Innovate: Recent Episodes
Lumo Tax
World-leading technologies, mind-blowing scientific breakthroughs, and the latest digital innovations are what we live for. We get excited about them all.In fact, we consider ourselves to be innovation’s number one fan. Not only do we love what it is you’re doing, but we actively support you by celebrating and sharing your innovations with HMRC to reward you for your hard work in the form of R&D tax credits.
In this episode we catch up with Engineering and Manufacturing Network post pandemic who support the continued growth of the area’s engineering and manufacturing industries by building a strong collaborative community of businesses.
The North East is home to thousands of companies in these key sectors, from large multi-national brands and home grown firms to SMEs and micro businesses, who collectively contribute billions of pounds to the local economy employing hundreds of thousands of people.
EMN has positioned itself at the heart of engineering and manufacturing industry, offering companies expert support and access to the assistance they need to realise their full potential.
The Engineering and Manufacturing Network is supporting the continued growth of the area’s engineering and manufacturing industries by building a strong collaborative community of businesses.
The North East is home to thousands of companies in these key sectors, from large multi-national brands and home grown firms to SMEs and micro businesses, who collectively contribute billions of pounds to the local economy employing hundreds of thousands of people.
EMN has positioned itself at the heart of engineering and manufacturing industry, offering companies expert support and access to the assistance they need to realise their full potential.
Telex UK specialises in working with companies to develop and implement a water strategy which delivers lower ongoing costs, through the utilisation of:
• Industry expertise
• A clear understanding of our customers’ requirements
To create simple, innovative and customer-focused cost saving solutions.
Telex UK is a uniquely customer centric consultancy and their much loved quality of service is unrivalled within the industry.
IOT North make change. IOT North enable technology people to collaborate, connect and support each other making productisation quicker and communication more human.
IOT North are at spearhead of accelerating the adoption of Internet of Things.
IOT North help you connect and understand the value of the Internet of Things.
Following on from the first very popular podcast back in August 2020, we agreed that we'd catch up with Paul Wealls, founder of IOT North as some of his exciting projects took shape.
If you've not listened to episode 1 visit https://www.lumo.tax/news/podcasts/talking-iot-with-paul-wealls/
In this episode we are joined by Lavinia Malo, Innovation consultant at DRIAD
DRIAD was founded in 2014 in Leeds by Dr Vivien Badaut. A former academic researcher, Vivien started working in 2013 as a freelance technical expert for grant funding consultancies in Paris (France). Following a move to the UK, DRIAD was launched in June 2014 as a bid-writing service targetting mostly French start-ups. The DRIAD team would create impactful applications for different French grants and loans. DRIAD’s services quickly expanded to encompass applications for European grants. This initial work supporting over a hundred of the most prominent French start-ups allowed them to build a comprehensive understanding of how VC-backed start-ups work, and gain strong technology expertise across the board.
In 2018, conversations with fellow founders brought Driad to identify an unmet need for support from British technology start-ups and SMEs. DRIAD then integrated the NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator program to structure this new offer of service, which was recognised when the company was shortlisted in 2019’s Digital Enterprise Top 100.
DRIAD now delivers long-term, strategic innovation support to technology start-ups and scale-ups. They are innovation enablers: their grant-writing services are embedded in their comprehensive strategic and operational support to accompany you, your team and your business towards shaping your ideas into actionable projects and optimising your resources
In 1995 Design Xpress was created by Juliette Brown in County Durham. At this time, Juliette focused on developing a design and point of sale printing business, offering price ticketing, POS and posters largely to the food retail industry.
Carl Gerry, a procurement specialist, joined the business in 2010 and later became Operations Director and helped develop the business further in terms of procurement, planning and process.
As technology advanced and the business expanded and relocated, the company evolved to be a reliable Large Format Print specialist, serving Print Management, Design Agencies and Government alongside smaller direct businesses and members of the general public.
OGI Groundwater Specialists Ltd is an independent, privately owned specialist engineering design, groundwater control and consultancy company predominately servicing the UK construction industry.
Founded in Oxford in 1989 by Dr Stephen Thomas, OGI s expertise is focussed on the design and supervision of groundwater control systems required to lower the water table and reduce artesian pore pressures for large complex underground structures when constructed below the water table.
With more than 25 years of experience of solving groundwater problems, combined with our groundwater modelling skills, OGI provides geotechnical and groundwater engineering designs to overcome challenging and difficult ground conditions encountered during the construction of deep structures, such as basements, bridge footings, tunnels, shafts, swimming pools, underground car parks, and road and rail cuttings.
Dr Stephen Thomas, Managing Director, A chartered engineer with over 30 years’ of Groundwater Control & Engineering experience, Stephen is responsible for our major Construction Dewatering and Groundwater Control Projects. He manages all stages of the Groundwater Control design, from the development of the ground and groundwater models, to the mathematical modelling and the development of the detailed design for construction.
Stephen’s project experience includes the Groundwater Control system installed for London Millennium Bridge, Deephams WwTW in North London, G1 Building in Glasgow, Rolls Royce structures in Derby and numerous other major infrastructure project.
The North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA) is an industry-led cluster group, established to support the economic sustainable growth and competitiveness of the sector in the North East of England.
Launched in March 2015, now with over 300 cluster participants, the NEAA is the largest automotive cluster in the UK and one of the fastest growing clusters across Europe.
Their aim is simple – to build upon the region’s significant automotive capability and to firmly establish the North East as a true global automotive powerhouse - ensuring North East is at the forefront of the Governments strategy to ensure the technologies of tomorrow are designed, developed and manufactured in the UK.
As a proactive industry-led cluster group, the NEAA is here to represent and work on behalf of the whole North East automotive sector, whether a company is making cars or components, working in commercial, off-highway or engine manufacture.
The NEAA focuses on:
- Networking & Connectivity
- Business Resilience
- Skills & Training
- Innovation & Technology
- Collaboration
- Promotion
- Industry Voice
In this epsiode we are joined by Andy Biggs, Management Information Systems Guru and Visual Strategist at Vismap
VISMAP (visual strategy mapping) is a strategy framework that allows businesses to involve a wide team in the strategy creation process and then allows the business to react and update plans as circumstances change. This wider team engagement provides a richer and more robust strategy and greater ownership of the implementation plans.
VISMAP® delivers a route map that uniquely combines strategy, product, market and finance. In addition, there is an interactive software solution that sits at the heart of your business and ensures all roads lead to one destination. Your Sat Nav to success.
In this episode we are joined by Alex Sergent, CEO & Founder of BARE.
Alex began his career in politics and journalism and has set up companies in events management and film, and even has his own charity. Most recently he has run a successful offline dating company – pivotal in his decision to set up BARE
BARE aim to create a flirtatious environment where you’re in control of how much you want to share, and how much of your match, you want to be revealed.
In this episode we are joined by David Thomas, CEO of CreatingPresentationRockstars
Who is David?
Global speaker and CEO presentation skills coach who has coached and spoken to more than 500,000 people in 25 countries over the last 23 years.
Sunday Times #1 bestselling author whose books have had a worldwide readership of more than 1 million people.
US Memory Champion, Guinness record breaker and competitive bodybuilder.
David's mission
"Every presentation has the chance to change the lives of the people who hear it. But that's not what happens.
I have spent 23 years sat at the back of conference rooms watching leaders and aspiring leaders die on their feet in front of audiences. That makes me feel sad for them, sad for their audiences and sad for the missed opportunity to inspire, educate and entertain.
My mission is to show leaders how to control their nerves, really connect with their audiences and and walk off feeling like a presentation rockstar.
Because that's what I do - make leaders presentation rockstars!"
In this episode of Innovate, we are delighted to be joined by Phill Bell, Chief Operations Officer at ART Health Solutions.
At ART Health Solutions, they believe that scientific data is a fundamental requirement for making decisions about employee wellbeing and performance, during the episode Phill shares with us:
- Collecting data to reveal how your workspaces are performing and impacting employees via wearables, performance tests, environmental sensors and subjective surveys.
- The impact of the pandemic and how it shifted the change in strategy
- The decision of first applying for an R&D tax Claim
To find out more about Art Health Solutions and Phill Bell here's some useful links:
ART Health Solutions Website
Phill Bell on LinkedIN
In this episode we are joined by two members of the LUMO team, Lee Quarzi, Director and Roger Tipple, Innovation Consultant.
During this episode we discuss:
- Making your business saleable
- Identifying R&D in a business you acquire
- Claiming R&D before the sale of a business to increase the value
- Identifying Patents and Patent box
In this episode of Innovate, we are delighted to be joined by Pete Southern, Founder & MD of Clockwork Espresso.
Based right here in the North East, Pete designed and manufactured the world's most precise coffee tamper, during the episode Pete shares with us:
- The story behind the PUSH Tamper from design, to prototype and starting the business
- How the product went to market including crashing websites and a little insight into the mystical world of Coffee Geeks and what they get up to...
- The launch of Pete's new company (Penny & Meriwether) and product range as a result of pivoting during the pandemic
- Exclusive - on how the link of this company to be involved in the Space X programme, it's not because they like coffee!
To find out more about Clockwork Espresso and Penny & Meriwether here's some useful links:
Clockwork Espresso Website
Clockwork Espresso Facebook
Clockwork Espresso Instagram
Penny & Meriwether Website
Penny & Meriwether Instagram
In this episode we chat to Nick Salloway, Managing Director of Qrious.
As a team of strategists, researchers, designers and developers, Qrious help companies gain meaningful insights into customer needs and behaviours so they can create amazing experiences that deliver better outcomes. We’re excited by the potential for design and technology to simplify lives and transform organisations.
During the episode we chat about:
- Why things innovated quicker during 2020 than usual timescales
- The life we live in and the digital transformation
- The reasons behind the rebrand of Qrious and innovation of the new QX service line
In this episode, we are joined by LUMO team member, Innovation Specialist, Joe Routledge.
In this episode, Joe shares:
- Identifying R&D in business - not just those wearing lab coats.
- Examples of businesses that LUMO has worked on
- Working on continous improvement and the R&D than wasn't a success
- LUMO being more than a one hit wonder
In this episode, we are joined by Lumo team member, R&D analyst, Stephen Behan.
In this episode, Stephen shares:
- Identifying R&D in business - not just those wearing lab coats.
- Examples of businesses that Stephen has worked on
- The claims making difference to clients, from changing the business plans from 5 to 3 years through re-investment
In this episode we talk to Graeme Miller, Innovation Manager at Innovation SuperNetwork North East.
The Innovation SuperNetwork is a 'network of networks' who bring together over 50 partners and 5000+ businesses to generate fresh ideas, new market opportunities, knowledge and money to support North East SMEs.
During the Podcast we chat about:
- Being that network of networks and what it actually means to the end client
- The funding gap in North East Tech
In this episode we talk to Stefan Haase, Director of Whitecap Consulting. Whitecap Consulting was set-up in May 2012 to target a gap in the regional professional advisory market. The founder identified that growing SMEs and mid-sized organisations were poorly served by practival, accessible and affordable strategic advice and support.
During the chat, we discussed:
- Businesses overlooking innovation
- Attracting the staff of the future and creating an office space to innovate
- The future of remote working and the large corporate firms to adapt.
- Resolving processing issues without realising that your company has innovated
In this episode we talk to Paul Hughes of Black Storm Brewery based in the North East.
Located in Chester-Le-Street, Co Durham the brewery allowed Black Storm to move from being hobo brewers and into building their own production facility comprising of a 10BBL set-up with a 2.5BBL experimental kit.
In 2019 they secured a new head brewer with commercial experience brewing for another local brewery and with a smaller, focused team they are aiming to deliver more beer, more awards and to bring more people together over a great pint in a great pub.
For 2020, you will need to take a listen to find out about the journey in more detail and the latest announcements straight from the horses mouth as such.
In this episode we talk to Paul Koshy of Koshy Associates as Paul describes about bringing innovators, investors and corporates together to create value.
Having worked 10 years in the technology commercialisation and innovation space, Koshy Associates help:
- Corporates and other large organisations cut through the noise in the innovation space to connect with innovative solutions that will make a material difference to their current needs and priorities;
- Market-ready innovative SMEs to engage with decision makers in corporates and other organisations. We work with leading edge innovative SMEs that back themselves if they can get in front of the right people in the right organisations;
- Earlier stage SMEs find with investors and strategic corporate partners to accelerate their journey to market.
In this episode, we talk to Gary Scott of Consult the Experts and DBN (Do Business Network)
During the interview we chat about:
- When Gary grows up and getting a propper job
- What DBN is about and why it works
- Innovation within DBN members
- Understanding and how to identify R&D
In this episode of 'Innovate' powered by LUMO we are joined by Jonathan Lamb, Chief Executive of the Entrepreneurs' forum working with the team and board of directors to drive the organisation forward into a new era.
During the interview Jonathan talks to us about:
- His career to date
- His role and what the Entrepreneurs Forum does
- How the members have adjusted during the Covid Lockdown
- How the Entrepreneurs Forum are adapting to the needs of its members
- and innovation
In this episode of Innovate powered by LUMO, We are joined Nevil Tynemouth Co-Founder of New Results. Having been involved with the launch of Dyson and BlackBerry in the UK and having worked as part of a FTSE100 management team for nearly a decade. Nevil is helping customers and clients by sharing his knowledge and personal experience alongside well researched, tested and highly effective training and development programmes. During today's episode Mel and Nevil chat about
- Lessons learned from launching the Blackberry device and taking customer understanding and expectations on board.
- Using professionals for a more efficient approach
- Innovation is everywhere, How professional services businesses have adapted during Covid-19
In this episode of Innovate powered by LUMO, we are joined by Paul Wealls founder of IOT North. During the chat we discuss:
- Understanding what IOT (Internet of Things) is
- Paul's journey and career
- IOT Meetups and how they have been impacted due to Covid-19
- R&D in the sector
Joe Routledge was recently asked to take part in a Factory Talk in association with Factory Now and have allowed us to share the conversation with you.
if you are in the manufacturing industry make sure you check out www.mtdmfg.com/factorynow to get all the latest manufacturing insights and news from a range of members or if you’re interested in becoming a member yourself, drop us a message and we will put you in touch with the right contact.
In the second episode of 'Innovate' we are joined today by Roger Tipple, Innovation Consultant for Lumo.Tax.
During the episode Mel talks to Roger on:
- What patent box is
- Why a company should use patent box and the benefits behind using it
- Linking your patent box to your R&D claim
- Advice on how to get your producted patented
For our first episode, we are joined by the Queen of Innovation and Managing Director of Lumo, Joanne Warren.
In this episode, Joanne shares:
- A little about her journey to date, 20 years in the accountancy industry before the opportunity became available to follow her passion and the launch of LUMO.
- A brief overview of what R&D is
- A North East success story and how R&D claims had a direct result in the opening of it's new factory.
Innovation should be rewarded!!
The launch of the NEW podcast 'INNOVATE' looking world-leading technologies, mind-blowing scientific breakthroughs, and the latest digital innovations are what we live for. We get excited about them all.
In fact, we consider ourselves to be innovation’s number one fan. Not only do we love what it is you’re doing, but we actively support you by celebrating and sharing your innovations with HMRC to reward you for your hard work in the form of R&D tax credits.