THE BEST THING ABOUT UKTIN’S SUCCESS STORIES?
EVERYBODY BENEFITS
Ian Smith, Head of UKTIN
UKTIN is in the business of networks in more ways than one. We’re tasked with connecting a
disparate ecosystem of incubators, innovators, projects, universities, funders and industry to
create an environment and stimulate an ecosystem in which innovation can not only happen but
proliferate. Where new products and services are bolstered by future skills programmes. We’re
open to organisations of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, and expertise.
Above all, our members all benefit from the network effect of each of their individual successes —
be that a start-up linking a new partnership, academics converting lab breakthroughs to testbeds,
or future bright sparks having a career epiphany in college.
THE FUTURE IS SAFE IN THE HANDS OF JOSEPH
CHAMBERLAIN SIXTH FORM STUDENTS
Apps to help non-native speakers manage their healthcare appointments, in-store devices to reduce clothing waste, remote education platforms for children living in underserviced regions and countries, and at-home health monitoring: these were just some of the ideas cooked up by students at a UKTIN telecoms careers workshop hosted at Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College in Birmingham’s inner city.
Most of the pupils studying at Joseph Chamberlain come from local areas of significant deprivation, and an extremely high proportion of learners are from ethnic minority backgrounds where English is not the first language spoken at home.
The careers workshop for maths and science students was just one output from a series of engagements with the college. In 2023, the UKTIN Talent team delivered a bespoke interactive workshop for 100 students as part of the college’s industry events programme. This was followed by the annual careers fair, attended by more than 1,200 students — a long, snaking queue of whom were drawn to UKTIN’s AI-powered interactive careers guide. Joseph Chamberlain has worked to build strong links with employers in order to provide up to-date curriculum content through guest lectures, visits, and workshops — UKTIN’s broad and engaged expert network has been well placed to feed into this impressive programme. In a number of cases, this feedback loop has come full circle, with employer insight helping to shape curriculum content to help prepare students at the college for their moves into the workplace, and teachers reporting increased confidence in presenting the telecoms sector to their students.
Prior to engaging with UKTIN’s Talent team, most of these students had no real sense of how the telecoms industry shapes their everyday lives. Even less so what it might mean for their future. They left our careers sessions feeling like they had a stake to play in that future.
FROM SMALL SEEDS, FINCHETTO IS GROWING MIGHTY TREES
Finchetto was among our first cohort of start-ups to join the Innovation and Investment Workout programme back in June 2023, with a view to finding a fit for its light-speed photonic processors and network switches in the telecoms space.
What CEO Mark Rushworth and his team found was that their business model and proposed use cases needed honing — and that their most effective route to achieving this would be to seek out direct connections in the market.
Burnished by this advice, Finchetto presented the first fully optical switch designed for telecoms applications to BT. Following that meeting, the Surrey-based start-up put together a successful £1m bid for the SBRI Future Telecommunications Challenge (delivered by UKRI) — one of just 16 businesses to secure a slice of the £70m funding pot.
Now almost halfway through the yearlong UKRI-funded initiative, Finchetto is leading the delivery of the world’s first all-optical network switch for ultra-low power and ultra-low latency future telecommunications networks. Moreover, BT is a key collaborator on the project.
With all this going on, the team has also found time to raise pre-seed investment, prepare for a first seed round, grow to seven full-time employees, and begin scouting for a further three positions.
CONNECTING THE DOTS FOR ARCHANGEL LIGHTWORKS
Over the last 18 months, Oxford based Archangel Lightworks has tripled in size, successfully closed its first seed round, and, most recently, won out in its bid to create the next generation of its pioneering TERRA-M optical ground station as part of a flagship UK government initiative, the SBRI: Future Telecommunications Challenge. UKTIN has been there to support the company on its remarkable journey.
Beginning in July 2023, the Archangel Lightworks team sought the assistance of our Supplier Specialist Guidance Service, and has remained in regular, fruitful contact ever since. Through attending an investor breakfast, Clusters call, and hosting a stand at Connected Britain in September last year, Archangel Lightworks has been able to broaden its connections within the UK telecoms ecosystem and sharpen its understanding of the market for its ground-breaking non-terrestrial network technologies.
Working with UKTIN in this way has generated market insights that have fed directly into the company’s core strategy, and opened up high potential opportunities and partnerships — which in turn have been sealed at events and with in-person introductions. As Archangel Lightworks’ CEO Richard Johanson has said,
“[we] continue to benefit from engagement with UKTIN because the support offered is tailored for individual company needs and delivered by experts in the connectivity field who have a breadth of experience and wide networks which they can draw on.”
These forward steps, as well as tangible, ink-on-paper developments like funding rounds, headcount growth, and winning bids, are exactly the kind of network connections that UKTIN exists to facilitate.
