and spent 12 years previously working in sustainable finance. She is a Non Executive Director at Good With Money and sits on the advisory boards for Cheltenham Science Festival and The Wilson Museum and Gallery.

Tim Mays, Professa at Bath University:

Tim Mays is Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Bath. He has long-standing research interests in sustainable energy extending from his PhD at Bath in the 1990s. His focus over the last 20+ years has been on low carbon hydrogen as a store for intermittent renewable electricity. This is essential new technology to ensure that the UK meets its target of net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Tim currently leads several national, regional and company-oriented hydrogen research projects at Bath. He is a Chartered Physicist (CPhys), Chartered Engineer (CEng), Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (FIChemE) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC).

Asif Rehmanwala , CEO, Ecotricity & Green Britain Group:

Asif?is an experienced C-Level Executive in the energy market.??Asif?has been CEO of Ecotricity for over 5 years, following 4 years as COO.

Asif?has previously worked for Ofgem – UK’s energy regulator – where he spent 3 years. ?He then spent 10 years at Powergen/E.ON, the World’s largest investor-owned utility.

Ecotricity has been in the UK market for nearly 30 years, supplies 100% green electricity for its customers and reinvests profits to build and generate renewable energy.

As well as being CEO of Ecotricity, he was recently also appointed as CEO of Green Britain Group.? The focus of the GBG is at the forefront of the global green industrial revolution. ?Forward-thinking, innovative, low-carbon – our businesses are pioneers in the new green economy.

In addition to Ecotricity, companies in GBG include: Skydiamond, Ecotalk, Britwind, Devils Kitchen and Forest Green Rovers (the Worlds greenest football club).

The companies in the group are fighting the climate crisis by offering consumers and businesses another way of doing things in the industries that create the most atmospheric carbon – energy, transport and food.

Ben Thompson , Head of Projects and Business Engagement at Hartpury University:

Ben Thompson is the Head of Projects and Business Engagement at Hartpury University and College. Leading and managing industry facing developments and services of the institutions Agriculture campus, this including its nationally recognised Agri-Tech Centre and Tech Box Park. Providing a hub to improve awareness, access and training for users and suppliers of agri-technologies. A career to date that has enjoyed great success spanning >8 years within leadership positions of multiple mixed enterprise businesses with a passion for digital transformation and people management, experience spanning management of both domestic and international projects / programmes, developing and growing operations for start ups, SMEs and large organisations.

Neill Ricketts : Chief Executive Officer 720 Group

Neill Ricketts is a British entrepreneur and the former CEO of Versarien PLC, a company focused on advanced engineering materials, particularly graphene. He co-founded Versarien in 2010 with the aim of commercializing innovative materials technology. Under his leadership, the company expanded its product offerings, developed a strong focus on graphene-based applications, and grew its reputation in the advanced materials sector. Ricketts has been recognised for his vision in advancing the use of graphene in various industries, including automotive, aerospace, and construction. His career has been marked by a commitment to driving innovation and the commercial adoption of new materials technologies. He stepped down from his role as CEO in 2023.

Neill is now the Executive Chairman of gas sensor company, GSS Ltd based in Scotland as well as being the Chairman of the Forest Economic Partnership working with the district council and local stakeholders to facilitate development and progress in the local area.

FinTech: Spotlight where a case study on how innovation in fintech is contributing to the future economy will be shared with our attendees.

Sarah Kocianski , FinTech Wales:

Sarah?is CEO of FinTech Wales,?an independent membership association and champion of the FinTech and Financial Services industry in Wales. She is a fintech and insurtech specialist who has worked in the industry for over 10 years. With a track record of working with global organisations, scale-ups, and startups both within and outside the financial services industry,?Sarah?has collaborated with major banks, insurers, fintechs, insurtechs, e-commerce companies, healthtechs, and retailers. She previously worked at Founders Factory and 11:FS, and regularly contributes to Forbes online.

Ketch Adeeko , Lecturer at University of Bristol Business School:

Dr. Ketch Adeeko is a Lecturer in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the University of Bristol Business School. Her research lies in the broad field of entrepreneurship with a particular interest in inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems. As a co-investigator on the Future Finance Programme, she is interested to explore how technology innovation might be used to address inequalities in the provision of access to financial services.

HealthTech Spotlight, A case study on how innovation in healthtech is contributing to the future economy will be shared with our attendees.

Alexander Giles , Head of Innovation at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

He lead the Innovation and Commercial Development teams at at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where he oversee the development and implementation of innovative solutions to support the Trust's vision, strategy, and objectives. Working collaboratively with internal and external partners, including government agencies, multinational corporations, and start-ups, to identify opportunities, secure funding, and manage projects.

Securing the Future through Deep Tech: Exploring advancements in AI, Quantum, Space, Semi-Conductors. We are joined by the following:

Host: Rachel von Hossle , Marketing Manager at Wynne Jones:

Rachel is the Marketing Manager at Wynne-Jones IP who have offices in Cheltenham, Gloucester, Cardiff, London, Malvern and Telford. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing at Member level.

Rachel has previously held voluntary roles as the Chair of the Southgate Traders Association and on the Gloucester Urban Regeneration Project advisory committee. Through these roles she was fortunate to be invited to and attend lunch with Queen Elizabeth II at Gloucestershire College in 2009.

Rachel's qualifications are in Law, Journalism and Marketing. She is an experienced compere, interviewer and public speaker.

Kimberley Brook , Capital Enterprise:

Kimberley has been supporting the deep tech ecosystem in the South West since 2014 when she joined the Centre for Quantum Photonics (now QET labs) at University of Bristol to support the commercialisation of quantum technologies.

Since then, she has been programme manager for the successful Quantum Technology Enterprise Centre which created a third of the UK’s funded quantum startups. More recently, she became Director of SETsquared Bristol a technology incubator supporting over 120 high tech, high growth companies per year and helped to establish their short form innovation training programmes for University students and researchers as well as creating a new pre-incubator programme for launch stage tech businesses.

In August, Kimberley made the move to Capital Enterprise where she is helping to drive national innovation programmes in deep tech areas such as AI, MedTech and Quantum whilst working on linking in other support programmes from across the UK to the South West tech cluster.

@Craig Needham, Space Resilience Manager, UK Space Agency

Craig’s role with the UK Space Agency principally is to develop the understanding of the role of space systems in the UK's Critical National Infrastructure. Additionally, he supports the wider efforts to build resilience within the space ecosystem from an all hazards and threats perspective.

Craig has attained undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in emergency and disaster management. Alongside his Space role, he serves as an On-Call Firefighter in his hometown.

@Adam Joinson, Professor at University of Bath:

Adam is Professor of Information Systems at the University of Bath, and Director of the ESRC Digital Security by Design Social Science Hub+ (Discribe). His background is in behavioural science applied to security and new technology. He is also co-director of the joint Universities of Bath and Bristol EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training “Cyber Secure Everywhere”. In 2024 he established, and co-directs, the new Bath Insitute for Digital Security and Behaviour (www.idsb.ac.uk ).

Alistair S. , Capgemini Invent :

Alistair is a Senior Manager in Capgemini Invent’s Policing and Secure practice with over 13 years of public sector experience. He is a former Senior Officer of the UK’s National Crime Agency, working in Specialist Investigative Support and Intelligence Collection. Alistair specialises in supporting operational leaders with the development and implementation of organisational strategies, capability development and business management. In 2017, Alistair read for an MA in Intelligence and International Security at King's College London. During this time he developed an interest in big data and ethics, completing his thesis in this area on the interactions of technologies on societal perceptions of security and liberty. He has been a Board member of the Association of Crime and Intelligence Analysts (ACIA) for 10 years, acting as Treasurer on behalf of the community of over 1,000 crime and intelligence analysts from across the UK and Ireland. Alistair has a keen interest in exploring new ways of working between the public sector, academia and industry to bring emerging and disruptive technologies to bear on today’s problems.

Howard Rupprecht , Director CS Connected:

Howard has been involved in electronics manufacturing for over 35 years, starting as a process engineer at Lucas Electronics for automotive components. He subsequently pursued a successful career in international sales, product marketing and business development, primarily supplying production equipment for the electronics industry, culminating in 10 years living and working in Silicon Valley.

Howard subsequently worked as Vice President of Business development at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (Finnish national applied research agency). His focus was on technology commercialization, supporting the creation of deep tech spin-out companies. For three years, he also ran the VTT MEMSfab subsidiary company and was responsible for operations at the Micronova semiconductor fab – the largest R&D fab in Northern Europe. The facility, jointly shared with Aalto University, offered open access to multiple companies for small-scale production and development.

Returning to the UK in 2020, Howard worked as senior director of operations strategy at Rockley Photonics, building supply chain capabilities with multiple semiconductor foundry service providers. In 2024, he became managing director of CSconnected with a brief to support continued growth within the South Wales Compound Semiconductor Cluster.

Howard qualified originally as a mechanical engineer but also has a degree in business administration. He possesses a combination of technical knowledge coupled with senior management expertise, gained internationally across both private and public sector organisations.