From tackling sustainability issues in the fashion industry with innovative textiles made from recycled plastic to using immersive technology to reimagine how engineers design cars, trains and busses – there is a sweet spot for creativity that fuses with technology, offering incredible opportunities for investors.
Join Jenny Tooth OBE and Nadia Danhash, Director of InnovationRCA and angel investor, as they explore what opportunities are emerging for investors backing innovators in the design and technology space. With impact at the fore, this space creates a unique proposition for investors, as it brings together creators thinking far outside the box, whilst attaching well-known tech applications to solve some of the worlds’ biggest challenges.
During this fireside chat, Jenny and Nadia will look at what trends are emerging in the year ahead for design and technology, where investors can look to find great deal flow in this space, as well as what propositions are turning heads at InnovationRCA.
SPEAKERS
Dr Nadia Danhash, Director AngelClubRCA and InnovationRCA
After a twenty-year commercial career in the biotechnology sector, Nadia has a cross sectoral focus on innovation. She invests in and supports the creation and growth of new design-led ventures and she trains and mentors more mature non-design businesses internationally to help them to innovate and grow. She leads the Royal College of Art’s entrepreneurship centre, InnovationRCA and is responsible for the direction of its start-up accelerators. In 2015 she set up AngelClubRCA to connect investors and companies seeking early stage investment. She has worked with over 200 companies from a very diverse range of sectors and, on behalf of the Royal College of Art, has invested in over 60.
Nadia has worked in Europe, the USA and her roles have also included responsibility for operations in Asia. A PhD life scientist, with an MBA, Nadia’s broad commercial experience, at international corporates and with start-ups, have given her a breadth of experience from which she draws when working with founders.
Jenny Tooth OBE, CEO, UK Business Angels Association
Jenny is CEO of the UK Business Angels Association, the trade body for angel and early stage investing, representing over 15,000 investors around the UK. Jenny has over 20 years’ experience of facilitating SMEs access to investment, both in the UK and internationally. She ran her own consultancy on access to finance for SMEs, including spending nine years based in Brussels, working closely with the EC. In 2009, Jenny co-founded Angel Capital Group which incorporates London Business Angels, one of the most established and active angel networks in the UK.
Jenny is an angel investor and in her role at UKBAA she focuses on building the angel community around the UK, connecting investors to good deal flow and assisting entrepreneurs to attract investors. Jenny sits on the steering group for emerging technologies and innovations for Innovate UK and the advisory board for the London Co-Investment Fund. Jenny is an experienced speaker on angel investing and entrepreneurship both in the UK and internationally. She has an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Jenny was awarded an OBE in 2015 for services to small businesses.
