The team at innovative technology brand Ntegra hosted an Autumn Tech Discovery Summit in London showcasing some of the most promising and ‘caring’ tech in the UK, US and Europe.
Run by Ntegra’s co-founder Andy Jefferies, the private event is known globally as a go-to summit to get an early look at innovators in the world of tech. Delegates from global brands attend and this year included tech executives and leaders from companies including Smiths, Schuh and the Ministry of Defence.
The theme for this year’s event is ‘Digital Enablement/Digital (Hybrid) Workplace’ and all the companies chosen to present were relevant to the theme.
Andy Jefferies said the event had been inspirational. He said:
“The pace of digital innovation, and level of investment emerging from global start-up ecosystems, continues to amaze me. SaaS (software as a service) start-up seed rounds early in their product and market development are now often exceeding $5m.
“We are also seeing start-ups continuing to contribute to and benefit from open-source development, further accelerating complex innovation in data analytics and artificial intelligence in particular. We have to prepare our businesses for these technologies now, or we will be constantly playing catchup when they become ubiquitous across enterprises.
“Environmental, social and governance topics are also becoming more prominent. Brands are sensitive to the power consumers now wield and need to take a proactive stance on ethical matters. This aligns to the flow of capital too, as investors both embrace the topics themselves and seek to insulate themselves from risky investments with poor ESG adoption.”
Among the smaller companies which took part in the event were Haltian, a company based in Finland that provides a smart space office solution. Paul Evans is the UK commercial director.
He said: “The event brought it home to me the value of meeting and engaging with people face to face. We used to do this all the time however, we’ve been unable to do so over the last 18 months. You can forget how much more impactful and positive it is and how much value there is to meet up in this way.”
Haltian offers a software platform called Empathetic Building which seeks to put the employee at the centre of its operation. It works with sensors placed around a building, and within an employee’s lanyard or ID (only if they give permission) to measure wellbeing within a workplace.
Therefore, it will perform tasks like measuring temperatures, air conditioning, monitor the cleaning of toilets.
“However other providers,” Paul said. “Seem to place little value on the employee and their welfare – and we want that person to feel they are central to the tech. They can book a desk if they are working remotely, they can find out if that desk has been cleaned recently. The sensors measures if a meeting room has too much CO2 and needs to be ventilated or if the numbers in that room need to be reduced. The employee can use the platform themselves to let people know if they are busy that day, or open to a chat.”
The platform also allows for adaptations to the needs of a specific workforce including valuing those moments at work where colleagues gather socially i.e., those ‘water cooler’ exchanges.
“There’s a real reluctance from people to return to the workplace,” Paul said. “Our platform helps them to feel secure and safe.”
Other companies which were presenting included Matillion, D42, Stackblitz, Airspeed and Thetalake. Ntegra also introduced its own spin-off brand Ntegra CATALYST which aims to create a tech hub where complex world problems are being tackled through tech solutions through a collaborative approach.
The discovery tech summit has been run by Ntegra for several years and is often held overseas. This is the first time it’s been held in the UK at Fenchurch Place in London.
Ntegra was first created in 2003 by then freelance IT consultants Andy Jefferies and Bill Hart. The company has gone on to work with brands including Vodafone, Waitrose, Northumbrian Water and WPP. The team are now more than 40 strong in the UK, based in Swindon, with specialist IT associates worldwide. For more information visit https://ntegra.com
(to find out more about Haltian visit https://haltian.com/)
