PUBLIC EVENT
This month’s event will bring together exciting founders and leaders from across the Welsh innovation ecosystem to share their stories and insights.
The night will begin with a hosted conversation featuring Professor Neil Barron, Litelok, Beren Kayali, Deploytech and David Barton, Kaydiar who will share their entrepreneurial journeys, covering scaling up, overcoming challenges, through to raising investment and fostering the right culture.
The evening will also feature fireside chats with Jaymie Thomas (AI Wales) speaking to the power of Agentic AI and Model Context protocols for businesses, and Andrea Jones (VisVira) who will be delivering a session on the benefits of AI Agents and Microsoft Sense.
The evening will include plenty of networking opportunities and refreshments.
Programme
| 6.30pm | Registration - Welcome drinks and pizza |
| 6.50pm | Opening remarks |
| 6.55pm |
The whirlwind of being an entrepreneur: scaling, raising and overcoming challenges Chair: Mike McMahon, Enterprise Hub Wales Speakers: Founders reflect on their journey, scaling up, raising investment, challenges and beyond |
| 7.20pm |
Agentic AI and model context protocols for businesses Speaker: Jaymie Thomas, Founder of AI Wales |
| 7.40pm |
Benefits of AI agents and microsoft sense Speaker: Andrea Jones, VisVira Ltd |
| 8.00pm | Networking and refreshments |
| 8.30pm | Event close |
Photography/filming notice
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Venue and accessibility
It is very important to the Royal Academy of Engineering that our events are accessible to all. If you have any accessibility requirements, please contact the Events team more than one week in advance of this event so that necessary arrangements can be made. Contact details: [email protected].
Diversity monitoring form
The Academy is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and one of our goals is to develop an engineering community fit for the future. To help us achieve this, we would like to collect some basic anonymous data about the event attendees. If you would like to help, please complete the diversity monitoring form by logging into your user account on our website and completing ‘Update my D&I data’.
Professor Neil Barron
Professor Neil Barron is the CEO and Founder at Litelok: the world's best performing, premium, insurance rated locks for bikes, e-bikes, scooters, and motorcycles.
His role spans technical and commercial leadership, as well as hands on ‘invention’, research and development, and new product introductions. As ‘guardian of the brand and culture of the business’ Neil, balances day-to-day priorities with long-term strategic vision – ultimately requiring him to wear “quite a lot of hats!” Litelok is at an exciting stage, with IP now being granted and plans to license its technologies to larger organisations - building revenue streams and paving the way for a future exit or partial exit in coming years.
David Barton
David Barton is the Co-Founder of Kaydiar who specialise in offloading technology for pressure lesions. From diabetic care to sport footwear, Kaydiar has the technology to relieve pressure.
David began developing the first offloading orthotic device for diabetic foot ulcers as an undergraduate at Cardiff Metropolitan University.
Driven by a passion for improve medical devices, David co-founder Kaydiar to create next-generation solutions for diabetic foot care, aiming to both treat and prevent these devasting wounds. By doing so, Kaydiar seeks to reduce the financial strain on the NHS and become the go-to company for anti-pressure technology.
Beren Kayali
Beren Kayali is the Co-Founder of Deploy Tech a company that create innovative, rapidly deployable water storage solutions for rural and remote communities worldwide.
With a background in mechanical engineering from Istanbul and a Master’s in Innovation Design Engineering from Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art, Beren is a hands-on engineer driven to make a positive impact.
Inspired by witnessing the lack of clean water in Nairobi’s slums, she helped developed the world’s first air-deployed, ready-to-use water tank, made from concrete-filled fabric and operational within 24 hours. Initially designed to improved access to safe drinking water and sanitation, Deploy tanks are now also used for farming, irrigation, rainwater harvesting, and livestock feeding, with future potential for disaster relief and fire mitigation.
Her advice to others “Be yourself, be bold, and don’t be afraid of failure!”
Jaymie Thomas
Jaymie Thomas is the Co-Founder of AI Wales a community for people who are interested in artificial intelligence throughout the Welsh ecosystem. The group hold talks, training sessions and hands-on workshops covering an array of AI-related topics.
Jaymie is also Co-founder of SaaS payments product Payzip as well as having built up the network of over 2000 members with AI Wales since its inception.
Andrea Jones
Andrea Jones is the Founder of VisVira Ltd which develops autonomous agents to automate repetitive tasks, enhancing business productivity. The AI agents help organisations streamline processes, enabling them to focus on growth and innovation.
Andrea has over 25 years of experience in the IT industry, she is a passionate and trustworthy leader who drives digital transformation and customer success with technology and people.