Jason Crispin yelled “Aaaargh” as he hurled a giant volume of rules and regulations at the floor – an eye-opening end to a day where the next generation of Manchester AI entrepreneurs showed off their products and celebrated the city’s excellence as a tech hub.
The Turing Innovation Catalyst (TIC) launched in 2023 to help North West startups to grow using AI and other digital technologies. The TIC’s accelerator programme aims to help startups get to markets.
Part of the programme involved helping entrepreneurs to perfect their pitches, which is why nineteen of those startups took to the stage in front of hundreds of people in Manchester on Wednesday to share their stories. The event, held with business innovation specialist Capital Enterprise, showed just how many sectors are using AI technology, from health to retail. And it also served as a showcase for the tech sector in Greater Manchester and the wider North West.
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Jason’s startup, Auditsu, aims to use AI to make it easier for businesses to comply with regulatory standards around accessibility. The regulations are dense – hence those bound volumes of regulations that made such a satisfying thud when thrown at the floor.
But Jason’s message was that businesses shouldn’t see accessibility as a burden. They should instead, he said, see it as something that can help them grow their businesses.
He said: “The funny thing about accessibility is that it simply improves usability for everyone. Inclusive design expands your market, it builds loyalty and it drives real business growth.”
And he added: “The question is no longer ‘why accessibility’ – it’s ‘can you afford to ignore it’.”
Leaders from 11 companies got to do standalone pitches at the showcase, with another nine entrepreneurs from eight companies joining the panel debates. The first person to pitch was Alexandra Morris, founder of Habeo – an app which aims to help homeowners save money through making their houses more efficient.
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She told the audience: “We want you to think about Habeo as your home’s manual for savings and efficiency."
Manchester-based Alexandra later told BusinessLive that the TIC accelerator had been “brilliant”. She said: “I've met so many great people on this program, which helps us bounce around ideas and then get some technical input and also just support each other with our growth strategies and with launching.”
Alexandra said Habeo aimed to help encourage people to go green by showing them that it could save them money, rather than by focusing on environmental issues.
She said: “We tackle sustainability by taking the view of finance because that's the most important aspect for people that are trying to tackle this. Sustainability is a secondary concern for most households realistically.”
Other popular pitches included one from Sam Oliveira of Beep AI , which uses AI to scan broadcast material for harmful or offensive content far more quickly than humans could do, allowing broadcasters to reduce the risk of being fined. As part of the day’s second panel session, Sam talked about how there were many teams listening to podcasts for harmful content – work which is “really stressful” – but “also quite boring”. He said the AI tool was not about replacing jobs but about helping producers make edit decisions more quickly and effectively.
Sam was part of the second panel debate, which saw entrepreneurs discuss whether AI would take jobs or enhance them. The panellists agreed with Sam that AI was about growing businesses, not shrinking them.
Vladimir Mulhelm’s business Voxelo.ai helps firms make 3D visualisations of products quickly, using any camera. Panel host David Turner challenged him with a smile: “You’re eliminating skilled work aren't you?”
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“Bit harsh,” Vladimir responded with another smile, going on to explain how Voxelo’s tech aims to make it easier for people selling online to work in 3D. He said: “It’s just going to grow a market that doesn’t exist," adding it would encourage creativity among those without the tech skills to use complex existing technology.
Also during the same panel discussion, Drey Kenfack from Crediflow said his business was using AI to help businesses' access to finance and said: “Our mission is very simple – we want to eliminate application forms”. Mike Alcock from AI assistant Joggle, on the panel with fellow founder Simon Grice , said their aim was to help clients save time so “small business owners can focus on what they do best”.
The first panel event saw four healthtech companies talk about their businesses and about wider issues of using AI in healthcare.
Tom Fitzsimmons from My PracticeManager – whose startup aims to help practices save time on compliance and operations so they can focus on care – said AI tech can be “really hard to understand” even for people who are software trained. He said that part of working with AI was about learning how to spot and deal with any errors or hallucinations that it can throw up. And he smiled: “It wouldn’t be called AI if it just worked. If it just worked, it would be called software”.
The term AI can cover a range of solutions, not just large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT. Emma-Louise Fusari from InHouse Health said: “People say AI and they don’t know what they mean halt the time.”
Emma, whose company aims to help healthcare employers “to build resilient health and social care teams” said she was often asked whether AI was safe and secure. She added: “Technology is not the problem, trust is the problem”.
Shain Khoja’s Thriving.ai has created an AI chatbot to help people in long-term care to live independently. She said: "We're tackling a problem that’s going to affect every single one of you in this room at some point in your life”.
Dr Giovannie Jean-Louis’s startup PROBr aims to make it easier to sign up to medical trials, boosting medical research particularly among underrepresented and minority groups. She discussed how AI can be used to help streamline processes and compliance, And she said that while AI can have errors, “it doesn’t have as much as humans do”.
From finding pets to ending 'greenwashing': AI companies join showcase
Joe Darwen from CircKit said his business aimed to help fashion and textiles brands to reduce waste. He said he wanted to help to “design waste out of the fashion industry”, which is both good for the environment and good for companies’ bottom lines.
Lucy Walton’s Connected Impact uses AI to analyse companies’ regulatory compliance, helping them make sure they are making a real difference and not just “greenwashing” their work. She said surveys had shown 64% of consumers prefer brands that act responsibly, and said: “We compare what companies say they are doing with what they disclose or what they do."
Rob Daly from MindPsy talked about how his company’s mental health app aims to be a “compassionate co-pilot” for young people. He said their research had shown young people wanted more than just an app into which they could input data, and instead wanted an app that could support and guide them.
Zoe Wright, founder of The Real Birth Company , says her mission is to give every mother and baby the chance of a “safe, positive birth”. She said her programme aims to help mothers and medical professionals to access information, and is now live in NHS trusts across the country. And she said her business had “the potential to transform maternal care globally”.
James Chapman, from Decent.ly , explained how the business had developed the Melo clinical platform to support people with brain in juries and dementia through the rehab process. He said he had been inspired by watching a friend’s journey to recovery from a brain injury. And he said Melo aimed to make healthcare more efficient and less paper-based, allowing for earlier assessments and support.
Felix Robinson’s Pet Trust 海角视频 aims to be the 海角视频’s first centralised pet database, with digital tags, which mean people can easily trace the owners of lost pets and that mean owners will always have up-to-date veterinary information at their fingertips. Felix said the company was “turning heartbreak into joy, one lost pet at a time” and added: “We’re building a safety net for pets and a digital lifeline for owners”.
Gavin Sherratt introduced GigMate, which aims to help people connect to discover gigs and events and also offer bespoke live event listings. Gavin joked about missing out on Oasis in the 90s before they were famous, and said he wanted to make sure people didn't miss out on today’s upcoming talent. He said: “We want people to build communities and understand what’s going on around them.”
Next was Peter McCleery from GetSociable , which also aims to connect people with venues and offer personalised recommendations. He said he was proud his company was supporting the live music industry, and working with companies including Skiddle and Ticketmaster. He added: “There’s a little bit of crossover but there's room for both of us, isn't there Gavin?”
Dan Rosenberg, from LinkyThinks , talked through his company’s AI-enabled digital platform that aims to help children learn the “critical life skills” they need alongside their curriculum learning.
The event followed the publication of a tech report from Capital Enterprise which showed Manchester was the most popular 海角视频 city outside London to start a tech business.
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