South West Tech Daily Podcast

South West Tech Daily Podcast has a fixed address: the South West of England, and the people making technology there. Robert Hillier and Feyaza Khan co-host, and their guests come from very different corners of the regional scene. That spread is the draw. Guests include students, a scientist, legal advisers, a guest from Microsoft and a pair of Cornwall founders. In 'How can we make our waters safer?', Professor Simon Jackson, founder and chief scientific officer of Melendotech, sets out the trouble with laboratory culture tests for bathing water: results take 24 to 48 hours, and by then the water has changed. The alternative on the table is a kit that can be used at the water's edge and give a risk assessment within 15 minutes, and South West Water comes up as a local partner. 'The next generation of technology' turns to the University of Bristol, which places students with groups and companies that have real problems and often little budget. Computer science student Murray Groves talks about software that helps Windmill Hill City Farm, a Bristol charity, manage the animals in its care. Money and staffing are the other steady threads. 'How to get business investment' raises the shortage of angel investors and how few wealthy UK individuals use the tax benefits for backing small companies. The same episode brings in legal advice, including how a diagnostic app may fall under the software as a medical device regime. 'This is how you startup' sizes the South West skills shortage at tens of thousands of jobs, if not more, with Richard Ellis from Microsoft and author and founder Roger Osorio, who joins from New Jersey. Free courses on Microsoft Learn and LinkedIn Learning are offered as a starting point. A host adds that big businesses should make learning free, since cost is what holds smaller firms back. 'Tech's Gender Divide' features Caitlin Gould, introduced for her grassroots work bringing more women into tech, along with a confession about moving space clothes into the girls' section of a local Sainsbury's. One point made there is practical: women on a course found jobs less because of what a week taught them than because they learned these roles were open to them and had support to apply. 'How to grow your startup' features Brian Ecole and Sophie Kalienda of Cognition Learning, a Cornwall company that began as a school-holiday club to get children excited about STEAM subjects. That episode also argues for backing emotional storytelling about regional tech with evidence and data on impact. Between guests the hosts keep it light, from Feyaza Khan wondering aloud where Robert has got to, to an apology for his dad jokes. Open invitations for South West tech businesses to get in touch fit a show built around putting local companies on the record.