Show Notes 197: CWOD on the road with Holden Polestar
- Jun 23
- 29 min read
This week we capture the energy and ambition of Cambridge Wide Open Week—a grassroots celebration of innovation. Hosted by James and Faye, this special episode takes listeners on a literal journey through the city's most exciting innovation hubs, all while testing out a rather impressive Polestar 4 electric vehicle.
What Makes This Episode Essential Listening
If you're a founder, investor, or simply curious about how the UK's most dynamic tech ecosystem actually works, this episode is unmissable. Rather than sitting in a studio, James and Faye hit the road to capture real conversations with the people building the future of Cambridge—from patent attorneys to semiconductor pioneers.
Perhaps the most significant news of the day came from Prashant Shah, who announced the launch of the Cambridge Stock Exchange—a groundbreaking secondary share sales framework designed to keep UK companies from being snapped up too quickly by American acquirers.
"The idea is that founders and companies can sell their shares on a listed secondary framework called Pisces... you can access secondary capital, sell shares without going through all the rigmarole of being a listed private company."
This could be a game-changer for UK startups seeking growth capital without the burden of full public listing.
Martin Frohock from Aveva discussed the company's relocation to Cambridge Science Park—a move that signals serious confidence in the region's future. As the first Cambridge University spin-out, Aveva's decision to consolidate at the Science Park is symbolically important.
Hayden Solway from Clarity Sensors shared their story following The Trinity Bradfield Prize, their go-to-market strategy? Start with industrial inspection (EV batteries, semiconductor manufacturing) before tackling the longer regulatory journey in healthcare.
Tim Hill reported that Orcascan now serves 50,000 organizations across 160 countries, with the app available in 21 languages. The team is scaling rapidly—from 18 people globally—whilst maintaining their customer-first ethos that made them successful. "We're still listening to customers, building the products... building new features demanded by the customers."
What This Really Means
Cambridge Wide Open Week isn't just about showcasing success stories. It's about demonstrating how a truly collaborative ecosystem works—where public, private, and academic sectors synchronize efforts without ego or politics.
As Jonathan Goodacre from Kelty LLP noted, the supporting infrastructure matters just as much as the companies themselves. Patent attorneys, workspace providers, and accelerators form the connective tissue that enables innovation to flourish.
The Cambridge Tech Podcast is available on all major platforms. Subscribe today to never miss an episode from the UK's most dynamic innovation ecosystem.
Produced by Joe Donaghy of Cambridge TV. Supported by media partner Business Weekly.
Subscribe on all major podcast platforms or visit cambridgetechpodcast.com. If this episode moved you, a five-star review really does help others find the show. 🎧
AI Transcript
00:00
James Parton
Technology moves fast and now so can you. Discover polestar, the all electric performance brand vehicles redefining how we drive. Precision engineering, minimalist design and software that evolves with you. Experience it at Holdham Group in Norwich and Bury St Edmunds, or let us bring the test drive to your door. Proud sponsors of the Cambridge Tech Podcast, Polestar Electric Performance Redefined. Discover@holdengroup.co.uk Polestar welcome to the Cambridge Tech podcast, talking all things technology from the heart of the UK's tech capital. Hi, I'm James.
00:49
Faye Holland
And I'm Faye.
00:50
James Parton
We're in a different location.
00:51
Faye Holland
It's kind of awkward because you can see us today and normally you can't see us and there's something like Grace Dent then. Did I?
01:01
Tim Hill
Yeah.
01:01
Faye Holland
Oh, I like Grace Den. Anyway, you can see us and if it looks like I've been crying, it's because I have, because we literally can't stop laughing. So good luck with this episode, I think, is all I'm going to say. James, you want to explain what the episode is in case I burst out laughing again?
01:16
James Parton
Well, I'll try, yeah. So we thought it would be fun because it's Cambridge Wide Open Day and it's all about different places opening their doors to invite the general public in to see what's going on in all these amazing institutions and centres around Cambridge. We thought it'd be fun to maybe get in a car and drive around and take a look at all of these different places so we could share the experience of attending Wide Open Week with our audience.
01:43
Faye Holland
And we're very fortunate because we have a prime sponsor who has a car, which is what we're in, isn't it?
01:50
James Parton
That's right. So listeners would have heard the lovely Polestar adverts that are running. And we are sitting in a beautiful, very Polestar 4 and we're gonna talk about our experiences of being in the car. And I think this is the first time you've driven an ev. Right. So it'll be fun to get your first impressions.
02:08
Faye Holland
It is. And I've literally sat here annoyed James within, I think, the first two minutes, by me literally touching every single thing on the screen and trying to change all the settings. Yeah.
02:19
James Parton
The first thing you wanted to do was open the glove box. Not sure why that was a thing.
02:24
Faye Holland
And you're expecting some logical answer.
02:26
James Parton
I think I've opened my glove box once in three years in my car.
02:29
Prashant Shah
But.
02:29
Faye Holland
Well, glove box is right. They always have, like, a different unique way of opening. So I always just like to know how you open them software controlled. Yeah. I mean everything. Everything is software controlled in here, isn't it? I mean we've literally the first thing I did was I went in and I started turning everything off.
02:46
James Parton
Yes. While I was driving. That wasn't great. But I can't wait for you to drive. I'm going to have a lot of fun.
02:52
Faye Holland
Okay. I just won't be the same as normal. I just won't pay any attention to you. Anyway, so back to the episode. The first person we picked up seemed totally fair to be Prashant Shah. So we've just left. Where have we just left? The Clayton Hotel where the. Every year that's the start, Prashant, isn't it? Of the. The Cambridge Wide Open Day. And we've picked. We've hijacked Prashant, who's with us?
03:21
Prashant Shah
Good morning, everybody.
03:23
James Parton
Is this not technically a kidnapping, are we?
03:26
Faye Holland
Okay, I did, I publicized it. So everyone does know. So I think that makes us not. Not in trouble.
03:34
Prashant Shah
Yeah. If you see me in handcuffs and a blinded mask then please do rescue me.
03:38
Faye Holland
Okay, we're going that. Let's. Yeah, we're going to cut that bit. No, I'm just joking. That's going in a whole different. Different realm. Anyway, so we've just done the. The opening breakfast and it was lovely. Again, Prashant, honestly, it. It just warms the cockles of my heart when you open Cambridge wide open day. So get. Give us some highlights.
03:59
Prashant Shah
Well, it was great to have Peter Freeman there fresh from the news of the announcement of the Cambridge Development Corporation. And we kind of reflected on what effect it had on the. The London Kings Cross area and what potential impact that could be here. And I think he great. Gave a really kind of a warm, gregarious kind of opening of how it's about the people and the community and building the society in a way more than just kind of building the housing. So I think it hit all the right notes in terms of the audience there.
04:27
Faye Holland
He did and he was so. I like, you know, me and my. The magic wand is collective work is what he said. And it's like he. Making people work together so the public sector and the developers and the private sector and can we use Cambridge as a test bed of actually doing it in a very different way? Which obviously ticks loads of boxes for many of us in the room, doesn't it?
04:55
Prashant Shah
Absolutely. Not only what the pulse he kind of set, but also then you look at people like Tony Jones and Harriet and yourself, Fay, and then you got Katherine Chapman and Christine Ann Rutter, you know, and bringing all these people together in a way, and allowing them to kind of showcase the contribution they've made over many, many years. It really is a thousand flowers blooming in Cambridge, and the flowers do come together. Everybody is synchronized, they like each other, they help each other. No one's trying to put themselves too far forward. Is it really about Cambridge and the community and trying to do the right thing for what is an 800-year-old city in terms of innovation and education and aspiration?
05:38
Faye Holland
I thought it was interesting. So Mark Slack, who listeners will know from the podcast as well, he's CMR surgical, he made a comment that I think was quite surprising, that he's seeing lots of disparate groups trying to own the message of Cambridge, and I thought we'd unified that a little bit. What were your thoughts on that?
05:57
Prashant Shah
Yeah, I think it might seem like that from the outside to some people, but behind the scenes, we all synchronize, we all coordinate, we all attend each other's events, we all kind of give notice of what we're thinking, we all bring everyone's ideas on board before doing anything. I think it's done with a lot of deafness and care in the background. And the sense that I feel is that it's done with very little ego in Cambridge and there's very little complaining or politicking. I think if you go to kind of other equivalent cities organisations, there's probably a lot of biting and sniping, but I just don't feel or see any of that in Cambridge whatsoever.
06:36
Faye Holland
Tony Jones, he was. He was funny how he said about the jigsaw and maybe this is it, maybe it's a point. Mark was picking up on that. If you do a picture of King's College and you take. Sorry, a jigsaw of King's College and you take one of the pieces out, people will just notice that piece is missing and not what the rest of the picture actually is. So maybe. Maybe it's an example of that.
07:01
Prashant Shah
Well, I think Cambridge is a. Is a mosaic, is a beautiful mosaic as well. If anybody can come in and contribute and no one wants to kick you out or exclude you, it's very interactive and it's very involving and there's a lot of kind of dialogue and discussion that happens at the front, in the middle and at the back. So it's beautiful music.
07:26
Faye Holland
How are you doing, Driver?
07:27
James Parton
I'm doing all right, yeah. I mean, obviously I didn't make it to the event because I was learning how to drive. But it sounds like it was an amazing start to a packed day. Could you maybe pull the curtain back? And obviously it's grown every year that you've done this, so it must be a really complex thing to pull together now. So, you know, tell us a little bit about the organization that goes into something like Wide Open Week now.
07:51
Prashant Shah
Well, firstly, let's congratulate Faye for helping us architect this from the very beginning. But we've got a great team behind us with Ajit, and everybody in the Cambridge community now knows Ajit and the team for kind of orchestrating what goes on behind it. But the real, I think the essence of it is that it's a very decentralized kind of grassroots endeavor. So, yes, there's a kind of a structure and a framework to it, but really it's about every institute, science park, accelerator, company fund plugging in and then organizing little micro events as part of a kind of a broader story. And the core of its ethos is about sharing the story of what's going on in Cambridge, the people, places and the companies. And that has to work in a very decentralized way.
08:37
Prashant Shah
So everybody kind of contributes and wants to contribute and it kind of comes from the heart. And it's not something that's done for financial gain. It's. It's free for everybody. There's a lot of open house events, so it's kind of done with that kind of community spirit in mind and people therefore give a lot of energy and care to it without counting.
08:57
James Parton
And you've kind of broadened the horizon this year, haven't you? So it's not just purely Cambridge.
09:03
Prashant Shah
Well, I think it's really important that we don't. That we work across the UK and seem to be a kind of connected set of ecosystems rather than working on our own. I think when you look at what's going on in America and China and how much research that might get onshored back to the USA with their most favored nation status policies. And then you look at what's going on in China and the rise of R and D and publications and robotics and AI and biotech, we really need to come together even more strongly in Cambridge and connect up with the other ecosystems and do a lot more joint events and be more synchronized.
09:43
Prashant Shah
I think if you look at what Faye is doing with Manchester, I think it's a prime example of what we're all doing now across the UK to kind of join up a bit more and position ourselves much More as a connected UK ecosystem.
09:56
Faye Holland
So does that mean we're doing Manchester next year then?
09:59
Prashant Shah
Well, if a top for it, Ajit will be.
10:02
Faye Holland
He'll love it.
10:03
Prashant Shah
I know there's a lot of work for him so I'm letting him make the call on whether we add Manchester and whether I'll leave that to you and him then.
10:11
Faye Holland
What did you think about the Jason Mellard? So you gave me an opportunity to speak and I said it was that phone call going Cambridge Wide Open Day as an idea, then Cambridge Wide Open Week, then the tour and then Jason Mellard stood up going it's going to be a month and then a year. Then Peter Freeman made it even worse because he said that the Development Corp is a 25 year project. So it's Cambridge wide open, 25 years. I mean how do you feel about that?
10:40
Prashant Shah
Well, we're definitely not going to extend you much more than a week. I think we'll all blow up. But what I would say is it should embody a certain kind of spirit and you know, we want to have a little fun and mischief and playfulness and not for it to be so serious and I think that is important for that. Some of that energy, if it carries through in the rest of the way in which we do things and we have residents get included in events throughout the year, not just kind of once a year then that's something I'll be really happy about and we'll all be really happy about.
11:14
Faye Holland
Yeah, no, it's brilliant. So we're driving. We are, we are. James is driving us over to Hawkston House so we're taking you straight there because you've got a full program of activities there. But just for the people who are listening in, give them a flavour of everything that's happening today across Cambridge Wide Open day.
11:32
Prashant Shah
Oh well, we' Wharf Reich at kind of the Granta Park. We've kind of got panels happening at the Preston, at the Press of the foxton. We've got St. John's Innovation Center. We've got a full set of activities going on Hawkeston. We've kind of got three tents and marquees where people are talking as well as all the little rooms. There's kind of almost 60 talks happening at Hawkston House today, from public policy to companies to pitching to roundtable discussions. We're going to be talking about animal models. We're even launching the Cambridge Stock Exchange project today.
12:05
Faye Holland
Oh wow.
12:06
James Parton
What's that about?
12:07
Prashant Shah
Which is a new endeavour to help companies in Cambridge and across the uk, stay in the UK and not kind of get gobbled up a bit too quickly by the Americans. And the idea is that founders and companies can sell their shares on a listed secondary framework called Pisces. So the Cambridge Stock Exchange is kind of partnered with JP Jenkins and we've got this new groundbreaking kind of regulatory initiative started by the government in order to allow companies who are private to go public for a day, come out and then go back and being private so you can access secondary capital, sell shares without going through all the rigmarole of being a listed private company and all the expense that goes with that.
12:58
Prashant Shah
So hopefully that will motivate companies to kind of to stay private and stay in the UK longer without needing that early exit.
13:07
Faye Holland
You've been talking about that for, I think, a good few years. So how come you've kept that quiet and you've just let it slip that's, that's being launched today?
13:16
Prashant Shah
We've been waiting for the right moment. So the idea has always been there around the Cambridge Stock Exchange project, but the Pisces framework that's been launched opens up, really opens up a good chunk of the mission of Cambridge Stock Exchange project. So we kind of waited until the launch of Pisces and we're looking forward to getting as many companies as possible and founders as possible onto the P Framework and in partnership with JP Jenkins.
13:44
Faye Holland
And so how do people find out more about that?
13:47
Prashant Shah
They can contact me, they can contact. Look at the Cambridge Stock Exchange project website. There's a LinkedIn page and there's a contact details there. And we'll be happy to kind of explain some of the benefits and the induction process of how you can get in, learn more about Pisces and get on the framework and become a part of the Pisces story.
14:10
Faye Holland
Perfect. And you will come back on the podcast and tell us a little bit more and with hopefully a couple of companies that have tried it.
14:16
Prashant Shah
Yeah, yeah, we're happy to do that.
14:17
Faye Holland
Lovely. Right, we're approaching Hawkston House now, where we're going to evict you. We'll throw you out without handcuffs and blindfold and anything else that you mentioned earlier on.
14:29
James Parton
Do you want me to stop the car or just open a door and throw them out?
14:32
Faye Holland
Well, if we could work out how to open the door, yeah, that would be kind of useful. But Prashant will probably catch up with you in a little while.
14:40
Prashant Shah
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you.
14:42
Faye Holland
Open that door. So we've just been in our first venue which is the Bradfield Centre for the Cambridge Science park talks. And the first person that we've heard speak is Martin Frohog from Aviva. So we have done our usual and basically kidnapped him. It's a recurring theme. Martin, thank you for being such a good sports person. So why don't you tell everyone who you are and what you do?
15:11
James Parton
Sure.
15:12
Martin Frohock
So I'm Martin Frohar, I'm the Global Director for Workplace at Aviva and I'm responsible for all of our properties. So we have about six and a half thousand employees globally in 40 different countries. 48 Properties I think we're at now, headquartered here in Cambridge, currently at West Cambridge, but as I'm sure we'll go on to, we're relocating to the Science Park.
15:31
Faye Holland
Yeah. So West Cambridge you've had for a very long time, haven't you? I think I ran an event there in 2018 for Impact Women's Network many years ago and it was definitely looking a little bit tired then. So. So the plan obviously to move everyone over here, and I'm kind of pointing because it literally is just over there, isn't it? So tell us a little bit more because I know we've covered it in the news slot of the podcast, but let's hear it from you.
15:55
Martin Frohock
Yeah, we've been looking for a single location in Cambridge for quite a while, actually. My colleagues tell me about eight years, but we kicked this project off in June 2025 to search for a new property to look at something ideally that was brownfield and minimal from a kind of carbon footprint point of view, but then also a single floor plate that we could really make our own. We could brand, we could make feel and look and run like an aviva space. And 101 kind of fell in our lap really. We currently have about 80 engineers based in there, so we already have occupancy in that building. But we knew that other tenants were potentially looking at moving out at their next lease break. So we worked with the landlord and it all just fell into place really.
16:35
Martin Frohock
So it's about 85,000 square foot, 101 if anyone knows it. Brand new, sorry, 12 years old. Property first on the right as you come off of Milton Road. And yeah, we're going to have the chance to do it over two phases. So the first half of our colleagues move in October this year and the remainder of Cambridge based colleagues will move in March 2027. And by then, brand new global HQ looking and feeling the part. And yeah, we're all really Looking forward to it.
17:00
James Parton
And what kind of size of teams will be in there, kind of roles. It will be the global hq. So there's a real mix of teams in there.
17:07
Tim Hill
Exactly.
17:08
Martin Frohock
Global hq. We have a sort of critical mass of R and D and finance based in Cambridge, but really Cambridge is a business. We've got pretty much every function represented. So yeah, really good opportunity to sort of reset what we think good looks like from a workplace point of view. But more importantly, getting us all together so we can collaborate more effectively and we can make the most of the office as well. And just having that additional space in the 101 building gives us a chance to create some different things like demo space, meeting room suite, so we don't have to book hotels in the middle of Cambridge. You know, we can have everything exactly where we need it to be.
17:44
James Parton
And we heard from the Cambridge Science park team about the exciting plans they have for the redevelopment of the park. You know, was being part of that kind of sense of community and investment a big part of the kind of appeal of coming to 101?
17:56
Martin Frohock
Yeah, 100%, yeah. I think we're always going to end up in a sort of social amenity rich hub like either CB1 or Biomedical, which doesn't lend itself particularly well for our type of work. Maybe. But yeah, I think the Science park is a great facility for us to grow. And with north Cambridge and all of the Innovation park developments and popping up over the road as well, I think this whole district is just going to grow in leaps and bounds over the next few years.
18:22
Faye Holland
And I think the thing I just learned from your talk then was you're the first University of Cambridge spin out, so it seems only right to actually have you on the UK's first science park as well.
18:36
Martin Frohock
Yeah, I think so. There'll be a lot of people that will be sad to let go of the West Cambridge site, the Atlas Building, which is still there. We were founded in 1967, so a lot has happened in that time and we want to of try and preserve that and retain that and present that in the new space as well so we don't lose our heritage, because that's a really important part of being in a beaven. But yeah, it gives us a really good chance to work all together on the project as well, to really create the sort of future for the business.
19:03
Faye Holland
Brilliant, Martin, thank you. You've been a great sport. I've offered to drive you across the road but you've declined and I think that's possibly why, Seeing as I haven't actually tried to drive this car yet. So thank you very much for your time and we'll get you back on the podcast at some point soon.
19:17
Jonathan Goodacre
It's a pleasure.
19:17
Tim Hill
Thanks for having me.
19:27
Faye Holland
Considering launching or relocating your business in Cambridge. What if Cambridge, one of Europe's leading deep tech hubs, was easier to access than ever? Introducing Launch Cambridge, a powerful new initiative bringing together trusted local experts in workspace, legal, finance, banking and relocation, giving you a seamless de risked path into the UK's most dynamic innovation ecosystem. Visit launchcambridge.com for more information. So we're at Alia and we've grabbed David Roach to come and sit for the first time in the polestar. How is it?
20:14
David Broach
It's fantastic. I've always wanted to get inside one. We've had a few on site but I've never managed it, so it's very nice.
20:21
Faye Holland
Well, we're glad to make your dreams come true.
20:24
James Parton
That's what we do.
20:27
Faye Holland
Anyway, back to work. So Alia, you have been involved with Cambridge Wide Open day and week since the start. So tell us why you get involved.
20:39
David Broach
Yeah, it's just a fantastic opportunity really for us to showcase the amazing work that our tenants do behind closed doors to show it off to each other in terms of the other tenants that are on the campus and actually find out a bit more about what other organisations are doing and areas that they can collaborate, but also to the outside world to have members of other innovation centers or members of the public coming in and actually really showcasing and the really fantastic work that our tenants are doing.
21:13
James Parton
And tell us a bit more about Alia because it's a really interesting model, isn't it? Very mission driven. And tell us about the workspace, the different elements of the business. And you've also got workshops. I've always been really jealous of this.
21:25
David Broach
Yeah. So we're a social enterprise, we've got with three trading subsidiaries within our charitable group. All the profits that are made are passed up to the charitable group and that funds a lot of our program delivery. So our venture support, accelerator programs and that kind of thing that are delivered through Alia Impact. I lead Alia Workspace. So we've got six business centers or six buildings across Cambridge and Peterborough and we're really about providing that high quality workspace but also ecosystem for primarily impact based businesses to scale and grow and ultimately create more impact on people planet and planet.
22:10
Faye Holland
So David, tell us some tenant news. Who's new, who's doing something exciting?
22:15
David Broach
So our newest tenant is a company called Clarity Sensors. They are developing a new type of semiconductor to feed into CT scanners and X ray imaging. I just had a long conversation where they explained the detail of their technology and how they build these amazing new semiconductors in our lab space over in building two, too.
22:40
Faye Holland
So here's an idea. Let's go and grab them, shall we, and put them in the car.
22:43
David Broach
Let's do that.
22:44
Faye Holland
True to my word, I've gone back in there and I've grabbed someone from Clarity Sensors and it turns out it's Hayden Solway, who's Trinity Bradfield Prize. Whoa. So, hi. It's a small old world, isn't it? So, welcome to the podcast.
23:01
Hayden Salway
Thank you. Yeah, thanks for having me on. Yeah.
23:04
James Parton
We're hearing a lot about sensors. So tell us, remind us about the company, the technology, the kind of market you're going after. Sure.
23:12
Hayden Salway
So we are our core, a semiconductor company. So we've developed a new class of high purity scalable compound semiconductor which we've specifically engineered to be so sensitive to X rays, it can detect individual X ray photons one by one. And so we're using this semiconductor to really redefine what's possible in X ray imaging across healthcare, industrial inspection, like quality control of manufacturing and security. And so it's a platform semiconductor technology which can really be applied to many industries.
23:49
James Parton
And it was three years ago you came through the program.
23:52
Hayden Salway
I feel like it might have been three years ago. I'd have to look back. I can't quite remember two or three years ago, but I think three.
23:58
James Parton
And the team's grown. You're based at the Alia Business center now.
24:01
Hayden Salway
Yeah. So we're. We spun out officially properly from the University of Cambridge last year on the back of. We were awarded a 2.5 million european Innovation Council grant.
24:11
James Parton
Nice.
24:12
Hayden Salway
And we're now seven people based in Alia, have our own independent labs which we just got here two months ago. So we're just really set up and yeah, we're doing great. We're scaling kind of the manufacturing and. And yeah, on our journey to commercializing it and bringing it to the real world and in product.
24:31
Faye Holland
Exciting times for you and great to see you expanded as well. So you're exhibiting today. What's your key message? What do you want people to hear from you today?
24:41
Hayden Salway
Our key message is everyone knows of X ray imaging in healthcare. People don't often think of it industrial inspection and security. People know about it for airports. But really the key message is it's Only doing a fraction of what it could do with our detectors. There's a real possibility in healthcare that it could open up earlier. Tumour diagnosis in oncology, more preventative screening industrial inspection. It could really enable real time quality control of every manufacturing line. So EV batteries, semiconductor chips in phones can really stop the flaws before they leave the factory.
25:21
James Parton
It sounds like you've got one of those classic early stage company problems is like where do you focus, what market do you go after first? Have you kind of thought that you've got a strategy, what your go to market strategy is initially?
25:31
Hayden Salway
Yeah, we've spent a lot of time on that because, you know, it is applicable to so many really high impact sectors and valuable sectors. A lot of it relies to regulatory and product life cycles. So. So healthcare is probably the largest market at the moment and one which is growing, but that's going to be almost the longest journey. The regulatory hurdles are more substantial and the product life cycles are more substantial. So our kind of strategy is a beachhead market and industrial inspection where regulatory is much lower. We can get our detectors in real validation testing. So focusing on say EV battery manufacturing lines. So like, yeah, EV battery manufacturing lines, semiconductor manufacturing, really getting that kind of first product and then in the meantime progressing towards healthcare and security kind of at a later date.
26:28
Faye Holland
Last question. What do you think of my new car?
26:31
Hayden Salway
The car is fantastic. I've never been in a polestar, but they look, I've seen the adverts online. Yeah, yeah. It's much nicer than a Tesla.
26:44
Faye Holland
And it's much better now that James has worked out how to turn the. What's that called?
26:51
James Parton
Temperature.
26:54
Faye Holland
I'm trying to say the aircon. Don't read that, the blaster thing, because it was a little bit ferocious, wasn't it?
26:58
Jonathan Goodacre
The fans.
26:59
James Parton
Fans, yeah, actually that's so good job. You're doing a technology podcast.
27:07
Faye Holland
Hayden, thank you very much. We'll let you go back and keep networking.
27:10
Hayden Salway
Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Great.
27:12
Faye Holland
So, Tim Hill, friend of the podcast, friend of us all in Cambridge. Hello.
27:18
Tim Hill
Hello, how are you?
27:19
Faye Holland
Thanks for being a good sport and coming joining us. How are things? We haven't caught up with orcascan since John came on the podcast. That's gotta be ages ago now. So what's been happening? Give us a quick update on all things orcascan.
27:32
Tim Hill
Same as when you saw John, really? We're still listening to customers building the products at building new features demanded by the customers. We've got now probably about 50,000 organizations using Orcascan in 160 odd countries. We've got, we've on the app Now. It's in 21 languages. So we're. So we're growing in that way. We're building new features, one inspired by Cambridge, I guess, the lab sample tracking solution, so enabling you to track vials and you know, any. Anything within labs with. With. With barcodes. So that's going well. We are sadly moving out of Alia future business centre in the Guildhall because the council redeveloping the building and we've got a new office on King's Parade which we move into next week, hopefully, which is exciting.
28:22
James Parton
How big's the team now though?
28:23
Tim Hill
There's 18 of us in the team now. So it's growing. Yeah, growing. And we're all. It's probably about 10 of us in the UK, probably 8 based out of Cambridge office and then the rest are dotted around the world. They work. A lot of my younger colleagues are kind of digital nomads. Work, work remotely. There's three of them in Morocco at the moment.
28:46
Hayden Salway
Okay.
28:47
James Parton
I mean the thing that, just thinking back to John, when John came onto the show, the thing that always stuck with me is obviously John's a software engineer. Right. And I always loved when he just you talked about getting customer feedback. I just love the way he just used tour around customers, go ask them what they wanted, go to his hotel and build it and then go back in the morning and go, there you are. I just used to. I just loved that. I hope you've still got that kind of ethos in the company.
29:12
Tim Hill
He's developed that ethos. In fact, the ice come the lads them sold. But the young members of the team that went out to San Francisco the other week, they went out for. I think they were out there for well over a month, six weeks probably. And they were doing customer calls and you know, face to face customer calls. Because we do a lot of calls every day on the phone when customers ring up and ask us, you need to help setting up or whatever. We do those calls, you know, on Google Meet. But they went to San Francisco and they'd set up a load of actual physical calls where they went out to the factory warehouse or whatever, met them, identify the problem and then work with them. Took one of the software engineers out there and built everything. So that's definitely going on.
29:51
David Broach
Yeah, I love that.
29:51
Tim Hill
John's still super busy developing, but he's got. So Owen is the COO now. So he's managing a lot of the people issues, the new office, the day to day running of it, allowing John to kind of focus on building a platform for people to then build on top of orcascan. That's the strategy really?
30:12
Faye Holland
Yeah. We talked about getting John back on but actually we should get Owen on. On.
30:16
Tim Hill
You should get Owen on. Owen is the guy who kind of discovered, when I discovered he kind of came up with the problem really which was when he was out in the fields scanning or tracking solar panels obviously.
30:31
James Parton
Really impressive customer growth numbers there. So you know is it kind of just a revenue driven growth now or are you still looking for fundraising and what's the kind of status of the company?
30:40
Tim Hill
We are, we are revenue positive. We're getting, you know, just getting more and more customers finding us through. We're building more solutions. The strategy is to build more different solutions for different, you know, different verticals, different customers I guess different types of industry and then people will just find us by building and sell. They self serve and they can. We've got lots and lots of information on the website and you know how to got hundreds of how to guides so people can really help themselves and get up and running really quickly.
31:09
James Parton
Isn't that, I mean so that's been a great update and we appreciate you jumping in the car spontaneously to give us the update but how's things inside? It seems like it's a real buz.
31:17
Tim Hill
It's really busy actually I, I came and set up this morning then I actually nipped down to St. John's Innovation center to another event there that we work closely with, the center for Computing History. We did an exhibition there recently and we've been working them so they were doing an event at St. John's so I went down there sat listen to a really interesting talk about tech for good which is relevant to Alia and then back here and lots of Alia, lots of the ally community in there and you know, really enjoy being part of the allure community. It's good.
31:46
James Parton
Oh amazing. Well thanks for taking a couple of minutes to step away from it. We appreciate it.
31:50
Tim Hill
Thank you James.
31:52
Faye Holland
So we're leaving Allia and we're now going to Hawkeston House. Yes. Which is where we dropped. You drove and you dropped Prashantoff earlier but we're going there for the remainder of the time we're recording the podcast so we've spent the afternoon at Hawkestone House, haven't we? We have talking to different people.
32:13
James Parton
Any highlights from you I mean, what an amazing setting. I just love the building, that's the main thing. But the conversations have been amazing as well.
32:21
Faye Holland
So we've got our last guest in the car, Jonathan Goodacre from Kelsey. Hi, Jonathan, how are you?
32:27
Jonathan Goodacre
Hello. I'm very well, thank you.
32:28
Martin Frohock
Good.
32:28
Faye Holland
Have you had a good day?
32:30
Jonathan Goodacre
Fantastic day, Fantastic week.
32:31
Faye Holland
Oh, yes. So you've been involved the whole way along, haven't you? Did you whole tour as well?
32:36
Jonathan Goodacre
We were in Oxford, were in London, we've been in Cambridge the last two days and enjoying all of it. It's been absolutely fantastic.
32:42
Faye Holland
So the tour was the new addition. What was it like?
32:45
Jonathan Goodacre
Brilliant. I mean the connections that you can make with other ecosystems that essentially are separate up to now. I mean, it's just really making those connections and seeing how different ecosystems work, how we can build together. I think it's a genius idea and I think it will really make a difference going forward.
33:04
Faye Holland
Well, I tried to convince him earlier when he needs to do Manchester next year, so I've got to go and do a sales job on agit, so. Agit, Watch out, it's coming.
33:12
Jonathan Goodacre
UK Wow's coming.
33:14
Faye Holland
Global wow. I mean, who knows? There's no end.
33:16
James Parton
Well, we're looking at the galaxy right now.
33:18
Faye Holland
We are, yeah. Do you like our car?
33:21
Jonathan Goodacre
I'm very impressed and I know we're waiting for the spaceship to come around again on the screen, so.
33:27
Faye Holland
Well, James said. And actually, maybe Holden. Holden can tell us whether this actually happens. He's convinced that there is a spaceship that happens on the ambience screen, but it really hasn't happened since he said it, so we think he might be.
33:42
James Parton
I needed. I need an engineer from Polestar to verify this. Either that or I'm going insane. It's been a long day.
33:48
Faye Holland
Yeah, it's been a long day. So, Jonathan, you're off to the PATH.
33:52
Jonathan Goodacre
Garden party coming up. Looking forward to it. It was fantastic event last year and I think this year the weather's come out for us and the sun's now out. So I think it'll be another great afternoon.
34:03
Faye Holland
Jonathan, would you like to explain what you do?
34:05
Jonathan Goodacre
I am a patent attorney and partner with Kelty LLP in Cambridge. I head up their office in Cambridge, but I'm life sciences through and through. I'm chemist by background and life sciences is in front of my blood. So it's a. Yeah, great place to be surrounded by all the other people who are just doing such great things.
34:24
James Parton
I mean, we talk every week about the strength of the cluster and the ecosystem. We, you know, we talk to a lot of founders, but it's the. It's the supporting organizations, the service providers. The quality around Cambridge is incredible. And that. I think that's really understated sometimes. I mean, what's it like being on the kind of service provider side of the cluster?
34:44
Jonathan Goodacre
I mean, it's strange because we obviously always see ourselves on the periphery a little bit, but I think it's the fact that you can support these companies to do these great things. I mean, we're all scientists by background as patent attorneys. And, you know, I was a chemist at GSK and I always wanted to do something that mattered. And I still feel that what we do matters because it enables these great companies to actually get the funding they need to protect the markets. They need to actually do what they. They need to do to succeed. And so it's still, you know, I wake up in the morning and feel that what we do really does matter and supports the ecosystem, but I just want people to keep doing these wonderful things.
35:23
Faye Holland
Yeah, it's energising, isn't it?
35:25
Jonathan Goodacre
Oh, really? Absolutely. Absolutely. And it's. It's great fun as well.
35:30
Faye Holland
Absolutely. Thank you very much for joining us.
35:32
Jonathan Goodacre
Thank you. No, thank you.
35:34
Faye Holland
Yeah. Let's go join the party.
35:35
Jonathan Goodacre
Absolutely. See you now.
35:37
Faye Holland
So we've just done an entire day of Cambridge, Wide Open Day. The last time I did it with someone else was with Tabitha Goldstop, which I did on the first year. And what about this year? I've done it with you.
35:51
James Parton
I don't want you to rank me against Tabitha, because that's going to be awful.
35:55
Faye Holland
Did you think I was going to rank you?
35:57
David Broach
Yeah.
35:57
James Parton
Yeah.
35:57
Faye Holland
That'd been awful, wouldn't it?
35:59
David Broach
Yeah.
35:59
James Parton
I can't cope with that. At the end of a very long.
36:01
Faye Holland
Time today, I've enjoyed it.
36:03
James Parton
Yeah, me too. It's been amazing. It's been fun.
36:06
Faye Holland
It has been fun. We've had a bit of a giggle.
36:09
James Parton
Yeah.
36:09
Faye Holland
We've talked to some good people. I don't. I mean, there's such a huge amount of people there, it's really hard to know who to talk to. So we literally were just grabbing people, weren't we, and just. Just giving you a flavor of the day, really. You have to go. Yeah. It was the long and short of it.
36:26
James Parton
I think that's right. And also. I mean, you know, we don't have to spend a ton of time talking about this, but I think just for listeners, you know, typically we. We Always talk about the tech side of Cambridge and today we've had a more of a focus on the life sciences, the biotech side, and obviously there's massive overlap. You know, increasingly AI and tech is overlapping both. Right. So I think that's absolutely the right thing to do. But it also, the reason we've done this is it we just want to give people a flavor of what it's like to be inside the Cambridge ecosystem. You know, the people, the places, the buzz. So hopefully we've achieved that.
37:02
Faye Holland
Yeah. And, and obviously our listeners get to see us.
37:06
James Parton
Well, I'm not sure that's a good thing. I'm not sure there's going to be demand for this.
37:10
Faye Holland
But, you know, but seriously, thank you so much to Holden for loaning us this amazing car. I mean, it's definitely added to the excitement of the day. So. And it's been great. It's been great to find out a little bit more about the car as well, hasn't it?
37:26
James Parton
It has, yeah. And the mystery spaceship on the planet screen.
37:31
Faye Holland
Yeah. Which I lied earlier on, I did actually see it. So, yeah, sorry about that, James. Just winding you up. It was too easy. Anyway, back to normal next week and yeah, we'll catch up, I'm sure in person with many of you soon.
37:47
James Parton
Bye. Today's show is produced by Cambridge TV and supported by our media partner, Business Weekly. The Cambridge Tech Podcast is available on all major podcast platforms and on cambridgetechpodcast.com. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please give it a five star rating review. It'll really help others discover the show.
Transcribed by https://fireflies.ai/
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