Silent Sensors was invited by Future Space’s Director Professor Matt Freeman to participate in a Round Table to discuss issues facing local business. Claire Hazelgrove, MP for the constituency in which Future Space is based participated as lead in the Round Table. Our CMO and Head of Business Affairs Carla Ottersen was present.

Despite the presence of Future Space, Bristol Robotics, UWE and others, the constituency has a lower than average R&D spend per capita than the national average, with systemic challenges in accessing funding.

• Developing hardware technologies face funding challenges as returns take longer and VC capital timelines do not often work. Silent Sensors is very much one such example.
• Delays in paying out R&D have impacted many firms over the last few years: timelines for approvals have increased and HMRC investigations have become more frequent.

The three women at the round table: Molly Allington of Albutherm, Hannah Van Den Bergh of NPK Recovery and our Carla Ottersen all made points touching on specific challenges facing female founders and women in business.

As a group we showed we want to give back to the constituency we work in, specifically by showing in person to children in secondary schools what we are doing, the opportunities that lie in STEM, the true potential they have and paths they can take to make things happen for them.