Introducing Metta Talks, the podcast where the Metta team speak to guests about topics around startups, innovation, and sustainability. In this first season the topics featured range from 'Government and Tech Startup Collaboration' to 'The Future of Mobility'.

Episode 0 - Introducing Metta Talks

Metta Talks is brought to you by Metta - we support startups, industry, and government with sustainable technology-driven innovation. Every week, join Gabriela Matic, Wil Benton, and Ksenia Kurileva as they chat with amazing individuals on topics around startups, innovation, and sustainability.

Episode 1 - Government and Tech Startup Collaboration

In this episode, Wil talks to Dom Hallas, the Executive Director of The Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec). Founded by tech entrepreneurs, Coadec is a non-profit that campaigns for policies to support digital startups in the UK. Wil and Dom discuss government and tech startup collaboration, setting up the Future Fund, doing a Clubhouse talk with Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, and much more.

Learn more about Coadec and their research, events, and campaigns on their website www.coadec.com

Episode 2 - Biofuels: Heroes or Villains?

In this episode, Gabi talks to John Waite, Co-founder and CEO of Phycobloom - a biotech startup that uses synthetic biology to create strains of algae that can convert carbon dioxide into sustainable fuels cheaply and easily.

Gabi and John look at the future of biofuels, why engineering algae is incredibly exciting but also challenging, and where Phycobloom sits alongside the other ways to decarbonise the aerospace industry like electric and hydrogen aircraft. We also hear how John and his co-founder, Ian Hu, first met at Entrepreneur First and some of the biggest learnings from their startup journey so far.

Learn more about MIME Technologies, their solution Aiber, and the team on their website Learn more about Phycobloom, their technology, and the team on their website www.phycobloom.com

Episode 3 - Out of the Lab

In this episode, Ksenia talks to Alasdair Mort and Anne Roberts, co-founders of medtech startup MIME Technologies, a provider of remote medical software to support inflight medical events and emergencies, specifically designed for altitude.

Alasdair and Anne tell us about their startup journey - how MIME first started at the University of Aberdeen, the skills needed when moving from academia to business, and what could be improved from an ecosystem perspective to ensure more spinout success. They also share their advice on maintaining a good co-founder relationship and why the team that you have around you is so important.

Learn more about MIME Technologies, their solution Aiber, and the team on their website www.mimetechnologies.com

Episode 4 - Sustainability and Climate Change

In this episode, Wil talks to Professor Tim Benton, the Research Director of Emerging Risks and the Director of Energy, Environment and Resources Programme at Chatham House.

Professor Tim Benton has worked with UK governments, the EU, and G20, and he has been a global agenda steward of the World Economic Forum as well as an author of the IPCC’s Special Report on Food, Land, and Climate (2019), and the UK’s Climate Change Risk Assessment. He's joining us at Metta Talks to discuss his work at the Chatham House, the need for cohesive policies and systemic change, and the future of sustainable innovation.

Learn more about Chatham House, the world-leading policy institute headquartered in London, by heading to their website www.chathamhouse.org

Episode 5 - From Collaboration to Innovation

In this episode, Gabi explores corporate-startup collaboration with Carlton Washburn, Systems Engineer at The Boeing Company, and Andre Wegner, CEO of Authentise - data-driven process automation software for additive manufacturing.

Carlton and Andre discuss why established industry should work with startups, the biggest challenges and barriers in corporate-startup collaboration, the role of the corporate champion, and what a good partnership looks like. From their experience, they're sharing advice for early-stage founders starting to communicate and sell their products and services to large corporates.

Learn more about The Boeing Company at www.boeing.com. Find out more about Authentise and their technology on their website www.authentise.com

Episode 6 - The Future of Mobility

In this episode, Ksenia talks to Emilie Hannezo, Principal at InMotion Ventures, about the future of mobility. InMotion Ventures is Jaguar Land Rover's venture capital arm. Based out of London, they invest globally in early-stage technology companies and their ethos is - investing in exceptional entrepreneurs, changing the way people move.

Ksenia and Emilie discuss the rise of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS), electric vehicle adoption and what's holding it back, collaboration and regulation in the new mobility space, and changes in consumer behaviour since the pandemic.

Learn more about InMotion Ventures and their portfolio on their website www.inmotionventures.com

Episode 7 - Behavioural Science in the Wild

In this episode, Gabi talks to Divya Sukumar, Behaviour Scientist at Signol - an app and communication service that uses the latest behavioural science to nudge key decision-makers to be measurably more efficient. Gabi and Divya take a look at the foundation of behaviour science and its role in sustainability as well as the ethics behind it all.

Learn more about Signol on their website www.signol.io to see their platform and case studies.

Episode 8 - Climate Investing

In this episode, Wil talks to Pippa Gawley, Founder and Managing Director of Zero Carbon Capital - an early-stage investor in companies that are on a mission to fix climate change through deep science innovation.

Wil and Pippa take a look at where climate investing is today, how Zero Carbon Capital validates cutting-edge technologies in this space, and supports spinout companies on their journey as well as the concrete action needed from a government and policy perspective to achieve Net-Zero.

Episode 9 - AI in Business

In this episode, Ksenia talks to Gianluca Mauro, co-founder of AI Academy and co-author of "Zero to AI - A nontechnical, hype-free guide to prospering in AI era". Gianluca teaches artificial intelligence (AI) to people without a tech background and he's previously worked with companies like P&G, Merck, and Total.

Today we’re talking about AI applications in business. Gianluca uses real-life examples to show the practical benefits of AI as well as what AI can and cannot do for your organisation, when it's best to deploy this technology and the question of buy versus build. We’re looking at this topic through a corporate and a startup lens, and also tackling bigger challenges like sustainability.

Find out more about AI Academy and the training they offer on their www.ai-academy.com. Check out the book "Zero to AI" here.

Episode 10 - Becoming a B Corp

This episode is hosted by Heather Baden and Dana Zou, two of our newest Metta team members. Heather and Dana share what sustainability means to us at Metta and they're also talking all things B Corp with John ‘Sinx’ Sinclair, co-founder of ustwo, a digital product studio.

In this conversation with John, we dig into B Corp certification: what it means to our businesses, why it’s important, what we learned about ourselves going through the process, and some tips on how you can get started.