In Part 2 of our Financial Growth & Investment Outlook series, host Daniel Glyn Jones sits down with Paul Jenkinson to explore the evolving investment landscape impacting scale-ups, SMEs, and innovators across the defence and AI sectors. Paul provides first-hand insight into current investor sentiment, explaining why this space is both highly attractive and increasingly complex for founders and investors alike.

The conversation opens with a reflection on the shift in attitudes towards defence. Once a sector many investors avoided, it has now become a significant focus for renewed interest and capital deployment. Paul discusses how recent global events have reshaped perceptions, leading to a broader recognition of defence’s critical role not only in national security, but also in supporting ESG considerations and wider societal resilience.

As the discussion progresses, Paul outlines the realities of raising capital in today’s market. While enthusiasm for both defence and AI is growing, so too are the challenges. From navigating the long sales cycles and procurement complexities of defence business models to differentiating in an increasingly saturated AI landscape, the episode offers a candid assessment of what it truly takes to secure investment and scale successfully.

Key topics include:

• The changing perception of defence as an investable sector
• The patience, relationships, and credibility required to build investor confidence
• The impact of regulatory and tax changes on UK investment appetite
• The importance of genuine differentiation as hyperscalers reshape the AI market

Whether you are a founder navigating the defence ecosystem, an investor seeking clarity on market sentiment, or simply interested in the intersection of technology, capital, and growth, this episode provides timely and practical insights into a landscape defined by both opportunity and complexity.

Join us as Paul shares valuable lessons on resilience, strategic positioning, and the drivers of long-term value in today’s competitive environment.

You can also revisit Part 1: Strategic Context & Expansion: Defence, Tech and Change : watch here 

In this episode of the Defence Series, host Daniel Glyn-Jones is joined by Paul Jenkinson, CEO of Whitespace, for a timely and thought-provoking discussion on the shifting strategic landscape for defence technology and international growth.

Drawing on more than a decade of leadership at Whitespace, Paul reflects on guiding the business through sustained periods of disruption including Brexit, COVID-19, changing global power dynamics, and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. He shares his perspective on what it takes to build resilience and maintain momentum in an increasingly uncertain world. From the climate crisis and cost-of-living pressures to mental health challenges and geopolitical flashpoints, Paul explains how Whitespace has navigated complexity and why trusted, locally embedded teams are now essential to global success.

Together, Daniel and Paul explore:

• The accelerating global risks reshaping the defence sector, driving a renewed focus on national sovereignty and trusted in-country partnerships
• Whitespace’s evolving international expansion strategy, centred on local credibility, market-specific expertise, and the enduring importance of people even as AI transforms how organisations operate
• Key knowledge from Whitespace’s recent Series A investment round, including the impact of professional investors, the expansion of the C-suite, and the introduction of more scalable growth processes
• The roadmap towards Series B and beyond, examining how deeper investment will enable faster, parallel expansion and support growing ambitions with global partners such as Google, Oracle, and Microsoft
• The role of acquisitions, both in the UK and overseas, as Whitespace builds on its momentum within a rapidly changing security environment

Whether you are a defence leader, investor, or innovator navigating the intersection of technology, governance, and global risk, this episode offers candid insight and practical perspective. Paul and Daniel underline why trust, adaptability, and strong leadership are critical to succeeding in an era defined by volatility.

For those focused on building resilient teams, expanding internationally, or gaining strategic insight into turning challenge into opportunity, this is an essential listen.

Join Daniel and Paul for an open, informed conversation delivering actionable intelligence and inspiration, across defence, technology, and leadership globally.

Explore our past conversation with host Joe Field and James Morgan CEO of Logiq, where James draws on his eight-year RAF career to share insight into the transition from military to civilian life and how valuing veteran experience has fuelled Logiq’s growth – https://www.ioassociates.co.uk/from-service-to-success-navigating-careers-after-the-military/

In this latest episode of the Defence Series, host Joe Field welcomes James Morgan, Co-Founder and CEO of Logiq, for an honest and practical conversation exploring the often-challenging journey from military service to civilian success.

Drawing on his eight-year career in the RAF, shaped by leadership roles in both engineering and cyber communications, James offers unique insight into the realities of transitioning out of uniform. He reflects on the leadership qualities, problem-solving skills, and adaptability that veterans bring to industry. He shares how Logiq has thrived by harnessing these strengths, growing to a 170-strong team in just a few years.

The discussion goes beyond James’s personal story. Joe and James explore:

• The emotional highs and lows veterans face when entering the job market, and why translating military experience into a civilian CV can feel daunting
• Practical strategies for communicating military experience to employers, and how initiatives such as the Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) are helping both sides better understand one another
• The power of face-to-face conversations over CV-to-portal applications, including valuable advice on building networks, attending events, and starting genuine conversations that open doors
• How Logiq, under James’s leadership, actively trains its teams to value military backgrounds and builds pathways for talent entering both defence and non-defence roles

Listeners will gain practical takeaways whether they are service leavers, hiring managers, or leaders looking to build more inclusive pathways for veterans. James highlights not only why veterans excel through leadership, resilience, and customer-centric thinking, but also the strong business case for organisations to get involved, support service leavers, and tap into an exceptional pool of talent.

If you are keen to support those who serve, build stronger and more diverse teams, or simply want practical insight into unlocking the potential of veterans, this is an essential listen.

Join Joe and James for honest perspectives, practical insight, and inspiration, whether your next step is in defence or an entirely new direction.

Explore our conversation with George Carter, CEO of Darter, for a thought-provoking discussion on bridging strategy and technology within the defence sector – Watch now

In collaboration with .NET South West, we have two fantastic talks lined up on Testing.

Event Details

• Date: Tuesday 9th September
• Time: 17:30 – 19:30
• Location: iO Associates, St. Bartholomew’s House, Lewins Mead, BS1 2NH
• Register: RSVP on Meetup.com to confirm your spot

The Talks

1. How to get the maximum mileage from a minimal number of tests – end-to-end component tests
2. Using .Net Aspire for next level devex and easy integration tests asserting against OTEL trace data

Presented by Andrew Poole, Part 1 Introduces, explains and demonstrates an approach to automated testing which covers as much of the surface area of your codebase as possible.

Imagine a unit test where the ‘unit’ is actually multiple executables! A single test can cover the whole happy path flow of a complex piece of orchestration, from API handlers, service bus handlers, database calls etc all in-memory, fast and with a nice fluent developer experience!

Because everything including the Program.cs and startup code are covered we can spot configuration and IoC issues which are hard to test with more traditional methods. Andrew includes a method of mocking and asserting against Azure Service Bus

Part 2 discusses the usual issues with integration tests and how they expose the issues with running an app locally. It then presents .Net Aspire as the answer to lots of these issues. It covers the process of adding .Net Aspire to a solution and showcases its features, adding additional OTEL telemetry to track interesting events, including persisting and rehydrating telemetry across any ‘process airgaps’ and the creation of integration tests covering end-to-end flows using Open Telemetry trace data for assertions.

The aim of both parts of this talk is to have a repo which when pulled down onto a fresh machine, builds first time, component tests pass first time, then having run the script and the app, the integration tests pass first time, after which you can push F5 and have it all run with almost no time or effort!

Our Speaker

Andrew Poole has been writing code for a living since 2005, most recently as a Senior Backend Engineer at Flagstone, and ClearBank before that. He loves solving problems, design and architecture, communicating ideas and the incredible creativity of software engineering. He’s interested in event sourcing, immutable architecture and distributed systems. He also enjoy mentoring others and building great team culture.

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Join our latest roundtable event for the Tech Leaders Collective – Data & AI Manchester, where Blanka Elek, Head of Data & AI Enablement at Reach Plc, will lead the discussion on the evolving landscape of AI Governance.

AI Governance is rapidly becoming one of the most pressing topics for data leaders. This session will explore how companies at different stages of maturity can approach governance, increase awareness, and respond to new challenges and frameworks as they emerge.

This roundtable offers a valuable space to share ideas, learn from peers, and discuss how leaders are addressing one of the sector’s most urgent and complex issues.

Event Details

• Topic: Navigating AI Governance
• Date: Wednesday 24th September
• Time: 7:30am for arrival & networking; 8:00am for discussion
• Location: Dakota Hotel, 29 Ducie St, Manchester M1 2JL
• Register: Complete our registration form to confirm your spot

Our Chair

Blanka Elek is the current Head of Data & AI Enablement at Reach Plc, the UK’s largest commercial news organisation. She brings extensive experience in establishing data governance functions that deliver robust yet pragmatic guidance, striking a careful balance between effective risk management and enabling business value.

In recent years, Blanka has focused her expertise on building AI Governance capabilities to help her organisation navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of AI regulation. Her efforts in unlocking the value of AI while maintaining compliance led to her and her team being shortlisted for the 2025 DataIQ Award in the category of ‘Best Data Governance with AI Initiative.’

Sign Up

Complete our registration form to secure your spot.

Practically AI is a new Manchester meetup for professional software engineers, engineering leaders, and software-engineering-adjacent professionals (platform, SRE/DevOps, product) who want to ship AI in production.

We’ll focus on applied, production-ready workflows: AI-assisted coding (Claude Code, Copilot), AI-driven dev environments and orchestration (MCP servers, CrewAI, LangGraph, PydanticAI), automated testing and CI/CD with AI, AI-powered ops/observability, and infrastructure automation.

Expect concrete demos, reusable code, and practical patterns you can put to work the next day.

Details

• Topic: Mastering The Subtle Art Of MCP: Fine-Grained Control Beyond API Wrappers
• Date: Thursday 18 September
• Time: 18:30 – 20:30
• Location: Matillion, Stanley St, Salford M3 5GS

Talk

Led by Umbraco’s Phil Whittaker, this kick-off session looks at the Model Context Protocol (MCP) from a practical engineering perspective. Rather than stopping at “wrap an API,” we’ll explore how to design MCP servers that actually work in production – when to simplify schemas, how to shape tools and resources so models can use them effectively, and what to watch out for with context, pagination, or host quirks. These lessons come directly from building the Umbraco MCP server, now used by hundreds of developers in the Umbraco community.

By the end, you’ll have a clear sense of the common pitfalls and a set of proven design patterns you can apply to your own MCP projects. Expect real-world examples, reusable templates, and a short checklist to help you standardise how your team approaches MCP.

Agenda

18:30 – Doors, pizza & mingling
18:50 – Introductions
19:00 – Phil Whittaker: Mastering The Subtle Art Of MCP: Fine-Grained Control Beyond API Wrappers
19:45 – Q&A
19:55 – Open social & refreshments
20:30 – Close

Sign Up

RSVP via Meetup.com to secure your free place

What does a future-ready tech strategy really look like?

At our latest Tech Leaders Collective event, hosted by iO Meetups, we gathered senior technology leaders to explore some of the most pressing challenges in modern tech strategy, from the build vs buy debate to onshoring, offshoring, and the evolving role of AI in enterprise systems.

Featuring a powerful case study from Mike Downing, CIO at WPA Health Insurance, this summary captures:

• Why WPA chose to build critical systems in-house, and the ROI of that bold decision
• What’s behind their shift from offshore development to UK-based tech teams
• How they’re embedding AI across their operations (with real examples, not just theory)
• Why “legacy” isn’t just about systems, it’s about mindset
• Honest insights from the room: what other tech leaders are actually thinking

A practical, unfiltered look at the real decisions shaping tech strategy today, and what it truly takes to modernise with purpose.

What does a future-ready tech strategy really look like?

At our latest Tech Leaders Collective event, hosted by iO Meetups, we gathered senior technology leaders to explore some of the most pressing challenges in modern tech strategy, from the build vs buy debate to onshoring, offshoring, and the evolving role of AI in enterprise systems.

Featuring a powerful case study from Mike Downing, CIO at WPA Health Insurance, this summary captures:

• Why WPA chose to build critical systems in-house, and the ROI of that bold decision
• What’s behind their shift from offshore development to UK-based tech teams
• How they’re embedding AI across their operations (with real examples, not just theory)
• Why “legacy” isn’t just about systems, it’s about mindset
• Honest insights from the room: what other tech leaders are actually thinking

A practical, unfiltered look at the real decisions shaping tech strategy today, and what it truly takes to modernise with purpose.

Real-world lessons from tech leaders, for tech leaders.

Download the Insights Now

Tackling Team Burnout in an
Ever-changing Tech Landscape

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With rapid innovation cycles, shifting priorities, rising expectations, and the ever-present buzz of AI adoption building the pressure on already-stretched technical teams – what happens when the pace of change outstrips your team’s capacity to cope?

Join us at our latest Tech Leaders Collective – South West Meetup with Liz Cochlin, CTO at Sero Homes, for an insightful and timely talk on tackling team burnout. Drawing on her own leadership journey, Liz will explore how tech leaders can better recognise and respond to the unique pressures their teams face.

Event Details

• Date: Wednesday 17th September
• Time: Arrival from 4pm. Talk from 4:30pm
• Location: iO Associates, St. Bartholomew’s House, Lewins Mead, BS1 2NH
• Who: This Meetup will suit tech leaders including: CTOs, CIOs, CEOs, Founders, Directors, Heads of and Managers
• Register: Complete our registration form to secure your spot.

An opportunity to network with fellow tech leaders in the South West area before a thought-provoking talk from Sero Home’s Liz Cochlin.

The event will be held under Chatham House Rule, creating a trusted environment that encourages open discussion.

The Talk

Tackling Team Burnout in an Ever-changing Tech Landscape (Liz Cochlin, CTO at Sero Homes)

The tech industry moves quickly, with new frameworks, constant learning, high-impact decisions, and now, the rise of AI. Teams face immense pressure to stay current and productive while navigating shrinking budgets and rising expectations.

Organisations demand rapid innovation, high-quality delivery, and scalable solutions – often with limited resources and tight timelines. This mismatch between expectations and capacity creates ongoing pressure, contributing to stress in the workplace and increasing the risk of burnout across technical roles.

In this talk, Liz Cochlin explores how tech leaders can better recognise and respond to the unique pressures their teams face. From unrealistic demands and constant context switching to the emotional toll of an always-on culture, Liz examines the key drivers of stress and burnout affecting developers, engineers, data teams, and beyond.

The session then shifts to practical leadership strategies. What does meaningful support look like from the top down? How can we create team cultures that reduce stress, support recovery, and enable people to thrive – not just survive?

Drawing on personal experience and practical insight, this talk is a call to action for tech leaders committed to building more human-centred organisations, where people and innovation grow together.

After the talk, there will be the opportunity to break into small groups to reflect, share experiences, and explore strategies within your own contexts. We will then come back together to share key takeaways and questions as a group.

Registration

Complete our registration form to secure your free spot.

Join our latest roundtable event for the Tech Leaders Collective – Manchester Data, where Hemant Patel, Founder of Anumana, will lead the discussion on how we can drive greater social mobility within the data sector.

This is an important focus for Hemant, who dedicates much of his time to the Anumana Code Academy – a not-for-profit programme to help break down barriers into technology for children with disadvantaged backgrounds.

Together, we’ll explore:

• The current barriers to entry in data and tech for underrepresented communities
• How businesses can partner with grassroots initiatives to create real impact
• Practical ways to embed social mobility into hiring, outreach, and upskilling strategies
• The role of leadership in building inclusive data teams

This session offers a valuable space to share ideas, learn from others, and help shape a more accessible data landscape.

Event Details

• Topic: Making Tech More Inclusive – Addressing Social Mobility Challenges in the Sector
• Date: Wednesday 9th July
• Time: 7:30am for arrival & networking; 8:00am for discussion
• Location: Dakota Hotel, 29 Ducie St, Manchester M1 2JL
• Register: Complete our registration form to confirm your spot

Our Chair

Hemant Patel is the founder of Anumana and has a passion for ensuring organisations use technology to maximise the value they can extract from their data.

He has a breadth of experience building and leading analytical teams and capabilities across Financial Services, Manufacturing, Legal and other industries.

Sign Up Now

Complete our registration form to secure your place.