Sharp’s founder Bill Sharp returns to the brewery to help celebrate its 30th anniversary
How
AI impacting the Cornish business community
The
Centre at the Royal Cornwall Showground
Have you planned your party yet?
How was the peak tourism season for businesses?
By editor Nick Eyriey
This month, in association with Best Companies Group, we begin our third annual search for those workplaces (15+ employees) that go the extra mile to make their work and business environment a truly outstanding and rewarding place to be.
People want to work at amazing workplaces. People want to work on high-functioning teams. People want managers who care about their employee’s success. People want to work at companies that treat their employees with respect and trust.
If you think that sounds like your business, then why not shout about it? The programme is research driven and based on the view of employers and the verdicts of employees over a number of key metrics, including leadership and planning, culture and communications, working environment, relationships with managers, training/development and pay/benefits.
For full details of this programme and to register your business’ participation, head to www.bestplacestoworkincornwall.com now.
A comprehensive report featuring all the winning businesses will appear in the May 2025 issue of Business Cornwall magazine.
Sharp’s team with founder Bill Sharp – see page 8.
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How was the peak summer season?
Did it meet hopes and expectations?
What impact did the poor weather and cost of living have on business?
Jason Every, VAT manager at PKF Francis Clark in Truro, highlights some opportunities and pitfalls when it comes to VAT.
After a summer when disappointing weather made life difficult for Cornwall’s tourism sector, it’s important for business owners to ensure they are claiming any VAT reliefs for which they are eligible.
Falmouth Business Improvement District
Peak summer is a really dynamic time in Falmouth. We facilitate a host of activities and coordinate some of Cornwall’s most impactful festivals such as the Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival, Falmouth Classics and Falmouth Week.
And despite the recorded reduced visitor numbers and less than hoped for sunny days in the Duchy this year, we continued to innovate to ensure a brilliant visitor experience, aligned with maximum business support and opportunity. That meant additions to Falmouth’s enviable festival calendar such as the excellent Falmouth Cringe Comedy Festival and the return of the prestigious Richard Mille Cup superyacht race, complemented by a record-breaking cruise ship season. The cost-of-living crisis continues to pinch so we have been working closely with businesses on a host of skills workshops to help support them.
The Cove/Philleigh Way Cookery School
Summer?! Well as far as weather it never got going did it! But to be honest, we were 30% up on last year, which may be due to The Cove being a new business last year so 2025 maybe a better indicator. Or I would like to think people are searching for us, coupled with The Times voting Gwithian beach #1 in the UK!
Across the board you can see a drop in visitors... package holidays, bad weather etc. But ultimately any business that relies on seasonal income will struggle. All my personal thoughts about the cafe and cookery school are drawn towards September and onwards and how we can be proactive and offer a product or service for the autumn and winter trade thus not relying so heavily on the summer.
Newquay Business Improvement District (BID)
We have had quite unsettled weather this August particularly, which, for Newquay’s businesses, is not
The VAT and customs team at PKF Francis Clark is busy helping clients with a range of issues. One example is hotels which qualify for a lower rate of VAT for providing longterm accommodation, including under government and local authority contracts.
During Covid, a temporary reduction in VAT was introduced to support tourism and hospitality businesses. While this ended in March 2022, a four-year window for correcting VAT returns means time is now running out for businesses to reclaim any tax they overpaid at the start of the pandemic. This is another area where we have secured substantial rebates for clients.
necessarily a bad thing. When it’s really sunny here, visitors tend to spend a lot of time on the beaches and less in the town’s businesses. August’s slightly worse weather meant more people were in the town centre, shopping and enjoying the different cafes, bars and restaurants.
We have analysed Newquay’s footfall data for August, which is in line with last year’s, whereas many other tourist locations across the UK have reported a reduction.
Our market and event days have been absolutely bustling, significantly helping drive traffic which is fantastic to see. We have also noticed that the season continues to extend here in Newquay. In terms of footfall, we were up on previous years in June and July and we remained busy in September. One noticeable trend we have seen this year is that people are booking later, on a lastminute basis. This is most likely due to anticipation around the weather forecast.
St Moritz Hotel & Cowshed Spa
The weather has meant many are booking on a last-minute basis.
In terms of trading, summer 2024 and especially the peak weeks brought a mixture of great success and challenges. The weather has meant many are booking their breaks on a last-minute basis. We have also found that the bad weather has impacted next year’s bookings as a wet period tends to put people off rebooking.
That aside, we have had great success with our outlets, especially the Seaside Pool Club, brand new wellness space and having our new Chef de Cuisine, Jake Grove, has really elevated our food offering.
In my opinion, we need to change the narrative around Cornish holidays. Cornwall has so much to offer, especially in our north Cornish corner and the mizzle shouldn’t affect that. Being outside and embracing the elements is part of what makes Cornwall so brilliant.
The abolition of the tax regime for furnished holiday lettings is prompting many owners to consider selling up. However, there are several issues to beware of, including the potential liability to repay VAT you have reclaimed on capital expenditure incurred on the property in the past ten years. Vendors will need to factor this in when agreeing a sale price.
We also expect to see HM Revenue & Customs cracking down on tax avoidance by using new powers requiring online platforms, such as Airbnb and Booking.com, to hand over details of property owners and the income they have received.
Where past errors have been made, rectifying the situation as soon as possible through a voluntary disclosure can help to avoid costly penalties and interest charges.
For more information, call 01872 228077 or email jason.every@pkf-francisclark.co.uk
Wildanet was named Broadband Provider of the Year at the Connected Britain Awards in London. CEO Helen WyldeArchibald collected the Connected Britain Award alongside co-founder and non-exec director Paddy Paddison and head of marketing Matt Greaves.
Penryn-based Lesjӧförs Heavy Springs UK has promoted operations director Luke Smith to MD, succeeding Michael Gibbs, who has stepped up to European operations director for the global Lesjӧförs Group.
The Truro office of accountancy firm Bishop Fleming has selected Cornwall Hospice Care as its chosen charity for the next 12 months. Bishop Fleming plans to raise £7.5k through joint fundraising activities.
St Ives Brewery has expanded into 50 new Tesco stores, boosting its presence to more than 100 stores across the south west and London. It has also recently consolidated listings in Morrisons and Sainsbury’s across Cornwall and the south west.
Tickets are now on sale for the Cornwall Christmas Fair at the Eden Project. Taking place on Thursday November 28, with a preview evening the night before, a percentage of all profits go to Cornwall Community Foundation, with last year’s event raising almost £80k.
Flotsam Flo, a Redruth-based business that turns disused plastics into functional and artistic creations, has been named to this year’s SmallBiz100, a listing of the nation’s 100 most impressive small firms by the Small Business Saturday UK campaign.
The Ladder, the much-loved Passmore Edwards Building in the heart of Redruth, is set to become a centre for heritage, culture, and education after being awarded £250k from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Pendennis Shipyard has taken a majority interest in Cockwells Modern & Classic Boatbuilding.
Cockwells and Pendennis have worked together for many years with a number of Pendennis superyachts having commissioned Cockwells’ highly customised tenders.
The Pendennis Group consists of Pendennis Shipyard, a dedicated superyacht service facility in Falmouth; a Mediterranean marina and Technical Service Centre near Barcelona – Pendennis Vilanova – and a luxury bespoke interior manufacturer, Norfolk Interiors.
MD, Toby Allies, said: “Cockwells shares
many of the values that are integral to the Pendennis Group and serves many of the same customers and contacts. Partnering with Cockwells will expand Pendennis’ offer to our client base within the superyacht sector.
“Cockwells’ activity complements our core group strategy and with the company’s strong forward order book and ambitious plans for expansion, we are excited to welcome Cockwells to the Pendennis Group.”
Cockwells will continue to operate independently with the existing management team headed by MD, Dean Short, with founder Dave Cockwell retaining his role of sales and technical director.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Cornish clothing brand Seasalt has opened a new store in Falmouth – USA.
The new store on Cape Cod, in Falmouth, Massachusetts, is the brand’s first store in the US with more planned over the next year and beyond.
Located in the heart of Falmouth, MA, wth 2,500sq ft of retail space, the store is Seasalt’s largest across all locations.
Seasalt Cornwall CEO, Paul Hayes, said: “Falmouth, on the Cape, was an obvious choice for us to start our journey across the Atlantic - we see it as our home from home. There are so many synergies.”
A Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Climate Commission has been launched with 16 commissioners set to challenge, catalyse and convene on all things climate
Cornwall Council leaders have joined Cornish MPs in calling for a devolution deal that will help “unleash” Cornwall’s potential, without the need for a mayor or becoming part of a combined authority.
Following a meeting to discuss the new Government’s devolution plans, leaders expressed their “shared commitment” to secure a deal that will provide more autonomy for Cornwall, based “solely on a Cornwall geography and non-mayoral model” as opposed to a “combined authority that stretches across the Tamar”.
The group advocated for a “much broader and deeper devolution settlement” that reflects Cornwall’s shared status with the Welsh, Scots and Irish in “all areas of economic, social, political, and cultural life”, and agreed that an empowered Cornwall is “perfectly positioned” to play a key role in driving the burgeoning green economy.
The group noted that although not formally invited to submit a devolution settlement Expression of Interest –unlike Plymouth which currently has no devolved powers – Cornwall remains “ready, willing and able to take back control in its own right”.
Leaders agreed to write to the Deputy Prime Minister requesting a conversation about the proposals and how they align with the new Government’s plans.
change – including net zero plans and ecological regeneration.
Justin Olosundé will sit as the first chair of this new Climate Commission.
Olosundé, who was raised and educated in Penwith (where he lives today), has had an extensive career in the investment banking sector before moving into the education sector where he was principal of Camborne College, Newquay College, Falmouth Marine School, and a director of Somerset College.
Olosundé said: “It is an honour to have the opportunity to serve in the newly created Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Climate Commission, a partnership which is seeking to actively bring people together from across the public, private and civic sectors to work collaboratively with Cornwall Council to drive climate action.”
The founder of one of the south west’s longest-established public relations agencies is retiring after 50 years in the industry.
John Knowles of JKC Creative Marketing in Falmouth has decided it’s time to hand over the reins to his management team, and in doing so, draw to a close a career in publicity dating back to 1972.
“It’s a bittersweet decision,” said Knowles. “I’ll miss my clients, and I’ll miss my colleagues, but in truth, I’m certain I won’t be much missed. I’m leaving a great team, each one a leader in his or her specialism. I may have laid the foundations, but my colleagues are taking the agency to far greater heights.”
More details have been revealed of the Council’s plans to secure the long-term future of Cornwall Airport Newquay.
A Land Use Blueprint for the project was used as the basis for a consultation on the proposals, which got underway last month with engagement with the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce.
Among a number of proposals, the blueprint for the airport site includes a new commercial and public terminal building, a ‘logistics park’, and a research and development hub with modern office accommodation.
The Council insists it is committed to establishing a “viable and robust regional
airport” while minimising the financial burden on the taxpayer.
Cllr Louis Gardner, portfolio holder for the economy at Cornwall Council, said: “These plans represent our ambitious vision for the site while adhering to our red lines for the project.
“We will now be consulting widely with the business community and with different stakeholders across Cornwall, while also hosting public events and allowing people to have their say online.
“I emphasise again, there is no agreement in place to proceed with a joint venture, negotiations are still taking place ahead of a final decision this autumn, and the views we receive during the consultation will help inform that.”
Friday August 26, 1994 is a monumental date in the history of Sharp’s Brewery, as that was the day that founder Bill Sharp dispatched the first brew from Rock’s Pityme Industrial Estate and started what is now Sharp’s Brewing Co in earnest.
Thirty years later, almost to the day, Bill returned to the brewery to join members of the current team to reflect on, and celebrate, what 30 years of Sharp’s brewing success means for the business and the team in creating its world class beer and drinks portfolio.
Pityme Industrial Estate sits in the St Minver Lowlands, on the edge of picturesque Rock and in 1994, Bill Sharp took over the unit, which had previously been a store for speedboats. Prior to the move, he had trialled ‘home brewing’ in his garage, also in Rock, and had been pleased with the taste and quality of the results.
Believing he was onto something, and determined to service the local summer holiday trade, meanwhile making an income for himself and family, he took on a four year lease on the 1,000 sq ft unit. He then set up a microbrewery next to the local milkman and set about producing his first small scale commercial brews, selling and delivering the results to local Cornish pubs and bars.
The first Sharp’s beers were Sharp’s Own, a rich malty best bitter, and Cornish Coaster, a light and hoppy pale ale. In 1995 the inspiration for what was set to become a legendary ‘new style’ UK amber ale struck. Bill recalls: “This new style of beer and ale was a growing trend in the UK and I realised no one was making beer like this in Cornwall. The main challenge at the time was to achieve good quality and consistency. This needed attention to detail and not leaving anything to chance, with good cleanliness and good management of the product. That’s what I set out to do.”
Bill continues: “So Doom Bar came about by sheer chance. My Dad and I used to sit in The Maltsters pub, of a Friday, seeing if anyone would dare come in and order a pint of our brew – summing up what the chances were, and taking bets on what we thought they were going to order. Dad used to always have a pint of our Sharp’s Coaster and Sharp’s Own. And if he fancied another pint, he’d put what he had left of both together in one glass. So, he could be blamed for giving me the idea of Doom Bar.”
Back at the brewery, Bill experimented with this new ‘blend’ of the two already popular Sharp’s beers and christened the new cask ale brew ‘Doom Bar’ after the treacherous sandbar which sits nearby in the Camel Estuary. And from there, the rest is history. Doom Bar became exceedingly popular in the county, and then Bill and the team began to find and untap the demand
Bill Sharp returned to Sharp’s Brewing Co recently to reflect on and celebrate 30 years of Cornish brewing success.
for the amber ale in bars and pubs further up the Westcountry, and it then became clear that there was a demand for this incredible brew far beyond the region.
With Doom Bar growing so quickly, alongside other popular Sharp’s beers, Bill took the decision to sell the brewery so that even more investment in bigger facilities could be made. It was acquired in 2003 by Nick Baker and Joe Keohane who set about bringing Sharp’s beers to a younger audience across the UK. As a result, volumes rose from 25,000 brewers barrels a year in 1994 to 75,000 in 2010.
There was a demand for this incredible brew far beyond the region.
In 2011, the two entrepreneurs sold to global brewing leader Molson Coors Beverage Company who have continued to invest in the brands, people and brewery site in Rock. Since Molson Coors’ involvement, over £20 million has been invested into the Pityme Industrial site to unlock its growth potential.
Continued from page 39
All the Sharp’s beers are now available to pubs, bars and restaurants right across the country, and many of the brews are also available in can and bottle options through the Molson Coors networks.
As a result of this invaluable investment, Doom Bar became the UK’s #1 selling cask ale in 2013 and the #1 premium bottled ale in 2015. Today Doom Bar is the UK’s #1 selling amber ale. In April, Molson Coors announced yet further investment in Sharp’s, to support new and existing cask ale brands such as Doom Bar, Solar Wave Hazy and Twin Coast.
Sharp’s excels by staying ahead of trends and continuously adapting to consumer preferences.
In the dynamic landscape of the beer industry, Sharp’s excels by staying ahead of trends and continuously adapting to consumer preferences. This involves considering trend and marketing opportunities, including going beyond beer. In 2021, Sharp’s released its cider, Cold River Cider, which is doing extraordinarily well, already having won International Cider Challenge medals in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Doom Bar Zero was born to meet changing consumer habits and the rise in the popularity of no and low alcohol drinks brands. In 2016, the dedicated small scale (5bbls) pilot plant was built into the brewing facilities in Rock. Alongside the production capacity of over one million pints per week in the main brewhouse, it’s the pilot plant that enables the Sharp’s team the opportunity to collectively develop and test new ideas, concepts and flavour combinations.
Donna Breakspear is head of supply chain at Sharp’s and is responsible for a diverse and talented team of 72 people who are the beating heart of the brewery. She says: “I’ve worked with Sharp’s and Molson Coors teams for almost a decade in different capacities, and I can safely say there is a certain energy and passion that runs through our core that is unique, and unlike anything I have experienced previously, and I am thrilled to be part of this.
“It’s been great to see Bill return for our 30th anniversary and to hear how things were when he first set up the brewery. Much has changed with over £20 million of ongoing investment from our parent company Molson Coors and we have majorly grown our volume as a direct result.
mantra on the walls of our packaging hall. We are proud of our achievement in the last 30 years and looking forward to the next 30.”
James Nicholls and Chris Winn both started with Sharp’s Brewery as summer jobs whilst they studied or worked elsewhere in the winters - James in 1995 and Chris in 1997. Bill Sharp saw the talent and passion in both of them, and persuaded them to join as full-time team members, meaning they have both been through each of the evolutions and all the growth cycles.
Chris Winn is now Sharp’s racking leader. He says:
“When I started here, it was one small unit and there were six of us working here. We each took it in turn to do every job and over the last 27 years, I’ve pretty much followed that pattern as I’ve loved the ongoing opportunity for progression and personal development and have had the chance to learn about so many aspects of the production side of the business. I’ve been a senior brewer, I’ve done the dray, I’ve driven the forklifts and I’ve been known as the ‘racking guru’.
“But ultimately for me, it’s always been about the people here. I get on with everyone here and it’s like hanging out with friends every day, whilst trusting myself to run my department. The brewery is just five minutes away from where I live which makes me super proud of being part of something successful my local community. It’s been so great to see Bill come back in after all this time and just be amazed at the size and scale of it all now. Having that history with us, yet continuing to see it grow even now is just amazing for all of us who work here. I want to work at Sharp’s until I’m ready to retire. There’s nowhere better!”
Across the 30-year history, Sharp’s has provided jobs and careers for many local people, and many of those team members now go onto national, and international, roles with Sharp’s parent company Molson Coors. One of the most longstanding members of the team is James Nicholls who is now part of the senior leadership team as Sharp’s marketing controller.
We’ve now won over 170 international brewing awards and accolades.
James was born and brought up at nearby Chapel Amble and initially worked at Sharp’s from 1995 as a summer job whilst studying for a place at university. Masterminding significant national advertising and experiential brand campaigns, portfolio development and commercial strategy to drive the brands national success, today James continues to lead the talented Rock-based team who are all committed to ensuring all the Sharp’s brands remain authentic and true to the brewery’s Cornish coastal roots.
“However, Bill’s utter commitment to the highest of quality, and consistency remains unchanged to this day. ‘We are only as good as our last pint’ is still our
“It is phenomenal to stand back for a moment and think about the major work we have done since those
early days, and how far the brewery and its beers –particularly Doom Bar – have come,” he says.
“Standout moments for me include winning Grocer Drinks Brand of the Year in 2017, sponsoring the Oxbridge Boat Race and then as a passionate rugby fan, working with former English Rugby Union captain, Phil Vickery MBE, on our British and Irish Lions sponsorship. The relentless focus on the quality of our beer gives me much pride as do the medal tallies, given we’ve now won over 170 international brewing awards and accolades.
“As a passionate surfer, it’s also been a privilege to work with renowned musicians like Nick Mulvey to make tracks that provide funding for Surfers Against Sewage with every stream and download and also to have provided financial backing for the utterly vital Surf Lifesaving Clubs around the Cornish coastline during and after the Covid crisis.”
And for James, Sharp’s has never been just a job.
“It’s a way of life,” he says, “and we’ve always all shared an infectious energy and a passion for what we do and where we do it, here at the brewery. I love to think that the work we all do puts a ‘pint of Cornwall’ into hands all over the country, time and time again. And the brand campaigning, sponsorship and communications work, as well as the beer and food matching educational work that we’ve done with the most talented Cornish chefs, continues to inspire and inform our in-house teams and our much-valued customers every single day.”
In 1994, Sharp’s Brewery could brew 40 casks of ale per day. 30 years later, all Sharp’s cask beer is still brewed and produced onsite with the capacity to create over 2,500 casks per day, with over 72 people in employment and countless World Beer and brewing awards and accolades.
“The novelty of knowing how well the Sharp’s beers are doing will never wear off,” Bill sums up.
“It does make me very proud. I do get emotional - wobbly bottom lip. Even with all the technical know-how and jargon that comes into it now, the same philosophy that was always at the heart of our work back then still applies – don’t cut any corners!
“It has been very rewarding and nostalgic to come back. And to see faces that I took on nearly 30 years ago, still here. It’s very special, and it’s incredibly pleasing. So, I’m very proud, very impressed and technically I’m completely lost about what’s going on here today! It’s a great team, and it’s so brilliant to see the pride that’s attached to working at Sharp’s and to know what making and selling our beers has done for the county and lots of other businesses.
“It’s been great to see how everyone’s really settled at Sharp’s, and to see that it’s still the case that it’s not just a job, it’s a way of life. And Sharp’s is going to go even further. It’s special, very special.”
We meet TECwomen founder Caitlin Gould, who discusses the challenges and opportunities faced by the tech sector in Cornwall, what can be done to encourage more women into IT and the synergies with gardening!
We’ve got an amazing tech sector, but it’s reasonably new and hasn’t done a huge amount of outreach across the whole county.
Before you worked in tech, you worked in publishing I believe?
My original degree before I moved from the States was in graphic design. Although I was in northern California right before the silicon boom and learned how to code, I thought I’d go into either advertising or magazines. But I really liked art and design at school. I had a lot of anxiety around maths. I didn’t have particularly great maths teachers at school, so it kind of got into my head that I couldn’t do it. But with design, I had no problem.
I moved to London and did a Masters in publishing at the London College of Printing, looking at magazines, but looking at the digitization of them. I worked at a number of different weeklies at IPC, trying to sell all kinds of digital solutions. It was probably the first time I really got into data. So, you had a lot of traditional salespeople next to this group coming through using data, saying to the client if you go online, you could have a breakdown of all your viewers and how we could target them. I found that part so interesting and one of my mentors noticed that and said, “look, you’ve got to get out of this, we’re five years behind. Go and work for a digital agency!” So, I pivoted and worked for four years at Distilled, an SEO development agency startup. I helped them grow from around ten people in London to, by the time I left, about 100. Distilled opened offices in New York and Seattle and worked with some of the biggest brands in the world.
While at IPC, was there still a reluctance on how the market was moving?
text, that’s not my happy place. But I find technology fascinating and like the applications of what it can do. I really like working as part of multi-discipline teams. Throughout my tech career I have worked with extremely technical developers and programmers who perhaps weren’t very good at explaining to other people what their products did or why they might need them. That’s the part I could come into, figuring out the problem, understanding the technology and then being able to explain it to other people. I was doing that kind of work as a consultant when I met the team at Bluefruit, which then became my main roll.
How long were you with Bluefruit?
Just 6% of girls nationally choose computing science.
Absolutely. I started at the Field and Country Life magazine, which was okay but they weren’t moving very fast, and then I moved to the women’s weeklies. I thought they would pick it up faster, but they weren’t ready for what was coming. They were so worried about the launch of free press magazines that they weren’t paying attention to all the online stuff.
But what was really interesting was when I worked on those magazines, there were really diverse teams, especially working on women’s weeklies, our team was 90% female, even the senior management at the time, were all women, which was kind of unusual.
So, I went from that kind of environment to Distilled, which when I started was almost all men. We started to do more content and then more women came in. But when I moved down to Cornwall and went into embedded engineering, all the women disappeared! Every time I went more technical, there was less and less women.
But while I like a lot of the building elements of development, I’d say I’m definitely more front-end. Some of the back-end coding and deeper coding environments, where it’s all black screens and white
About four and a half years. And again, getting deeper and deeper into the technical side. I did a similar thing with Bluefruit that I did with Distilled. What could we do? How could we grow? How could we expand and into what markets?
You have often been a bridge between the real technical people and less technical people.
I’m definitely the bridge, yes. And that’s probably one of the best skills that’s helped me with what I do now, the work I do with TECwomen and working with young people with the TECgirls programme. I always found it frustrating when people in the tech space. It’s mostly quite unintentional, but they’re not great at explaining and so people feel it’s incredibly difficult because it hasn’t been explained very well.
But actually, it’s like a maths problem. If you’ve got a good teacher that can walk you through it using non-terrifying language, it’s not so intimidating. We’ve got some amazing computer science teachers in Cornwall, but unfortunately we don’t have enough.
Why, though, have there been so few women in tech?
This is such a big question. What was really interesting to me when I was at Bluefruit, when we first came up with this idea of doing something about getting girls into technology and engineering, we looked at the pipeline and discovered there were not enough studying these subjects, but nobody had looked at why.
We looked at the national statistics to see if Cornwall was similar, but it’s worse. And the national statistics were already quite bad, just 6% of girls nationally choose computing science. One theory that King’s College have put out recently is that the number got a lot worse when they changed the curriculum. It used to be a more general IT curriculum, and that appealed to different people that were interested in the different elements, not just programming.
That’s one theory. Another, and something that we’re trying to dig into, is IT intimidating to girls? We do know that when there’s a female computing science teacher, girls are more likely to take IT. We can’t make all computing science teachers female, and there’s a lot of amazing male computing science teachers who really are trying to do their best to get girls involved.
But I genuinely think it’s also an issue of if you’re a teenage girl and you walk into a classroom with just a couple of girls, you don’t feel as welcome.
When you’re a teenager, so much depends on those social dynamics. And what we’ve seen as well, especially In Cornwall, is there’s a massive drop off between GCSEs and A levels. We were the first group to actually look at Cornwall’s numbers, and because we’re the first group, they’re a bit patchy. We got a Freedom of Information from Cornwall Council, and I’m trying to gather more data, but we know, for example, at the moment, based on that data, that only 4% of girls in Cornwall choose computing science and only 5% choose design technology.
But really terrifyingly, when we move up to sixth form and A level, we don’t know how many girls are taking an A level in computing science, because the number is so low they can’t capture the data on it.
Why is it even worse in Cornwall?
We’re only a few years old, and before us there was no specific intervention to help girls. Other areas, especially in London, programmes similar to ours have existed a lot longer. Also, maybe we were not aware that there was an issue. Most people are shocked when I tell them what the statistics are. Teachers knew, of course. Once we started, schools came out in great support and said, no, we don’t have any girls on our programme at the moment. How could we get more?
One of the biggest reasons why people don’t take IT is they don’t know what it will lead to. That’s a challenge for all genders in Cornwall. Students don’t realise that if they studied these subjects they could have really good jobs down here. Other areas in the country have large and long-term established tech companies and people often know somebody that works there so can see a clear career path, whereas in Cornwall a lot of our businesses are a lot smaller. We’ve got an amazing tech sector, but it’s reasonably new and hasn’t done a huge amount of outreach across the whole county. A huge amount of what we do for schools is just promoting the sector and letting students know of the opportunities that exist.
There are some great people here. For instance, you’ve got Tech Cornwall that go in and run wonderful assemblies in the schools. So, we thought, okay, if that’s been covered, what else could we do? So, we’ve started an After School Club programme in primary schools. It’s a hybrid, so the teachers can run the lesson or the club in the schools themselves, but they call in online, and we run the lesson online, and that allows us to reach ten schools at a time, so we can scale it out. It means for the teachers, they don’t have to prepare a lesson plan, but they’re also learning. The last one we ran, we had 60 girls and nine schools, and they all built their own smart homes. We had girls in years four and five building sensors and all sorts of things. It was great!
Then for secondary schools we’re running ‘jams’. These are sessions where the girls get to get out of school for the day. Format wise, we usually have ten schools bring ten girls, and each jam has a different subject focusing on how technology or engineering will tackle that area. We did a Green Futures one, working with Defra. We did another one last year on cybersecurity, working with GCHQ. Hopefully, we’ll be doing one soon with Pendennis. It’s about showing girls the type of cool jobs they could have.
I find technology fascinating and like the applications of what it can do.
A new one we’re introducing this year, which I’m really excited about, is our new My AI Futures project. This is for level three students and we’re offering them a chance to be supported in research into how AI is going to shape the industries they’re interested in. You want to be a doctor, great. Why don’t you do some research into how is AI going to impact the medical field? If they’re thinking about going into politics or law, they could look at the use of AI judges or AI to clear the immigration backlog. Trying to get girls in Cornwall to be these critical thinkers. And nobody’s doing this on a national level.
What timescale are we looking at before we start seeing the real fruits of your efforts?
Some of them have more immediate impacts. For example, the Cyber First event we did last year. There’s a national Cyber First girls’ competition, and they didn’t have any girls taking part from Cornwall. Eight schools have now signed up. We’re already starting to see some of the girls going from our initial programmes to taking computing science GCSE. I hope to see that scale growing over the next three to five years.
In terms of the workplace, some of the projects that we’re working on this year will impact people’s ability to get work experience, such as the Pendennis one. It’s definitely movement over time. It’s really hard because we’re talking about system level change, and that kind of thing doesn’t happen with one event or with six months of a project. Cornwall is stuck in a rut with short-term funding projects.
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Those little bursts of activity aren’t going to permanently move the dial. They’ll create a spark, but then fizzle out. We’re really trying to build something. My dream is, within a few years, girls can start doing stuff at primary school, and then continue to have these touch points all the way through to university. Personally, in ten years I would love it for us not needing to exist. My ultimate aim would be to turn this into ‘TECkids’, for all children. I often get asked ‘what about the boys?’. And I always go back to the statistics. But I would love to run this and have it completely non-gendered.
Is there discrimination at the hiring stage?
That’s a great question. Historically, absolutely. Interestingly, AI recruitment is also biased, because the people that built it, built in their own biases. One of the great things about the Cornish tech sector, is they need talent and they’re happy for that talent to come from anywhere. A lot of them, including Bluefruit, Headforwards, Hiyield, have put in non-biased hiring. So that means they don’t know the gender or the name, or the age of the person. And that’s not only improved gender hiring, it has also combatted ageism, racism.
Tech roles are some of the best paid jobs in Cornwall.
After a few years of running the TECgirls project, we kept having women bringing their daughters to it and saying they wished something like this existed when they were younger. So, I sat down with Naomi Johns from Truro and Penwith College and we thought what would this look like if we did it for adults? So, we came up with the idea for the Digital Uplift programme which is for all adults, not just women. We never turn anyone away. The idea behind it was we were looking into why women were not taking part in some of the amazing boot camps and digital training opportunities that we’ve had in Cornwall. What we found is that although Cornwall had great funding and a lot of the training was free, they did require people to take a lot of time out of work. But it’s not free if somebody can’t do another job while they’re doing it. So, we did it online, anytime. And we looked to demystify everything. How is somebody supposed to do an eight-week training session on cybersecurity if they’ve never heard of it before and they don’t know what it requires? It can sound terrifying. We explain to them what is involved and what transferable skills would be good. Each week is a different topic. One week might be coding, another week AI.
We’ve run it now for three cohorts and we’ve had women that have come through and gone on to do apprenticeships with Cornwall Council on their data team. On this recent cohort we’ve just found out about two women who’ve moved into much more technical roles. And we’ve had amazing support from the local tech sector.
How big a challenge is local recruitment?
Every tech company could find an apprentice. They could all find juniors, but senior, experienced
programmers, that’s more difficult. If you’re a senior, experienced programmer in Cornwall, you have your pick of companies to work for.
For example, at Bluefruit embedded engineers are very hard to find, so Bluefruit would spend a lot of time training them and teaching them how to become that. Headforwards have an amazing training programme because of that as well. A lot of companies down here invest a lot back into their people, to build them into the type of employees they need. But it is hard.
Is it tricky getting people down to Cornwall?
One of the biggest challenges is that we’re still slowly moving out of the mindset of you can pay a Cornish wage in Cornwall. When we used to talk to recruitment agents, they would say they can’t place people in Cornwall because the London salary is this and a Cornwall salary is that. Why would they go to Cornwall?
Tech roles are some of the best paid jobs in Cornwall, but they’re still catching up. What we’re starting to see, as well, is more people working in the tech sector in Cornwall, but working from home for companies like Microsoft or Google. You get a lot of people who are living the Cornish life, but are earning a London or even US salary. And this is one of the things that we’re also trying to tell students, that you, too, could work for one of those huge companies in Cornwall if you wished.
But working remotely can be hard. Again, that’s one of the wonderful things that Tech Cornwall is doing really well, in trying to bring those people together, give them a chance to meet. We’re trying to do something similar with TECwomen meet ups as well. We found a lot of the women who work in tech in Cornwall had no idea there were other women that worked in tech in Cornwall, so we’re trying to get them all together to meet up as well.
How do you like to relax? I hear you like gardening?
I like to take no tech breaks. For instance, I like going camping, going for walks, things like that, giving myself space to think. And yes, I love a good project that I can kind of lose myself in. There are similarities between the tech world and gardening in that both involve a lot of trial and error. If you don’t know the proper pH balance of your soil, you don’t really know what’s going to work until you try. You have to have this vision, you’re developing something but a lot of it is going to go wrong and you’re going to have to go rip it out and do it again. You think, ‘hmm, okay that’s not working there, what element have I got wrong?’ You can’t really have a fear of failure in either gardening or tech. You’ve got to make the decision, try it, and see what happens.
I had a hydrangea that I was convinced was dead, and it turns out I had it in the wrong location, now it’s coming back to life. The same thing with tech projects. It can be terrifying . A lot of people think, oh, you’ve got to be an expert, you’ve got to be perfect at it. But actually, you learn a lot just by playing and experimenting.
AIn’t that something! We investigate the ways AI is impacting how business is done in Cornwall.
By Rachel Koerner
A TYPE OF WORKER?
Tom Chartres-Moore, partner and head of Stephens Scown’s Intellectual Property, Data Protection and Technology team, explores the likely impact of AI on the workforce of the future.
I remember a time before the phrase, ‘Just Google it’. These days, it’s more like, ‘Maybe just ask ChatGPT?’
The way we seek information, reassurance, efficiencies and ideas is changing, rapidly. We are now looking to artificial intelligence for support in its many guises. Sure, ‘ChatGPT’ is a household name, but many other generative AI options are making their mark, and harnessing these options is impacting workdays in incredible ways.
This month, I talked to Jaime Tinker, Tom PughJones, Libby Gibbons and Tom Lintern, on the subject of AI platforms and their impact on the way we approach tasks in our working day.
Jaime Tinker is a research specialist at Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency. In his words, “It’s one of those Chandler Bing type jobs to some, but when you boil it down, what I do is answer questions. Questions usually about innovation in the UK – What’s happening where? Who is doing it? How can we do more?”
Always interested in new technologies, although also a cautious sceptic, the new wave of LLMs (Large Language Models, types of AI program trained on huge sets of data that can recognise and generate text), piqued his curiosity. Like most people, he was just trying to find uses for it to begin with.
“‘Produce a packing list for my camping holiday’, ‘Write a funny poem about a brother-in-law’, ‘What should I do with my leftover chicken?’ But it quickly became clear that this had the potential to help in my professional world also. After all, it was effectively answering questions. Gulp.
“Fast forward, and I’d say I’m still in the ‘having a play’ camp but I am more commonly tapping into other applications – suggesting document structures or templates, kickstarting a review of literature or summarising documents.”
Jaime and I agree: the phrase we probably hear most when talking about the benefit of using LLMs is, “It helps avoid staring at a blank page.” In the basic
The exponential growth in mainstream use of AI is likely to be remembered as one of the more significant happenings of the 2020s. But can we rely on it to support, or even replace, elements in our workforce?
THE PROCESS OF AI
Artificial Intelligence is itself a technology that allows machines and applications to mimic human intelligence. It is built and trained on vast data sets that it uses to learn how to solve problems. Naturally, with this ability to somewhat replicate human intelligence, many consider it possible to use AI as a replacement for human-centric tasks that are dataintensive or time-consuming.
experiments he’s done with them, Jaime also finds you can get relatively close to an acceptable answer in quick time, but there are still errors.
“It can also miss sources I’d deem as key, or it doesn’t incorporate the latest available data. But no doubt these tools will get better here.
“In one particular experiment, my aim was to explain to an audience how new technologies can drive productivity growth. Rather than a dull ramble of the evidence, I decided to pit myself against an AI-image generating website. The task - produce an image of key political leaders as if they were characters in the film Zoolander (a fairly absurd satire of the fashion industry, you’ll either love it or hate it). This was it. Man vs Machine. Jaime vs jAIme.”
Armed with Paint, PowerPoint, Google image search and some ‘old skool’ techniques, Jaime created two images in 12 minutes.
“I felt fairly chuffed. Admittedly I had lost a bit of time being fussy over hairlines.
The
way we seek information, reassurance,
efficiencies and ideas is changing, rapidly.
Productivity rate: 0.17 images per minute. Bring forth the AI contender… I spent a minute optimising my prompt, hit go, and a minute later I had eight passable images. Productivity rate: four images per minute. Wait. What. False start surely?!”
Was it time to throw in the towel and train as a prompt engineer?
“A murmur started amongst the audience… Before thankfully crescendo-ing into “But your images are better, I’d say you were the winner”. There was a glaring omission in the calculation – quality. My images were better, well at least they had the right number of arms. And that is where one limitation currently lies for me. At Innovate UK, we hand out public money, so the benchmark for evidence is high. It must be comprehensive, reliable, accurate and convincing. And it’s not quite ready for that task yet.”
POTENTIAL BENEFITS
Due to the fast-paced nature and learning capabilities of AI, businesses see its use as a long-term investment – and perhaps one that is more valuable than the hiring of a traditional human employee. As humans, we are limited by our incapability to complete tasks in a split-second, our inability to work 24/7 and the likelihood of being guilty of errors.
IS AI RELIABLE?
Whilst AI may be capable of integrating seamlessly into many business operations and expediting laborious tasks, it has been proven to have limitations. Cyber threats and data leaks amongst biases and
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inaccuracies are of the many reasons why AI cannot be relied upon in isolation. What many have found is that it lacks the ‘human-touch’. For the time being, it seems that AI is best kept under the hands of workers, not replacing them.
AI is an incredibly powerful tool for your workplace, and with that power comes responsibility – to understand your legal obligations, and best practice, contact us at IP@stephens-scown.co.uk
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At the more analytical end of Jaime’s job, AI can offer a fix to getting some tricky programming code working. In some instances this has saved him time previously spent tirelessly searching forums to find the buried answer.
“And my cleverer colleagues are using and building models to better classify and categorise our internal data, large messy amounts of text. Results are promising and mean we can give better answers, faster.
“Importantly, I have also learned that these tools don’t operate in a world of their own. For me this means they also have to operate alongside working groups, governance committees and risk assessments. They aren’t yet fully tested and therefore they aren’t yet fully trusted. So, it’s not ready to take my job, but I’m better at my job with it. A tool in the armoury, like many others.”
Talking of jobs, Tom Pugh-Jones is the founder of Mor Search, an executive search and recruitment agency based in Newquay. Helping high-growth software businesses identify go-to-market leaders, he then supports them building out their teams. Tom is also revolutionising his working day with the help of AI technologies. As a small business looking to build in efficiency and productivity, AI saves Tom many man-hours, giving him the time to have higher value conversations with clients.
Fyxer.ai helps manage his email inboxsorting emails into different categories and drafting responses. Juicebox.ai provides an AI-powered talent sourcing function called PeopleGPT, which saves Tom time trawling platforms such as LinkedIn. Once filters are set for a particular role, PeopleGPT will set about a search and provide a shortlist of potential candidates. AI can step in throughout the recruitment cycle too:
“I use Apollo.io to build cadences and use AI and Machine Learning to build tailored sales outreach, this programme allowing me to record client and candidate calls. The technology then analyses the conversation and produces actionable insights to progress the commercial conversations.”
Working with a range of high-growth clients, Tom sees firsthand the impact of the phenomenal advances of tech in the AI space.
”The last 18 months has been tough in tech recruitment with mass layoffs across the board. That said, the market is picking up and we’re seeing a trend of large amounts of AI-focussed platforms receiving VC funding and scaling out their GTM teams. Just recently, I’ve started working with a Data Development Platform for AI teams that have raised $30M and built out their marketing team.”
As AI platforms scale, they are reshaping hiring trends as well as workplace operations. To better understand how AI adoption is impacting day-to-day business functions, I spoke to Dr Tom Lintern, an industry impact fellow at the University of Exeter, who advises Cornish businesses on the potential of AI. Dr Lintern recognises that with wider access to new AI technologies, we all have a responsibility to use AI in a responsible and ethical way:
“The potential of AI should not be ignored, nor should it be feared. AI can produce impressive outputs, but it is not infallible. Misinformation, inaccuracies, or biases can emerge. Always keep a human in the loop to review and validate AIgenerated content. This ensures accountability; fostering trust and reducing reputational risk.
“AI regulation is still evolving. While most AI generated outputs are not copyright restricted, it’s crucial to select third-party models that are trained on licensed or publicly available data. Inherent biases exist in all AI models but minimising the bias within your data, and ensuring AI applications do not reinforce discriminatory practices, should be a priority.”
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Marwick Marketing director Christian Thomson discusses the advent of Gemini AI.
It took companies seven years to adapt to a mobile first world. Google got so fed up waiting for businesses to transition from traditional websites to mobile responsive that it set a deadline in March 2021 for all sites to move to mobile first indexing.
What’s about to happen with the adoption of Gemini AI will impact companies online in a much bigger and quicker way than the mobile revolution. Gemini is Google’s powerful AI platform, which is significantly more powerful and multimodal than ChatGPT.
Let most businesses are completely unaware of these colossal updates on Google.
In the coming months Google will start to feature Gemini AI results above the organic list we’re so used to seeing.
These Gemini results will do much of the hard lifting your customers used to do.
Instead of the customer having to research about your location, product or service Gemini will do that for them. Saving the customer’s time.
The impact on websites will no doubt result in a huge drop in website traffic for 99% of websites. However, the quality of traffic will be higher as the customer will be better informed of their choices.
It’s anticipated that the first half of a consumer’s journey will not result in any website traffic - the research phase.
The research phase is the customer comparing you to your competitors, discovering what product or service they
might need and exploring reviews. This will all be presented within the new Gemini AI window.
There is a window of opportunity for professional SEO teams to tailor their strategy to help Gemini recognise their website’s content over their competitors.
If you’d like to learn more about Gemini AI & SEO feel free to reach out to me christian@marwickmarketing.com
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With respect to AI use, Dr Lintern also emphasises prioritising data privacy and security, as well as transparency, to maintain trust with staff, clients and potential investors.
“AI relies on data, and we have a responsibility to protect the personal data of our customers and employees. Avoid using free consumer tools, such as ChatGPT for use cases requiring sensitive data. Instead, invest in enterprise-level AI solutions or APIs that provide robust data protection and clear usage policies. Keeping information secure is not just good practice—it’s a legal and ethical necessity.
“Clearly attribute AI-generated content where applicable and establish clear AI guidelines for your business. This will educate staff on ethic practices and position your business as a responsible leader in AI use.”
Libby Gibbons is a producer working with Bull & Wolf, the video production agency. The Bull & Wolf team have seized the benefits AI technologies can provide for the creative sector, but knows when to draw the line. Libby explains:
As AI platforms scale, they are reshaping hiring trends.
“AI tools exist that are super useful but are not yet at a stage where they can be sent off to do a task that requires creative thinking.
There are AI voices you can use for narration and generative fill which takes information to extend images. These are both incredible innovations but are not reliable enough to use.
“The ethical debate is always interesting around AI and personally, I would not use an AI voice where there is the opportunity to hire a person for that role instead, unless it was for say a charity that didn’t have the budget available to hire an artist - there it provides a creative solution to maximise output for a good cause. It’s vital to use our position to both limit and harness the power it has.”
As a producer, Libby acts as a project manager and primary client liaison. She adds: “With the go-ahead from clients, I use AI to transcribe calls and create summaries – this saves me a lot of time and also provides clients with speedy recaps from meetings.
“I do however think it is really important to tread the line with AI and know when to use it and when to trust your own abilities; knowing when the shortcut isn’t actually a shortcut.
“As every stage of our process requires original thought and problem-solving, for now, it remains to be a tool, rather than a dependable part of the process.”
To round up, I figured it might be best to go straight to the horse’s mouth, so to speak. With a constant workload, it’s clear ChatGPT rarely takes a breath, although it (yes, I checked its preferred pronoun), was happy to take time to share a view on its impact on Cornwall’s businesses.
“As ChatGPT, my role in impacting Cornwall’s business community can be viewed from both positive and potential negative angles.
“I’ve provided businesses in Cornwall with easy access to valuable information, insights, and tailored advice, which can help them make informed decisions, streamline operations, and enhance customer engagement. For instance, I’ve assisted with market research, content creation, and strategic planning, enabling local businesses to be more competitive and adaptive in a rapidly changing environment. My ability to offer ideas on sustainability, innovation, and local engagement has likely contributed to businesses aligning more closely with community values and environmental goals, which are particularly important in Cornwall.
“On the flip side, there’s a concern that relying on AI like me could lead to reduced demand for local expertise and human consultation, potentially impacting job opportunities and the value of human
We stand at the precipice of unprecedented technological advancements, and if Cornwall is to take maximum advantage we must work together. At Falmouth University we’re working with businesses across various sectors to ensure it is used to make a positive impact of the region’s economy.
creativity. Additionally, while I strive to provide accurate and relevant information, there’s always a risk of inaccuracies or generalizations that might not fully capture the unique nuances of Cornwall’s specific business environment, which could lead to less optimal decisions.
“Overall, my impact is largely shaped by how businesses choose to use my capabilities— whether as a supplement to human insight or as a replacement.”
Couldn’t have summarised things better? I think you and I can. At the end of the day, generative tools are based on what they are fed. They, like us, are constantly learning. Whilst their creativity can be limited, the more we use and brief these tools, query them, edit and correct them, the better they - or rather, we - get. When it comes to using these tools, from my own limited experience and talking to others (humans that is, not so much the AI tools), inspiration works both ways. Back to Jaime, not JAIme, to conclude.
“Of the times I have seen it used to automate an element of someone’s job, it hasn’t replaced them, it’s simply meant they move on to better analysis – more interesting/ difficult/new questions, understanding the context better, being more strategic, or most critically, doing more with the answers. Communicating results, persuading others of the evidence, influencing decisions. All the human things.”
Our Centre for Blended Reality (CBR) is a pioneering research centre focused on the creative uses of immersive and emerging technologies. An essential part of our work is sharing knowledge and collaborating with local businesses helping them stay competitive in a rapidly evolving marketplace.
A key part of CBR’s mission is making cutting-edge research accessible to the Cornish business community. One example is the Centre’s involvement in the Entrepreneurial Futures programme, funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This £5.68 million programme accelerates innovation across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly through research and development, knowledge exchange, and consultancy with
For businesses interested in accessing support around AI take a look at the Innovate UK BridgeAI programme (https://iuk.ktn-uk.org/programme/ bridgeai/), or visit the Innovation Hub (https:// ukinnovationhub.ukri.org/).
Contact the Growth Hub for information on the latest funded business support and workshops regarding AI, which includes an AI Roundtable event, led by Dr Tom Lintern on Fri October 18.
Falmouth University receiving just over half a million pounds.
For instance, a recent micro-residency allowed local businesses to work with the academic team to experiment with stateof-the-art 3D capture methods – Gaussian Splatting for those who want to find out more! Access to this kind of expertise can help reduce the risks associated with the early adoption of new technology.
The Centre’s immersive product development programme also collaborates with businesses to co-develop new concepts, such as KMO-Fleet’s virtual reality solution for visualising logistical site data in real time. As businesses increasingly rely on data for
decision-making, this kind of immersive technology offers a powerful tool for interpreting complex datasets, improving operational efficiency.
Through engagement with local businesses, CBR is fostering a culture of innovation that is boosting Cornwall’s economy. By bridging the gap between research, technology, and business, Falmouth University’s CBR is helping to drive growth in the region’s digital and creative industries.
Cyber is a big topic for businesses and one that has the potential to keep business leaders awake at night. Headforwards’ head of technology, John Howell shares five ways to strengthen your cyber posture.
1. SAY YES TO UPDATES
Updates can be inconvenient, and they have a habit of kicking you out of your computer or system at the worst moment, but they exist with good reason. What we notice from an update is a cosmetic change –different fonts, a new feature, new useability – but at the heart of every update is often security.
Keeping up to date is an easy cyber security win, so respond to requests promptly. You never know what they’re going to protect you against.
2. FOCUS ON HIGH PROBABILITY THREATS
A common mistake companies make is to pay close attention to huge threats with a low probability of occurring, and ignore the lower impact threats that are much more likely to happen.
Extremely damaging threats, for many organisations, are also extremely unlikely, and allocating precious resources to these areas means taking it away from higher probability threats. Smaller threats can cause significant disruption to smaller businesses, denting productivity, damaging relationships with customers and suppliers, and leaving you out of pocket. It’s usually the higher probability, smaller threats that end up being the most problematic in the long run.
When it comes to cyber management, no two companies are the same. They might use the same systems, but the way they use them and the data they hold is likely to be entirely different.
To fully assess the cyber posture of a company and ensure the best cyber security, an individual (or company) must have a deep understanding of technology and data as well as cyber. Assessing a company’s cyber position should involve a thorough analysis of all of the systems and how the company manages them, leaving you with a plan of action bespoke to your business.
You can control what’s in your own company, but once you start working with other companies, security is diluted. There is not much point having a robust cyber posture within your own business, if you partner with a third party that doesn’t have the basics covered.
Third parties present a risk to your organisation, and you will need to do your due diligence to make sure they won’t take you down with them!
Unfortunately, cyber incidents are an inevitable reality in our modern business environment, so what really matters is how you prepare to respond.
Who has what role? What responsibilities do you have as an organisation? What is the first thing that is done? What is the second thing that is done? You might have a brilliant IT department and a cyber professional within it, but it’s important to make sure each person knows exactly what role they would take should an incident occur. It’s sensible to stage a mock attack and practice dealing with it, at least once every 12 months. If you are prepared, methodical and organised you can hope to limit the scope and scale of any breach.
Headforwards is a team of software engineers and technology experts that help our clients define, build and integrate the right software and solutions for their business. Find out how Headforwards could support your business with cyber headforwards.com
At Tech Cornwall, we believe AI has the power to elevate the region’s economy and workforce. But for Cornwall to lead, we need to ensure that our community is equipped with the right skills to harness its potential.
Upskilling plays a critical role in this transformation. Through our Tech Academy, we’re fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation. Whether it’s young professionals entering the industry or experienced individuals retraining, our programs focus on delivering the skills needed to thrive in the digital economy.
Our goal is to not just prepare people for today’s jobs but for tomorrow’s challenges. AI is transforming the way we work, and training our workforce to adapt and grow with these changes is essential.
Our Masterclasses and training initiatives at Tech Cornwall are designed to address this need for rapid adaptation, we build as quickly as the tech landscape shifts. Our courses help individuals develop in-demand skills, from software development to AI-driven technologies, with the aim of a local, reactive workforce that remains competitive on a national and global scale.
As Cornwall continues its rapid digital evolution, AI is no longer a distant concept reserved for tech giants –it’s a tool that’s reshaping businesses of all sizes and in all industries, says Tech Cornwall director Niki Davies.
As AI continues to reshape industry, businesses must also reflect on if they themselves are ready. Here is what we think every company should be asking themselves…
• Are we investing in the right training programs to ensure our teams can leverage AI effectively?
• How can AI help us improve not only our efficiency but also our innovation capacity?
• What measures are we taking to integrate AI responsibly and ethically into our operations?
• Do we have a strategy in place to adapt to the rapid pace of AI development?“
AI is evolving at a pace none of us can ignore.
The next generation is growing into a world where AI will shape every aspect of their lives – playtime and worktime.
It’s not just about today, and the people powering business in real-time. The next generation is growing into a world where AI will shape every aspect of their lives - playtime and worktime. It’s our responsibility, as business leaders and educators, to prepare them for this future - and to stay prepared ourselves.
It’s our duty to ensure that Cornwall’s future workforce is equipped to not only embrace this technology but to thrive with it. If we don’t prepare them, who will?
The future of Cornwall’s tech ecosystem is bright, but only if we continue to prioritise upskilling, ethical AI use, and supporting the digital leaders of tomorrow.
At Tech Cornwall, we’re committed to ensuring that our businesses and workforce are equipped with the skills and knowledge to lead in the digital age. Be ready for it, we’ve got your back: techcornwall.co.uk
We meet Simon Vincent, the co-founder of Tremough Innovation Centre-based start-up KAIAKO.
How did you come about to forming KAIAKO?
It’s kind of a funny story. My co-founder Nick du Preez and I had been on an accelerator course together for six months and never really spoken. In the final few weeks there was a pitching competition involving the entire cohort in which I managed to come second even though I did the maths and worked out that I’d scored 0.5 points more than the maximum (clearly the scoring system was broken somehow!)
Nick was the person who’d beaten me (scoring 1.5 points more than the maximum) and so we figured we should hear each other’s pitches. And the amazing thing is that we were essentially both pitching KAIAKO. His idea was obviously far more focused on the Generative AI technology and mine was strongly focused on the marketing model that underpins KAIAKO but both ideas were moving in the same direction and we realised that, by joining forces, our expertise would complement and super-charge each others’ and so things just went from there.
How does the service work?
It’s really very simple. All a customer needs to do is go to www.kaiako.ai and they’ll be asked what type of marketing content they want to create – a social post, a blog article, an email newsletter for example. After that, they’ll input some information about their company and the particular campaign they want to create – some of this information will be saved for speed next time if they create a free account. And finally, and this is the ‘secret sauce’ bit, they’ll select from one of 16 tones of voice (we call them ‘marketypes’) that will add the personality - the charisma – which all great marketing has at its core.
What are the advantages of AI-generated content? Can machines be more creative than humans?
I wouldn’t say a machine can be more creative than a human, but it can certainly be taught some of the traits of what we humans might classify as “creativity” – or, to use the word we use when we talk about KAIAKO, “charisma”.
In KAIAKO’s case, the marketypes model on which it’s built is based on a variety of different psychometric tests. Models like the Myers Briggs Type Indicator have been grouping humans according to their personality traits since Carl Jung invented the terms “introversion” and “extraversion” in the early 1900s. Ever since, we as humans have enjoyed discovering our own personality types – partly as a means of helping us to identify tribes to which we belong. Marketing is the same thing. As marketers, if we know simple things like how introverted or extroverted our customers are likely to be, we can tailor the messaging and images to suit those personality types; taking just this very simple example, extroverts will be more likely to respond to a more pushy callto-action such as “buy now”, while an introvert, who is naturally more cautious and measured, is more likely to respond to a softer call-to-action like “discover more”. These sorts of rules can be plugged into a machine and used to generate content that is more likely to resonate with its target audience.
So, the real benefit of AI-generated content is not necessarily that it’s better than a human, though many people who are tasked with creating marketing content for companies are not trained copywriters and so in those cases, the expertise of the tool might actually help improve the quality of the content being created. The real benefit of Generative AI is the speed with which it can write or generate images. And even for someone like me who has 20 years of experience in journalism and creative writing, the ability to get really good content from KAIAKO really quickly has proven to be a gamechanger in terms of the quality and quantity of my output.
What plans do you have to grow/scale the business?
We think this is a tool that could potentially help a huge number of small and medium-sized companies – as well as marketing agencies – so, yes, we’re
aiming for very ambitious growth over the next 3-5 years. In terms of what that might look like; at the moment, KAIAKO is mainly a text-generation tool, though we do have some clients with whom we’re working to create AI-generated images too, albeit with a human-in-the-loop because of the limitations of the technology in its current form. But this Autumn we are doing a fundraise aimed at building a team and developing the tech such that we can really accelerate our work with AI generated images and even video.
Video, in particular, is still in the very embryonic stages of being used to create content at the moment and really hasn’t yet been applied to advertising properly, so if we can crack that, that will be a huge opportunity. Imagine small, Cornish companies being able to create TV ads of the quality of Nike and Coca Cola, but on a fraction of the budget and in a matter of hours!
AI is a fast-moving technology. What advances do you think we will see over the coming years?
What we typically see happening with technological maturity is two things. First, as more and more people adopt the technology, we start to see an ironing out of the creases. We’ve already seen this happening at an incredible pace with generative AI – just look at the difference in the quality of images that you were
able to create using Dall-E a matter of six months ago to what can be done using tools like Midjourney now. I expect that that will continue.
Second, I think we’re going to see Large Language Models (LLMs) become cheaper, smaller and more specialised – really tailoring themselves to individual industries such as medical, education and, in our case, marketing.
The real benefit of Generative AI is the speed with which it can write or generate images.
Finally, there is the harder stuff to do that is already under way, that absolutely has to happen but is pretty complex and will take time. I’m talking here about things like removing bias and becoming more representative of a wide range of views and cultures. It’ll also need to become more transparent in terms of its sources and, clearly, hallucinate less. But all of those things are really exciting challenges and ones that we really hope KAIAKO will play a part in working towards.
kaiako.ai
Introducing six of Cornwall’s digital and technology champions...
We are Buzz Interactive; an award-winning technology studio based in the heart of Newquay, with a passion for innovation.
Our experienced team of developers and project managers is all about helping businesses drive change through easy-to-use, intuitive software solutions that deliver real results – every time.
Whether you’re looking for support with internal software, or you want to re-imagine the customer experience,
Cool Waters Cyber Security is Cornwall’s first and only certification body for Cyber Security standards that can help secure your business and open new markets for growth.
Based in Penryn and helping business for over 20 years, we offer our 24/7 fully managed Cyber Security team for your organisation. We help clients gain the cyber security certifications such as Cyber Essentials or ISO 27001 that protect their business and open new markets.
According to Government data, half of businesses and around a third of charities report having experienced some form of cyber security breach or attack in the last 12 months.
It is imperative that you consider cyber security as a top business priority. cool-waters.co.uk
we’ll help you claim back time, smash your profit margins or give your customers what they didn’t know they needed.
Plus, our collaborative approach means you’re with us every step of the way! Get in touch to get started. buzzinteractive.co.uk
At Healthappy, we’re redefining workplace wellness with our all-in-one app, inspired by Cornwall’s natural beauty and community spirit. Our platform focuses on four key pillars: Physical Health, Mental Wellbeing, Diet and Nutrition, and Environmental and Social Impact.
We collaborate with top experts –nutritionists for healthy eating insights, therapists for mental health resources, and personal trainers for fitness guidance.
We have built up an extensive range of AV kit and when not in use for our own programme, is available for hire to for events and exhibitions.
From projectors to sound systems, we can provide quality audio-visual equipment, with support from Adam Goodwin our Digital Producer, at competitive rates. If you are looking to produce a short film, live stream, podcast, 360 experience or 3d
Our solutions seamlessly integrate into any work environment, supporting balanced mental health and healthier habits.
Additionally, our Environmental and Social Impact initiatives connect businesses with community projects and help us support our Cornish partners PlantOne and Clean Cornwall.
healthappy.co.uk
Smart SEO Cornwall provides affordable SEO services in Cornwall. We give businesses a competitive advantage by specialising exclusively in search engine optimisation. We proudly collaborate with a diverse range of Cornish businesses, from fresh start-ups to established e-commerce brands.
At Smart SEO Cornwall we like to keep things simple, our pricing affordable and have no minimum-length contracts.
scan, we have the resources to match your digital media needs.
You can hire the equipment, or book Adam to operate the equipment and create your content for you.
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Tango3 builds creative and considered digital solutions that are robust and designed to last.
If you visit us, you’ll find chilled beats, low lighting, and really great coffee.
We understand what appeals to consumers and we apply this insight to drive the growth and visibility of your business.
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Using modern techniques and tailored SEO strategies we help your website climb higher in Google rankings and grow your business with organic traffic.
Our search engine optimisation packages will turn your website into an online asset. smartseocornwall.co.uk
consultancy, video or print solutions our approach ensures that every service is tailored specifically to your needs. tango3. tailored digital. tango3.co.uk | hello@tango3.co.uk
Hotel owner Emma Stratton explains the important work she is doing with Homes for Cornwall, a grassroots movement committed to reversing the housing crisis in Cornwall.
In Cornwall, a transformative movement is unfolding, driven by a collective vision for a more inclusive and sustainable approach to housing.
As someone deeply invested in this cause, I am excited to share how Homes for Cornwall is making a significant impact on our community’s future. Our goal is to ensure every Cornish community thrives with the stability and security of a thoughtfully designed home.
Homes for Cornwall represents a coalition of passionate individuals and professionals from diverse fields. Our team includes businesses, landowners, charities, and residents—all united by a common goal.
As the CEO and owner of Scarlet and Bedruthan Hotels, my commitment to this project stems from a deep-rooted belief in the power of community and collaboration. Our diverse coalition reflects this ethos, working together to tackle the housing challenge from multiple perspectives.
We’ve already made notable strides. For instance, we’ve supported landowners who generously donate land for community housing, ensuring that these areas are preserved for future generations. We’re also advocating for more flexible land use regulations and partnering with Cornwall Council to influence housing policies. Local architects are crafting innovative and sustainable housing designs, and our book, Hope for Cornwall, outlines our vision for community-driven solutions.
Looking to the future, our Acre Project stands out as a key initiative. This project aims to provide housing solutions across every Cornish constituency by encouraging landowners to contribute an acre plot – either gifted or offered at a reduced value. This approach allows communities to have a say in the type of homes that are built, ensuring that developments meet local needs and preferences.
Working together to tackle the housing challenge from multiple perspectives.
To support these efforts, we’re launching a time bank resource that will offer advice on planning, community land trusts, and architectural designs. This will empower communities to make informed decisions and explore various housing options. As someone who is deeply involved in this project, I’m excited to see how these resources will inspire and enable meaningful change.
If you’re interested in joining this movement, staying connected is crucial. Our website offers opportunities to get involved and connect with others who share a passion for improving Cornwall’s housing landscape.
By coming together and listening to diverse voices, we can make a real difference and build a future where every Cornish community enjoys the benefits of secure and well-planned housing. Join us in shaping a brighter future for Cornwall.
Nestled amongst the almost 100-acre site of the Royal Cornwall Events Centre, the Pavilion Centre provides the county with its most diverse and trusted events venue.
Placed just a mile and a half away from the historic town of Wadebridge, the venue finds itself in an area of the county that is central for most people, a telltale sign of one of the considerations taken when the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association (RCAA) picked a permanent location for the previously nomadic Royal Cornwall Show, which was first held at the North Cornwall site in 1960.
Now the iconic showground is used for a variety of events and competitions all year round, not just the renowned Royal Cornwall Show in June.
Support before, during and after every event...
As well as this, the RCAA as a charity is heavily involved with the local area in many ways, this includes supporting rural and agricultural communities and its extensive Food & Farming education programme.
The Royal Cornwall Pavilion was officially opened by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Vice President of the RCAA, at the 2008 Royal Cornwall Show. The purpose of the Pavilion was to replace the existing Members’ Pavilion with a state-of-the-art facility for the use of Members during the Show, but also provide a versatile venue that could be hired out for public and private events throughout the rest of the year and complement the outside spaces and amenities at the Showground.
As mentioned, the Royal Cornwall Pavilion Centre is part of the RCAA and the Royal Cornwall, and pulls on over 200 years of experience, promoting and supporting Cornish innovation with the aim of highlighting great local businesses and enterprises.
Many businesses and organisations have trust in the annual Show to provide a platform for promotion and community engagement, many returning every single year for decades, and as a staple part of their yearly activities.
This faith extends to the Pavilion Centre; trusted to provide an incredible facility and add credibility and integrity to the events hosted there.
Having such incredible facilities at the heart of Cornwall has also allowed for much goodwill to be given back to the wider community. During the recent pandemic, the site provided amenities for testing key workers and was a major centre in Cornwall for Covid vaccines. It even provided storage for appliances and furniture for emergency temporary housing that was being implemented at the time.
The support and use of the Pavilion Centre by local businesses allows the site to give back in such a way.
Understanding the diverse nature of Cornwall’s businesses, their needs and objectives, the Pavilion Centre was built to be versatile and able to offer a range of event sizes and room configurations to match this multiplicity. Offering solutions that can cater for a 4-person meeting, all the way up to a multiday public expo.
Alongside this, the venue boats amenities such as a fully equipped professional kitchen, full accessible access, and AV and staging facilities, as well as enough complimentary parking for large scale events.
Working closely with local businesses is something that is important across the whole of the organisation, whether that is in the capacity as a charity, or as part of the Royal Cornwall Show. This also reflects in the dedicated pavilion manager and staff, which ensure support before, during and after every event, so that businesses can make the most out of their investment.
In conclusion, for Cornish businesses and organisations, the Pavilion Centre provides the perfect blank canvas and trusted history to hold any event, meeting or conference with confidence.
For more information visit pavilioncentre.co.uk or contact the Pavilion Centre at emmariddle@royalcornwall.co.uk
Stephens Scown has strengthened its family team.
With a career spanning more than 30 years, Ann Thomas is a specialist in international cases, especially those in relation to children.
Joining the south west law firm as a consultant, she said: “Having relocated to the south west, this is an exciting opportunity to work with an outstanding legal firm and to share my knowledge and experience. I’ve long admired the great work being done by Stephens Scown’s family team, and I’m looking forward to further enhancing their reputation, working closely with the team on its strategy.”
Two decades of high-level experience in marine business and a lifetime’s knowledge of the sea has seen Tristan Rowe appointed as Falmouth Harbour’s new head of commercial operations.
As a harbour leisure user with lifelong sailing and watersports credentials, he also spent the last 20 years of his career working on the after-sales and commercial operations of Cockwells Boatbuilding in Mylor, Falmouth’s Pendennis Shipyard and MacGregor Yachts International.
In his new role, Rowe’s strategic focus will be on longer term growth for Falmouth Harbour - working closely with CEO Miles Carden to generate new, profitable, innovative business streams and projects.
“It will be fantastic to welcome Tristan Rowe to our incredible team at Falmouth Harbour,” said Carden. “We are at a pivotal
Accountancy firm BK Plus has appointed Malcolm Peters as partner in its expanding south west division. Peters brings with him a wealth of experience, having previously served as a partner with Kelsall Steele/Azets. With a particular focus on the agricultural sector, Peters will play a key role in enhancing BK Plus’s presence and service offerings in Cornwall.
BK Plus now operates six offices in the Cornwall Hub, including Penzance, St Ives, Redruth, Truro, and Helston. Peters will be splitting his time between the Truro and Helston offices, contributing to the growth and success of the firm’s south west operations.
Cornish charity St Petrocs has welcomed Vicki Sewell to its board of trustees.
Sewell has an impressive background in finance. She is an audit director at KPMG and has worked within the charity and social housing sectors for over 20 years and previously led KPMG’s public sector audit team across the south west.
St Petrocs director of finance, Judith Dumbrell, said: “We look forward to Vicki sharing her insights and helping the board to guide the direction of St Petrocs in the future.”
stage in our growth plan and from 2025 we want to move and accelerate our plans to improve our offer to customers and realise the potential from new marine technologies.
“We still have challenges ahead, but Tristan’s marine business experience will be key to our success and we are all very much looking forward to working with him.”
Tom Tripp, one of the south west regional partners, said: “The expansion of our team with Malcolm’s appointment is another significant step for our Cornwall Hub.”
An established Scottish firm of chartered surveyors has opened an office in Cornwall.
Following last year’s initial foray south of the border, DM Hall now has a branch in the Health and Wellbeing Innovation Centre in Truro, under the management of DM Hall director, Scott Harrington.
He is transferring from DM Hall’s office in Carlisle, having been a co-founder of Hyde Harrington, chartered surveyors, some 30 years ago before it was acquired by DM Hall in 2023.
He said: “Having holidayed in Cornwall for the last 20 years, I have reached the stage at which I had a real yearning to relocate there. I have thoroughly researched the market in Cornwall and made a compelling business case to my colleagues which tells us that we can build real market presence by focusing on the type of work that I have been involved in for many years.”
New figures have revealed around 40 million protein portions are landed into Cornwall’s fishing ports every year.
Cornish Tea & Coffee has announced ambitious expansion plans as it looks to transform into a “national leader with a global footprint”.
Currently, the company boasts a production capacity of five tonnes of coffee and over one million tea bags daily, positioning it as the largest producer in the south of England.
However, this capacity is set to increase
Prima Bakeries Group, which incorporates Redruth-based Prima Bakeries and St Columb-based Cornish Premier Pasties, has announced its purchase of Cornish biscuit maker Furniss of Cornwall, for an undisclosed sum.
Furniss of Cornwall will now operate under the Prima Bakeries Group with all staff joining the Employee Ownership Trust.
Commenting on the acquisition, Prima Bakeries MD Mark Norton said: “This is an incredibly exciting time for us, as we bring another iconic Cornish food brand under our wing. There is a lot of synergy between the businesses, as well as complementary product ranges, so our responsibility is to now build on the brilliant work that the previous owners and directors have done, to further grow the business.”
It’s been calculated by the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation (CFPO) based on the most recently complete landings data captured by Seafish.
It follows the publication of research earlier this year, which discovered Cornwall’s seafood sector brings in £174 million pounds to the county’s economy and employs around 8,000 people.
A number of signs aimed at educating visitors on the value of Cornwall’s seafood sector are going to be placed in harbours across the county.
fivefold following the purchase of the old Drinkmaster factory just off the A38 near Liskeard. The new site will house its tea and coffee production facilities and a visitor centre
MD, Duncan Bond, said: “It’s exciting to keep pace with the demands of our customers. This new facility is driven by our commitment to delivering exceptional products and fulfilling customer needs.
“It will enable us to achieve our ambitious goal of reaching £15 million in turnover within the next few years, paving the way for further growth and expansion.”
As part of its growth plans, the company is pioneering regionally specific teas within the UK and this summer launched ‘Essex Tea’ in Tesco stores across Essex and ‘Cumbrian Tea’ in Booths stores across the north west. It also has plans to expand overseas, with a “major retail” launch into the US market.
The acquisition comes as Prima Bakeries Group announces record years for both Cornish Premier Pasties and Prima Bakeries, with sales growing by £2 million year-on-year and the turnover of the group expected to reach £15 million per annum, by the end of 2024.
As well as the purchase of Furniss of Cornwall, the group will be opening a new 20,000sq ft production facility in St Columb later in the year.
The first has been unveiled in Mevagissey by the new MP for St Austell and Newquay.
MP Noah Law said: “I’m thrilled to see this sign up. The awareness it’s going to be raising for Mevagissey is fantastic because that’s the word we need to spread, it’s not just what you catch in the net but the whole ecosystem around the fishing industry and we should be very proud it.
“You’ve got to look at the bigger picture and see all the jobs that it creates.”
Watergate Bay Hotel has appointed a new executive head chef.
Stepping into the world of catering at the age of 16 at St Austell College, Chris Eden honed his craft in London under big-name chefs Phil Howard, Chris Galvin and Paul Gayler, before returning to Cornwall to take up a head chef position at the Driftwood on the Roseland peninsula, where he won his first Michelin star.
He retained it from 2012 until the end of his tenure in 2019, before moving to Devon for his most recent position at Gidleigh Park, where he gained a Michelin star in 2023 for the “balanced, harmonious and rewarding” flavours in his dishes.
Watergate Bay founder Will Ashworth said: “We’re thrilled to welcome Chris to the team; he’s not only a perfect fit for the role, but his radiating enthusiasm will no doubt elevate this experience for everyone – guests, team and visitors alike.”
Truro and Penwith College has opened nominations for the 2025 Cornwall Apprenticeship Awards.
New Nursing & Clinical and Healthcare & Early Years categories have been added to the event for the first time to reflect the recent growth and impact of apprenticeships in these sectors.
The new categories join the Academic Mentor and Workplace Mentor of the Year categories that were added in 2024.
College principal, Martin Tucker, said: “We
Truro High School for Girls will be flying the flag for Cornwall as the only school in the Duchy to reach the finals of a top educational award.
The school has been named as one of six national finalists for Girls’ School of the Year at the Independent Schools of the Year Awards. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London later this month.
Truro High was also shortlisted in the Pre-Prep of the Year category.
Headmistress, Sarah Matthews, said: “We work incredibly hard at Truro High School to give our girls the very best experience that we can, and to have that recognised on a national level and to be in the final six for Girls’ School of the Year is absolutely brilliant.”
are thrilled to open nominations for the ninth annual Cornwall Apprenticeship Awards. The college is incredibly proud of the awards and the high regard in which it is held by employers and learners across the county. We look forward to a very enjoyable evening celebrating all the talent that exists across the apprenticeship provision in the county in February.”
For full information on the awards and how to enter, go to truro-penwith. ac.uk/CAA Nominations close on Monday, October 21. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on February 7 at the Eden Project.
A Cornish Assembly, strict action on Cornwall’s housing crisis, and official recognition of Cornish people’s ethnic minority status are among the key priorities that have been identified by residents in a new manifesto.
Stronger measures to protect the environment and improved transport infrastructure are also matters of concern for people, all captured by researchers during the General Election campaign.
Now, these have been collated into a new book – My Manifesto for Cornwall / Ow Derivadow Rag Kernow – edited by Dr Garry Tregidga and Andrew Climo from the University of Exeter’s Institute of Cornish Studies.
It was launched at the University of Exeter, Cornwall’s Penryn campus with local MPs Jane Kirkham and Noah Law. It has also been presented to the remainder of the Duchy’s MPs.
“Policy formulation tends to be seen as the preserve of the political parties at Westminster,” Dr
Truro School has been named the winner of the Talk Education National Awards for Performing and Creative Arts.
As the only south west finalist, the school faced competition from independent schools in London, Suffolk, Surrey and Oxfordshire to bring the award home.
The award highlights Truro School’s creative arts programme and recognises its “exceptional commitment to fostering creativity, artistic excellence, and inclusivity”.
Head, Andy Johnson, said: “I am absolutely thrilled for all our pupils, staff and the wider creative community we support, to receive this award.
“In a national climate where the value of the creative arts can sometimes be questioned in education or the community, we are proud to be championing it instead.”
Tregidga said. “But the old phrase ‘All politics is local’ is still relevant today. It is very important that a specific place like Cornwall can avoid being marginalised by an electoral process essentially conducted at the centre.”
My Manifesto for Cornwall / Ow Derivadow Rag Kernow brings together contributors from many different backgrounds, including academia, business, culture, environment, farming, heritage, local government and trade unions.
Other themes to emerge included calls for more to be done to protect and support Cornish theatre, language, music and arts; promoting greater communal cohesion and respect among different ethnic groups; and tackling the growing evidence of climate change at the micro level.
Cornwall is on the brink of something brilliant, but it has a choice. Be bold, ambitious and unapologetically Cornish about what a thriving investable economy could look like. Or, wait for someone to do it for us (they won’t).
We’ve got opportunities most regions can only dream of. Lithium under our feet, floating offshore wind farms ready to power our future, and a spaceport , a bloody spaceport! These help get the juices flowing and grab the headlines but let’s not pretend Cornwall is a one-trick pony. Our creative sector is booming, producing art, content and experiences that competes on a global stage. Agriculture is evolving, smarter and more sustainable than ever. Our social care sector?
Leading the charge, showing the rest of the country how to do things differently under pretty unthinkable conditions. We are at the forefront of hospitality, tourism, manufacturing and more.
And our marine economy? Well, we’re surrounded by water and we’ve always known how to use it to our advantage. This isn’t just about nice ideas or headline projects. It’s about making Cornwall the poster child for regeneration and innovation across as many sectors as possible.
Here’s the kicker: we can only do it if we embrace the audacity of thinking big while making sure everyone rises along with the success.
All of this potential means nothing if we don’t have the talent, the drive, and the guts to seize it. We need to nurture a generation of business leaders who aren’t just content with getting by, but instead want to talk much more about just crossing the Atlantic than the Tamar.
Ambition needs to be at the heart of everything we do. We’re a hotbed of talent, ideas, and innovation, with a rebellious attitude and a cultural identity that penetrates the imagination and usually cuts through the crap.
Now, I’m not blind to reality. We’re staring down another era of austerity, but we need to be ready. We have to fight for every penny of public sector funding—because we deserve it.
Having sat back with a glass of vino (it’s 17:02, don’t judge him) after an incredible day at the Planet C event, Cornwall Chamber CEO John Brown wants to write about being unapologetically ambitious and audacious.
But more than that, we need to get better at attracting private investment. Angel investors, venture capitalists — you name it, we need it. And they need to see Cornwall for what it is: a place brimming with opportunity.
But this isn’t just about putting a few more businesses on the map.
To drive back to the central theme of Planet C, It’s about making sure that as we lift the ceiling of what Cornwall can achieve, we’re also lifting the floor. Economic growth is only worth celebrating if it translates into real, tangible benefits for the people who call this place home.
That means better healthcare, affordable housing, and an infrastructure that actually works. Yes, inward investment has been great for business, but socially? We’re seeing the same social issues year in year out and performance has either stagnated or deteriorated. And that needs to change. We want more investment, but we also need to demand that it contributes to a more equal Cornwall.
Cornwall is on the brink of something brilliant.
So, as we look towards an Autumn Budget and policy decision making, let’s be unapologetically Cornish in our ambitions. Let’s be fearless in driving Cornwall forward. But let’s also make sure that no one gets left behind in the process.
Let’s get to work.
An all-female holiday lettings specialist is among the latest Cornish companies to have joined the rapidly-growing B Corp movement.
Following a rigorous evaluation process across multiple impact areas, including social and environmental performance, legal accountability, and public transparency, Cornish Holiday Cottages becomes part of a worldwide community of businesses that prioritise purpose alongside profit.
“I am beyond delighted to have achieved B Corp certification,” said MD Emily Boriosi.
“Cornish Holiday Cottages was founded on the principles of kindness, honesty and doing right back in 1978. We have always believed in looking after our environment, taking care of each other and looking after our community.”
There are now 78 businesses in Cornwall to boast B Corp certification, making it the biggest concentration outside of London. Fellow holiday lettings business, Forever Cornwall, became a B Corp in the summer, while Cornish clothing brand, Seasalt, revealed it, too, had become a B Corp last month.
A new aparthotel set to open in Cornwall this month has unveiled a new mural painted in “coastal street art” style.
SeaSpace – the former Sands Resort situated on the coast road between Porth and Watergate – turned to local artist and teacher Phil Strugnell to reimagine a fresh new chapter for the building.
Stretching 11x8 metres across the side wall of the building, Strugnell, head of art at
Newquay Tretherras School, planned a mural to “capture a sense of movement, flow and vibrant energy to mirror the surrounding environment”.
SeaSpace CEO, Ben Harper, said: “With its bold colour and vibrant feel, the mural really sets the tone for our ambition to shape a bold, vibrant new chapter at SeaSpace and put the venue back on the map for the Cornish community.
“We can’t wait to welcome everyone this autumn.”
Sapphire Holidays has announced a £2 million investment in new offices at Hayle to cater for further growth.
The long-established family-owned group, which includes Aspects Holidays, Boutique Retreats, Classic Cottages and Unique Hideaways, employs more than 185 people, mostly in Cornwall. It collectively manages some 2,650 holiday letting properties across the UK, selling £60 million of holidays a year.
It has acquired a former industrial building on Hayle Business Park and is transforming it into a high-tech, low-carbon office for its growing team.
The new development, which is scheduled to be completed next Easter, complements
New research has identified the best UK areas for boat tours, with Falmouth ranking second.
Ferry travel experts GetByFerry gathered data from TripAdvisor to find the number of boat tours in each major UK city or town rated four stars or higher (out of five).
Placing first on the list is Cambridge, with
its neighbouring Sapphire House which the group built in 2020 as a head office for its Aspects Holidays employees.
Simon Tregoning, owner and chairman of Sapphire Holidays, said: “With this repurposed building we’ll be able to consolidate all our teams on one site and cater for the future growth of the business.
“We wanted to reuse an existing unit because sustainability is very important to us, so it’s been designed to rigorous energy efficiency standards.”
The new office has been designed by Truro-based KAST Architects, who also designed neighbouring Sapphire House, and the build is being managed by Ian Cavley of Newquay-based IC Building Consultancy, who also worked on Sapphire House.
90.9% of boat tours receiving a score of 4 or higher.
Ranking second is Falmouth, with 88.6%. Falmouth offers more boat tours than any location in the top ten, with 39 in total.
Windsor places third, ahead of Bournemouth and Windemere. Apparently, the worst place to go on a boat tour is Reading, with just 45.5% of tours receiving a score of four or higher.
His business specialises in bespoke resin casting and encapsulation solutions ensuring robust, highvoltage protection for electrical components.
Once he was settled and waiting for work to come in, Perry looked around online for possible grants and business support within Cornwall. It was this research which led him to discover The Growth Hub.
An expert from the Growth Hub arranged a free business review to find out how what support Perry and his business needed. Together they discussed ways of boosting marketing for the business. Perry took this forward to launch a bi-monthly email marketing campaign, with a growing database, to keep potential customers up to date with Plexnetic’s service offering.
Perry said: “Without engaging and going further with The Growth Hub, I would still be clueless. There wouldn’t be a plan, there wouldn’t be an email marketing campaign, there wouldn’t be this opportunity to start networking myself.”
Growth Hub also directed Perry to Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, which opened up a world of networking through events and breakfast meetings.
Perry said: “We are a small business, we’ve got a
Director Perry Cooper started his business Plexnetic, based in
Lostwithiel, in 2021 after spending 20 years of his professional life in the same industry.
part-time employee that helps when I’m really busy, but other than that I’m fully engaged within the business. I’m either working the processes or doing paperwork and administration and it eats your time.
“The Growth Hub has given me the opportunity to stop feeling so alone and start feeling part of the business community.”
He was also directed to grant funding which helped him to buy a lathe machine to expand his equipment and offer more to his clients.
He said: “I would absolutely recommend working with The Growth Hub. They have a host of knowledge and support they can offer. Again, without going through The Growth Hub, I wouldn’t have been able to get a grant for one of my pieces of equipment either. “Get yourself involved, get in touch and speak to them.”
Plexnetic continues to grow as well as build its customer portfolio as it establishes itself in the world of resin casting.
See how the Growth Hub can help you – call 01209 708660 for a FREE business review today. www.ciosgrowthhub.com
To
Bedruthan Christmas Parties are ideal for team nights or intimate gatherings with friends. Join a shared party or book the event space exclusively. Our chefs have prepared a festive menu with all the trimmings, ensuring the perfect setting and company.
01637 861227
events@bedruthan.com
bedruthan.com/christmas
CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS AT UNA ST IVES WITH YOUR STAFF, COLLEAGUES OR ORGANISE A LARGE FAMILY GATHERING!
Arrival at 7pm with a welcome drink, enjoy a three-course festive menu and dance the evening away with a live DJ till 11:30pm.
Speak to the team about your bespoke requirements. Private dining experience also available! FRI 6TH SAT 7TH
DATES IN NOVEMBER FRI 29TH SAT 30TH
DATES IN DECEMBER FRI 13TH SAT 14TH FRI 20TH SAT 21ST
The Pig at Harlyn Bay
This month’s networking lunch will be held at the Pig at Haryln Bay, with co-host Peaky Digital. cornwallchamber.co.uk
10 CORNWALL BUSINESS SHOW
Royal Cornwall Showground, Wadebridge
Cornwall’s leading B2B event, helping you connect with the region’s best services and professionals to help you discover new trends, products and innovations to keep your company ahead in the ever-evolving world of business. cornwallbusinessshow.co.uk
10 THE FUTURE OF WORK
The Headland Hotel, Newquay
A one-day event dedicated to addressing the current and future employment challenges facing businesses in Cornwall. eventbrite.co.uk
10 WOMEN IN BUSINESS LUNCH
Penventon Park Hotel, Redruth
All are welcome to Your Partnerships’ Women in Business Lunch on the second Thursday of each month. yourpartnerships.co.uk
10 CORNWALL FARM BUSINESS AWARDS
The Eden Project
These prestigious awards are presented to recipients of six different categories, plus one will be crowned Cornwall’s ‘Farmer of the Year’ farmbusinessawards.org.uk
15 WOMEN’S BUSINESS CLUB
Hall for Cornwall, Truro
A new coworking space for businesswomen to gain support and empowerment – because no woman has to build a business alone. hallforcornwall.co.uk
17 YOUR PARTNERSHIPS OPEN HOUSE
Victoria Inn, Roche
This is the original home of Your Partnerships. If you have never experienced an Open House with Your Partnerships at the birth home of Your Partnerships you are missing out. yourpartnerships.co.uk
17 THE PIG DIPPERS
The Pig at Harlyn Bay
Diving into a swim at Harlyn Bay is like stepping into a tranquil aquatic paradise. So why not join Pig Dippers in October to keep the tempo going through into autumn. cornwallchamber.co.uk
For further details of these and more networking events visit businesscornwall.co.uk
To publicise your event for free, email news@businesscornwall.co.uk
The Cove, Hayle
A delightful morning of women-only networking and connection at the picturesque Cove Cafe in Hayle, hosted by Cornwall Chamber of Commerce and Girls in Cornwall. cornwallchamber.co.uk
University of Exeter, Penryn
How can AI transform your work or are you worried about the impact it may have on your industry? Find out how you can use AI tools to provide services better, faster, and more efficiently. eventbrite.co.uk
23
St Moritz Hotel, Trebetherick
Cornwall Chamber’s monthly flagship networking event. cornwallchamber.co.uk
31
Hall for Cornwall, Truro
Network HfC gathers a free-range collective of individuals from business, creative, tech and media, for an informal monthly get-together. hallforcornwall.co.uk
Specially invited guests gathered outside the Mediterranean Biome at the Eden Project last month for the annual Lady Mary Holborrow Garden Party.
The tech sector flocked to Newquay’s Lighthouse Cimema in September for the second annual Cornwall Slush’d conference, organised by Tech Cornwall.
Cornwall’s first ‘Pitch and Procure’ event took place at the Fibre Hub, putting ten diverse businesses in front of a panel of premium procurement businesses and an audience of interested parties.
Cornwall Chamber’s Planet C conference at the Eden Project rallied the Cornish business community to step up on climate action and sustainability.
