Mike Buffham

Chief Commercial Officer, Raspberry Pi Ltd

Mike Buffham joined Raspberry Pi in December 2016 and has served as Chief Commercial Officer since September 2020, leading their commercial activities and global sales strategy.

He has nearly 40 years’ experience in senior roles in the electronics industry, including with Premier Farnell between 2009 and 2016 (acting as Global Head of Product & Pricing between 2013 and 2016) and with Arrow Electronics between 1993 to 2009 (acting as Vice President of Marketing and Product Management, EMEA between 2007 and 2009).

Mike holds a foundation degree in Living with Technology from the Open University.

Tech Track

Laura Elvin

Founder of iusegenius, Architect of Systemic Change and Investment Strategist for Positive Impact

Laura Elvin is the founder of iusegenius, an agency dedicated to reimagining the world through radical systems change and transformative investment. iusegenius operates at the intersection of deep tech, breakthrough science, and positive impact, working with Nobel Prize-winning teams, frontier start-ups, and impact investors to push the boundaries of what’s possible.

With a unique framework of impact KPIs spanning Quantum, Lifesciences, Fintech, Edtech, Femtech, Fashion, Water, Climate Tech, and beyond, iusegenius identifies key leverage points within interconnected systems—then directs a powerhouse team driving transformation.

Laura leads on investment strategy, believing it to be the catalyst that powers world-changing companies. She is a champion of positive impact and investment on platforms such as Microsoft, CogX, and the London Stock Exchange.

Tech Track

Step inside the fascinating and rapidly evolving world of quantum technology, where humanity stands in a state of superposition—balanced between extraordinary possibilities and complex challenges. In this thought-provoking keynote, we’ll disentangle the current state of the quantum industry, chart the path toward achieving “Quantum Advantage,” and explore the transformative impact these advancements will unlock. From ethical considerations to global geopolitics and positive impact use cases, this talk offers a compelling blend of insight and future-facing perspectives. Drawing on privileged experience within the start-up and investment spheres, we’ll unravel the emerging quantum ecosystem and examine how we stand at the edge of a technological revolution poised to shape the next chapter for humanity.

Rachel Foster

Director, The Agile Communications Agency

Rachel is an Agile Coach and chartered PR, working with world-leading organisations to tackly gnarly communications problems through Agile practices.

Through her business the Agile Communications Agency, she works with University of Oxford, Whitbread, British Antarctic Circle and Cornwall Council.

She designed the course Agile Thinking for the Chartered Institute of PR, which she has been delivering since 2016.

As a former feature writer for the Scrum Alliance, she has covered features on Agile transformation across the UK.

Through the Agile Communications Academy, she supports individuals and teams from non-software disciplines to embrace Agile ways of working to deliver value, productivity and impact.

Vendor track

Agility for Productivity

Feeling the burn? According to 2022 stats, the tech industry globally is at risk of burnout. 42% of tech pros are considering quitting their job because of burnout and 62% are feeling emotionally drained.

I don’t know about you, but I feel *seen*.

At the Agile Communications Agency we’ve created practical tools and a way of working to create productivity hacks that help us “nudge the needle” in everything we do.

We’ll share some of the hacks and habits we’ve adopted, and that we share through Agility for Productivity – our new on demand course through the Agile Communications Academy.

Takeaways:
– Your Productivity Promise
– A Daily Planner sheet to guide your productive day.

Chris Thomson

Founding CEO, Marwick Marketing

Chris is a British-born entrepreneur and founder of Marwick. For over 19 years, he has successfully helped businesses excel in digital marketing. Founded in 2012, Marwick has grown from a start-up to the 11th Fastest Growing Company in Canada in 2020 and expanded into the UK in 2019.

Vendor track

We’ll dive into the world of search engines and large language models and their impact on the way people search for information. Discover how life will change as we adopt new AI technologies and the impact on that as customers and business owners.

Ellen O’Rourke

Head of Marketing, TouchByte

Ellen O’Rourke is the Head of Marketing at TouchByte, a Cornish tech company that has grown from a local startup to an international innovator in access control solutions. Now part of Salto Systems, TouchByte has leveraged this acquisition to expand its global reach and enhance its cutting-edge technologies. Ellen has played a key role in shaping the company’s brand and leading the launch of ground-breaking products like Salto Orion, their face recognition access control reader.

Outside of work, Ellen is an equine-assisted mentor, blending her creativity and empathy to help others achieve their goals—a passion that also influences her unique approach to marketing.”

Vendor track

With a background in journalism and a flair for storytelling, Ellen thrives on turning complex ideas into impactful campaigns. At the BIG Tech Showcase, she’ll share how Touchbyte’s vision of “inspired access,” combined with the support of Salto Systems, has driven its success. She will also offer insights into what it takes to grow a tech company from Cornwall to the world stage.

Lorenzo Satta Chiris

Director, Excode

Lorenzo Satta Chiris is a tech educator and entrepreneur passionate about making technology accessible to everyone. A current Engineering and Entrepreneurship student at the University of Exeter, Lorenzo directed Excode—the UK’s largest student-led coding bootcamp—where he has taught code to over 700 attendees, with 450 successfully graduating.

Lorenzo’s journey as a tech advocate spans diverse roles: moderating panels, hosting events, and even pitching winning ideas at prestigious competitions. Through his blog, read by over 200,000 tech enthusiasts worldwide, and his role as a technical writer, Lorenzo inspires others to view technology as an empowering force for creativity and innovation. His work focuses on bridging the gap between technical and non-technical audiences to foster our shared digital future.

Vendor track

Would you stop learning French because Google Translator exists?
And should you abandon/not learn coding because of AI?
Who will be obsolete first: the CEO of NVIDIA or coding?
Should you teach your coworker to code? What about your child?

To these questions, I answer with the words of Steve Jobs:
“Everybody should learn to program a computer, because it teaches you how to think.”

Coding is not merely a set of words. It is a way of thinking, a problem-solving toolkit, and an approach to understanding the world. By teaching tech, we create connections—both human and neural—that unlock the potential for creativity, innovation, and a better future.

In my talk, I will cover why and how to learn and teach coding and tech. Focusing on how to explain tech concepts, leverage AI to teach/learn tech, and democratise tech within your environment.

Lyssa-Fêe Crump

Head of Digital Marketing, The Agile Communications Agency

Lyssa is a digital marketing enthusiast with a deep passion for inclusivity and accessibility. She’s dedicated to making the web a friendlier and more welcoming place, and she’s got a talent for turning data into actionable insights. In this talk, she’ll reveal how accessibility can be a powerful asset in your SEO toolkit. With hands-on experience in integrating accessibility with SEO strategies, Lyssa combines her love for all things digital with practical knowledge to help brands thrive.

Vendor track

Accessibility is more than just a buzzword or a compliance checkbox—we want to create spaces that everyone can enjoy.

Making things accessible isn’t just about inclusivity (though that’s super important!); it’s also about creating a better user experience and boosting your SEO in the process. When we make our websites accessible, we’re not just doing good—we’re doing better for everyone, including our own goals.

In this talk, Lyssa-Fêe Crump will dive into the strong connection between web accessibility and better SEO results. She’ll share real-world examples and simple, actionable tips that make a strong case for putting accessible design at the top of your list. Get ready for an engaging session that will leave you excited to make your site more inclusive while boosting your SEO along the way!

John Terry

Founder, Neuronostics Ltd

Professor John Terry is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Neuronostics, a start up that was spun out of the University of Exeter in 2018. Named Founder of the Year in 2024 by TechSpark, John is an academic by background who has pioneered the development and application of mathematical models and computer algorithms to advance our understanding of why seizures start, how they spread throughout the brain and what we can do to stop them. Alongside building Neuronostics, John continues to run an academic Centre at the University of Birmingham, which is focussed on advancing our understanding of physiology leading to benefits for human health.

Vendor track

In this talk I will describe how Neuronostics have developed and validated a digital biomarker of epilepsy (BioEP), which is now regulated a software as a medical device. I will talk about the clinical work we undertook with the Royal Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust and discuss the potential for tools like BioEP to bring neurodiagnostics to community based settings in rural locations such as Cornwall.

Tony Edwards

.NET Software Engineer, That Seagull Bob

Tony Edwards is director and lead software engineer at That Seagull Bob. Tony creates engaging mobile and desktop apps using the .NET MAUI framework and modern JavaScript tooling, and organises the UK outing of Europe’s longest running .NET MAUI conference.

With a background in community events management, a multi award winning career in the public and private education sector, and a long history of public speaking at conferences around the globe, Tony’s sessions are sure to engage the audience and spark conversation with attendees. At events, you’ll find him walking around, talking with attendees and sponsors in between enjoying the talks, rather than hiding away in the speaker room.

Vendor track

.NET MAUI has emerged as a powerful cross-platform development framework, enabling developers to create native applications for multiple platforms from a single, unified codebase. Thanks to Microsoft’s evolution of the framework from Xamarin, .NET MAUI has expanded its capabilities, providing developers with increasingly sophisticated tools and development patterns.

This talk will look at the growing open-source ecosystem around .NET MAUI, offering a comprehensive exploration of its key capabilities and practical considerations. Attendees will gain insights into the framework’s strengths, learn about potential challenges developers might encounter, and understand the nuanced scenarios where MAUI shines—or where alternative .NET based solutions might be more appropriate.

The Cornish Tech Tech Showcase attendees will leave with a clear understanding of .NET MAUI’s place in the modern development landscape, equipped with practical knowledge to make informed decisions about when and how to reach for this versatile framework in their projects.

James Buchanan

Partner and founder – Hidden

James is one of the founders of Hidden, a design studio that figures out what really matters to customers, and turns that insight into new sources of advantage and growth. Hidden currently works with Ocado, Fertility Mapper, and the El Salvadorean government.

James was previous the co-MD of Designit London, head of next gen propositions at Aviva, and has worked at a number of design studios. He started his consulting career as a researcher at Future Foundation in 2005. His masters dissertation, also in 2005, studied online political arguments and concluded that fact checking is critical for quality discourse. A practical suggestion that, with hindsight, was prescient.

Vendor track

The future is often painted with bold, dramatic strokes: think AI breakthroughs, climate upheaval, political polarisation, and evolving views on relationships and identity. But for leaders and decision-makers, the question isn’t just “What’s next?” It’s “What can I do about it now?” This talk bridges the gap between sweeping future trends and real-world application, offering fresh approaches and real-life examples, helping you make decisions that matter today.

Nicholas Williams

GRC Analyst, Boo Consulting

Vendor track

Small changes with a big impact. How to reduce human risk. 

An overview of how your employees are your biggest asset and your biggest risk. Insider threats take many forms, this talk will help identify them before it’s too late and discuss strategies to prevent them in the future. 

Bhavna Raithatha

The Mindset Ninja, Helping You Stay Sane and Thrive in Your Business

Bhavna Raithatha BSc, MSc, MBACP (Accred) is the author of Driven: The Audacity to Thrive in Entrepreneurship, a text for business owners and new leaders navigating the Well-being and Selfcare in the business world. She is passionate about Working with Leadership, HR advisors and EAPS to improve personal and employee Mental Health and Well-being.

From her work as an accredited Psychotherapist, Coach, Supervisor, Critical Incident Debriefer and Trainer with 30 years’ experience in serving 20k+ clients globally with professional help in Mental Health, Well-being, Self-advocacy and Self-care, and Allyship, Bhavna has supported individuals, leadership, managers and organisations to bring dignity, empathy and compassion back into the workplace and lives. Bhavna’s passion continues to focus on reducing the impact on mental health from poor leadership, bullying and racism and discrimination towards the BAME LGBTQ+ Community, whilst also putting focus on Well-Being strategies and Creating Better Organisational Cultures with national and international clients worth multi-billion $ including major Police Forces, National Retail and Multi-National Manufacturing chains.

Vendor track

Why self care is essential to succeed in business: nothing works unless you do!

Inspiring motivational talk on Mental Health, Well-being and Self Care for entrepreneurs and business owners in tech. This is based on lived experience, clinical observations and importantly underpinned by psychological research to provide a rich and comprehensive understanding of how humans are impacted by stress, anxiety and overwhelm which negatively affects confidence, motivation and mental health. Participants will take away clear, actionable strategies to identify stress and tools to address it and prevent significant impact of exhaustion and burnout.

Ilse Daly

Founder & CEO at BLACKDOG Applications

Ilse has a background in academia (Physics & Bioscience) and an interest in AI. She combined these skills to create an app to automatically track and analyse the body movement of horse riders, which was sold to an app in Sweden in 2023. Subsequently, Ilse founded Blackdog Applications, a bespoke tech agency that specialises in complex mobile and web apps with a twist – be it AI, computer vision or animation.

Vendor track

Making Tech Fun

Let’s be honest – tech has gotten a bit boring lately, at least that’s what we think at Blackdog Applications. We believe that great systems can be technically complex while still retaining a sense of fun. In this talk, I’ll expand on ways we can all bring a little joy to the tech we build for the everyday (even the serious stuff).

Kevlin Henney

Software Developer, Consultant, and Trainer

I’m an independent consultant, speaker, writer and trainer. My software development interests are in programming, practice and people.

I’ve been a columnist for various magazines and websites. I’m co-author of A Pattern Language for Distributed Computing and On Patterns and Pattern Languages, two volumes in the Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture series, and editor of 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know and co-editor of 97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know.

I also write short fiction, with a particular emphasis on flash fiction, and perform at spoken word events. I have helped organise events for National Flash-Fiction Day, the Bristol Festival of Literature and the Flash in Hand open mic evening in Bristol.

Workshop

A Couple of Sprints, a Dose of Agility and a Whole Lotta Learning

For something that is supposed to be simple in principle, starting — or even continuing — with agile development can feel overwhelming. Whether starting out or already practising, whatever your role, it’s easy to get lost in the forest of certifications, rituals and compromises that make up the agile landscape of the 2020s.
We need to see the wood for the trees, the simple ideas that underpin successful agility. In this session we’ll be getting back to basics by doing what the title says, solving a small problem in groups and reflecting on what was done to uncover key principles. This is about individuals, interactions, (re)learning and fun.

Professor Duncan McFarlane

Professor of Industrial Information Engineering at University of Cambridge

Professor Duncan McFarlane is the Professor of Industrial Information Engineering at University of Cambridge and Founder of Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring.

Workshop

Digital Needs – by Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring

This interactive workshop helps manufacturers identify low-cost technologies that address their top business needs. They will discover how they can combine off-the-shelf technologies and open source software to build simple digital solutions that help them improve productivity, save time and money and develop their employees’ digital skills.

Join your manufacturing peers for an inspiring in-person event at The BIG Cornish Tech Showcase, and discover how low-cost digital solutions could address your most pressing business needs.

The workshop will help you find out how your company can cut costs, reduce energy bills, cut waste and improve productivity by deploying low-cost digital solutions in your factory. The workshop was devised as part of the University of Cambridge Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring research project. Over 400 companies have participated in the workshops and over 150 companies have deployed the low-cost digital solutions, using affordable off-the-shelf technologies, that Shoestring has designed.

Anthony Story

Anthony is co-founder of Growth Leaders – a business that helps leaders, specifically in the Creative, digital and tech industries, build the knowledge, control and focus needed to effectively develop their business. He is a serial entrepreneur with a portfolio background across the creative industries. This includes founded an award-winning, brand and communications agency, which he exited in 2012.

Since then he has worked with over 200 companies and their leaders in the creative and tech industries across a broad range of initiatives – helping them improve their processes, customer engagement, or attract investment & fundingAnthony is the Director of the Silicon South Network which champions and supports businesses in the digital, creative and tech sector across Dorset.

Workshop

Growth Leaders – the programme that transforms leaders

The session is aimed at leaders working in the digital, tech and creative industries. It’s led by the team who deliver Growth Leaders – the programme that transforms leaders’ knowledge, clarity and confidence to run their businesses better!

During the workshop you’ll:
– Discover what world class processes and systems should look like in small businesses.
– Explore six critical systems – from operations to sales – every leader must control.
– Assess and diagnose your business’s current strengths and weaknesses against best practice.
– Identify which areas to work on – to have the most impact on your business
Leave with a roadmap prioritising your next improvements.