📍 1 Triton Square, London NW1 3BF
Join us for a rare look inside the UK's AI research ecosystem, hearing directly from the researchers and founders working on technologies that are only just beginning to leave the lab. In partnership with AIR, a launchpad for ambitious AI startups emerging from university research, we'll bring together researchers, founders, investors, and industry leaders for a behind-the-scenes look at what is happening inside some of the UK's leading AI labs and universities.
Before technologies become products, startups, or headlines, they begin as research breakthroughs. This event offers an opportunity to hear directly from the people developing them. Through a panel discussion, startup showcases, and lightning talks the event will explore how promising research is being translated into real-world applications, what it takes to move from lab to launch, and where the most exciting opportunities in AI are emerging.
Whether you're building, investing, researching, or simply curious about what's coming next, this is your chance to connect with the people shaping the future of AI in the UK!
Powered by Advanced Research + Invention Agency
In partnership with Future Worlds and AIR
Our Thursday Gatherings are for you to make serendipitous connections and make things happen!
There will be meaningful networking opportunities throughout the night, accompanied by a selection of refreshments and activities:
Fun Zone
Get to know your fellow change-makers in a fun, interactive, and exciting way!
Take a quick break from changing the world and recharge by pinning your hometown on our giant map.
Conversation Corner
Looking to connect beyond the name tags?
Drop into our relaxed Conversation Corner, a cosy space where founders, ecosystem builders, and global thinkers come together to share stories, swap lessons, and innovate. Grab a drink, pull up a chair, and jump into the discussion.
We're excited to welcome a brilliant lineup of AI startups:
- TransHumanity - multi-agent AI systems that enable humans and machines to work together effectively in complex data environments.
- Allotrope Tech - develops AI-driven molecular prediction technology to accelerate drug discovery and reduce late-stage failures in pharmaceutical development.
- Sentinal4D - real biological motion translated into actionable insight for faster, more confident R&D.
- Larissa Terranova - developing AI tools for cultural heritage and knowledge access.
- FairMD - ai-powered platform accelerating clinical trials by eliminating recruitment bias through faster, fairer, and more cost-effective patient recruitment.
- miiGenie - voice-first app designed to help older adults stay organised, stay connected, and access support more easily at home.
It is being developed with older adults, family caregivers, and community partners to reduce daily stress without adding digital complexity. - LockEyeGaze - enables organisations to strengthen authentication for high-risk scenarios without replacing current systems or adding significant user friction.
Join us for a fast-paced, interactive masterclass in collaborative worldbuilding, systems thinking, and creative problem-solving.
Rather than starting with a blank page, participants are dropped into a fictional world on the brink of crisis and challenged to design the societies, leaders, and cultures that must adapt to survive. Using a high-energy, game-based format inspired by Pixar's Braintrust method, teams rapidly build on each other's ideas, uncover unintended consequences, and explore how complex systems respond under pressure. Blending storytelling with strategic thinking, the workshop transforms fiction into a powerful sandbox for testing ideas, examining human behaviour, and discovering fresh perspectives on real-world challenges.
Introduction from Venture Café London and Partners.
Join us for a panel to explore how the UK can capitalise on its deep research talent pools and create more entrepreneurs from its strong research base, particularly within AI. We'll be joined by a panel of researchers turned entrepreneurs, an investor & an AI accelerator to see how the ecosystem can produce more outstanding AI companies. We're excited to hear from:
- Marta Ciechonska, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Salient Bioscience
- Saran Davies, Investor at Moonfire Ventures
- Ben Clark, Director at Future Worlds
-
Dimitris Mavrokapnidis, Co-Founder & CEO at Tacit
AIR and Future Worlds alumni share the exciting AI applications they are building and the challenges they're tackling.
Jesimiel holds a degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and is currently pursuing a Master's in Neuroscience and Translational Medicine, focusing on peripheral nervous system development.
Beyond the lab, she's the creator of Female Genius, a podcast that makes academic conversations fun and accessible, and The Genius Nook, where she breaks down films, books, and comics through the lens of psychology, sociology, and literature. She's passionate about bridging the gap between scholarly ideas and everyday life.
Marta's academic training at Dalhousie University and Imperial College London gave her a rare combination of molecular microbiology and large-scale automation, the technical foundation that underpins how Salient Bio builds and scales its platforms. She co-founded Salient Bio to advance the applications of automation in diagnostics, and to bridge the gap between R&D and real-world clinical applications, translating microbiome science into wellness and diagnostic tools that can meaningfully change patient outcomes.
She heads up Salient's strategy, partnerships, and commercial functions, driven by a conviction that preventative healthcare and access to at-home, non-invasive diagnostics have the potential to greatly improve patient outcomes.
Ben is the Director of Future Worlds, the on-campus startup accelerator at the University of Southampton, where he’s helped hundreds of aspiring startup founders launch their ideas to change the world, going on to raise ~£100m in equity investment and employ hundreds of people. Ben’s previously held leadership roles in five startups, raising >£20m funding, building a team of 100 people and driving multi-million pound revenue growth across the UK and Silicon Valley.
Saran is a scientist turned VC investor drawn to complex technologies, ambitious founders, and the messy path from discovery to company creation. She trained in biology at the University of Bristol, then joined Congenica, a Cambridge genome-based medicine startup, before completing a DPhil in Microbiology at the University of Oxford focused on antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
Since then, her path has spanned government technology strategy, venture capital, and early-stage startup commercialisation. At Moonfire, she focuses on identifying and backing category-defining companies across AI, infrastructure, health, and frontier science, with a particular interest in translating complex science into commercial opportunity.
Dimitris Mavrokapnidis is Co-Founder & CEO of Tacit, a UCL spinout building agentic AI infrastructure for the built environment. Before founding Tacit, he completed a PhD in Building Informatics at The Bartlett, UCL, where he currently holds a Research Fellowship, continuing to bridge research with real-world deployment.
Founder & CEO of Allotrope Tech LTD, building AI-powered tools to support decision-making in pharmaceutical development. Passionate about deep tech, startups, and turning scientific breakthroughs into real-world impact.
Mid-career medical doctor fascinated by the intersections of history, medicine, technology, economics and sociology in evaluating complex global health interventions and analysing policy and practice decisions.
Currently working with The Lancet as a research fellow with a flagship Lancet Commission, developing frameworks and models to ensure responsible use of AI in healthcare; drawing from past lessons in bias and dehumanisation in medical practice and unethical clinical research.
📍 1 Triton Square, London NW1 3BF
Join us for a rare look inside the UK's AI research ecosystem, hearing directly from the researchers and founders working on technologies that are only just beginning to leave the lab. In partnership with AIR, a launchpad for ambitious AI startups emerging from university research, we'll bring together researchers, founders, investors, and industry leaders for a behind-the-scenes look at what is happening inside some of the UK's leading AI labs and universities.
Before technologies become products, startups, or headlines, they begin as research breakthroughs. This event offers an opportunity to hear directly from the people developing them. Through a panel discussion, startup showcases, and lightning talks the event will explore how promising research is being translated into real-world applications, what it takes to move from lab to launch, and where the most exciting opportunities in AI are emerging.
Whether you're building, investing, researching, or simply curious about what's coming next, this is your chance to connect with the people shaping the future of AI in the UK!
Powered by Advanced Research + Invention Agency
In partnership with Future Worlds and AIR
Our Thursday Gatherings are for you to make serendipitous connections and make things happen!
There will be meaningful networking opportunities throughout the night, accompanied by a selection of refreshments and activities:
Fun Zone
Get to know your fellow change-makers in a fun, interactive, and exciting way!
Take a quick break from changing the world and recharge by pinning your hometown on our giant map.
Conversation Corner
Looking to connect beyond the name tags?
Drop into our relaxed Conversation Corner, a cosy space where founders, ecosystem builders, and global thinkers come together to share stories, swap lessons, and innovate. Grab a drink, pull up a chair, and jump into the discussion.
We're excited to welcome a brilliant lineup of AI startups:
- TransHumanity - multi-agent AI systems that enable humans and machines to work together effectively in complex data environments.
- Allotrope Tech - develops AI-driven molecular prediction technology to accelerate drug discovery and reduce late-stage failures in pharmaceutical development.
- Sentinal4D - real biological motion translated into actionable insight for faster, more confident R&D.
- Larissa Terranova - developing AI tools for cultural heritage and knowledge access.
- FairMD - ai-powered platform accelerating clinical trials by eliminating recruitment bias through faster, fairer, and more cost-effective patient recruitment.
- miiGenie - voice-first app designed to help older adults stay organised, stay connected, and access support more easily at home.
It is being developed with older adults, family caregivers, and community partners to reduce daily stress without adding digital complexity. - LockEyeGaze - enables organisations to strengthen authentication for high-risk scenarios without replacing current systems or adding significant user friction.
Join us for a fast-paced, interactive masterclass in collaborative worldbuilding, systems thinking, and creative problem-solving.
Rather than starting with a blank page, participants are dropped into a fictional world on the brink of crisis and challenged to design the societies, leaders, and cultures that must adapt to survive. Using a high-energy, game-based format inspired by Pixar's Braintrust method, teams rapidly build on each other's ideas, uncover unintended consequences, and explore how complex systems respond under pressure. Blending storytelling with strategic thinking, the workshop transforms fiction into a powerful sandbox for testing ideas, examining human behaviour, and discovering fresh perspectives on real-world challenges.
Introduction from Venture Café London and Partners.
Join us for a panel to explore how the UK can capitalise on its deep research talent pools and create more entrepreneurs from its strong research base, particularly within AI. We'll be joined by a panel of researchers turned entrepreneurs, an investor & an AI accelerator to see how the ecosystem can produce more outstanding AI companies. We're excited to hear from:
- Marta Ciechonska, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Salient Bioscience
- Saran Davies, Investor at Moonfire Ventures
- Ben Clark, Director at Future Worlds
-
Dimitris Mavrokapnidis, Co-Founder & CEO at Tacit
AIR and Future Worlds alumni share the exciting AI applications they are building and the challenges they're tackling.
Jesimiel holds a degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and is currently pursuing a Master's in Neuroscience and Translational Medicine, focusing on peripheral nervous system development.
Beyond the lab, she's the creator of Female Genius, a podcast that makes academic conversations fun and accessible, and The Genius Nook, where she breaks down films, books, and comics through the lens of psychology, sociology, and literature. She's passionate about bridging the gap between scholarly ideas and everyday life.
Marta's academic training at Dalhousie University and Imperial College London gave her a rare combination of molecular microbiology and large-scale automation, the technical foundation that underpins how Salient Bio builds and scales its platforms. She co-founded Salient Bio to advance the applications of automation in diagnostics, and to bridge the gap between R&D and real-world clinical applications, translating microbiome science into wellness and diagnostic tools that can meaningfully change patient outcomes.
She heads up Salient's strategy, partnerships, and commercial functions, driven by a conviction that preventative healthcare and access to at-home, non-invasive diagnostics have the potential to greatly improve patient outcomes.
Ben is the Director of Future Worlds, the on-campus startup accelerator at the University of Southampton, where he’s helped hundreds of aspiring startup founders launch their ideas to change the world, going on to raise ~£100m in equity investment and employ hundreds of people. Ben’s previously held leadership roles in five startups, raising >£20m funding, building a team of 100 people and driving multi-million pound revenue growth across the UK and Silicon Valley.
Saran is a scientist turned VC investor drawn to complex technologies, ambitious founders, and the messy path from discovery to company creation. She trained in biology at the University of Bristol, then joined Congenica, a Cambridge genome-based medicine startup, before completing a DPhil in Microbiology at the University of Oxford focused on antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
Since then, her path has spanned government technology strategy, venture capital, and early-stage startup commercialisation. At Moonfire, she focuses on identifying and backing category-defining companies across AI, infrastructure, health, and frontier science, with a particular interest in translating complex science into commercial opportunity.
Dimitris Mavrokapnidis is Co-Founder & CEO of Tacit, a UCL spinout building agentic AI infrastructure for the built environment. Before founding Tacit, he completed a PhD in Building Informatics at The Bartlett, UCL, where he currently holds a Research Fellowship, continuing to bridge research with real-world deployment.
Founder & CEO of Allotrope Tech LTD, building AI-powered tools to support decision-making in pharmaceutical development. Passionate about deep tech, startups, and turning scientific breakthroughs into real-world impact.
Mid-career medical doctor fascinated by the intersections of history, medicine, technology, economics and sociology in evaluating complex global health interventions and analysing policy and practice decisions.
Currently working with The Lancet as a research fellow with a flagship Lancet Commission, developing frameworks and models to ensure responsible use of AI in healthcare; drawing from past lessons in bias and dehumanisation in medical practice and unethical clinical research.