The Digital Forge: Reindustrialising the North
Reindustrialising the North
Thursday 10 September 2026 | Cutlers’ Hall, Sheffield
The Digital Forge returns to Cutlers’ Hall, bringing together the people building, funding and shaping the future of industry in the North.
The North has exceptional engineering capability, technical talent, research institutions and industrial heritage. The question is how we turn those strengths into more globally significant businesses that start, scale and stay here.
On 10 September, founders, manufacturers, investors, engineers and regional leaders will come together to examine what that takes in practice, from commercialisation and capital to technology, talent and industrial capability.
Opening Keynote
Keith Jackson CEng CDir
386th Master Cutler
Keith is a Chartered Engineer with more than 40 years of hands-on experience in designing, precision manufacturing and selling medical products worldwide. His career spans the full value chain, from factory floors to boardrooms, giving him a rare perspective on what it takes to build, scale and compete in advanced manufacturing globally.
As the 386th Master Cutler, Keith champions manufacturing, innovation and the skilled trades at the heart of the region’s industrial identity. He is also a Chartered Director and internationally trusted strategic advisor.
Keith will open the evening with a perspective on what reindustrialisation must mean in practice.
Industry, Investment and Scale
A discussion between people with direct experience of building companies, raising capital, commercialising technology and operating inside British industry.
Dr Graham Cooley
Cleantech industrialist, investor and portfolio Chairman
Graham is a portfolio Chairman and Non-Executive Director focused on the commercialisation and industrial deployment of cleantech, energy transition and advanced manufacturing technologies.
Previously CEO of ITM Power, he has developed two energy storage unicorns and raised more than £650 million to fund the development, commercialisation and industrial scale-up of technology businesses.
Today, his portfolio includes roles as Non-Executive Director of Cadent Gas, Chairman of CAP-XX and Light Science Technologies, Non-Executive Director of Gelion and Chairman of BYOHM. He is also an Honorary Professor at Brunel University London and the University of Bristol and serves on strategic advisory boards at the Cabot Institute for the Environment and Sheffield Business School.
With a PhD in Physics and an MBA, Graham brings extensive experience of taking technology from development through commercialisation, investment and industrial scale-up.
Dr Rachel Smith
Royal Academy of Engineering | Former Executive Director, ITM Power
Rachel is a business leader, engineer and investor with extensive experience scaling deep-tech and clean-tech ventures.
As a founding scientist and former Executive Director of AIM-listed ITM Power, she helped grow the company from a small R&D team into an international business with more than 300 employees, securing over £100 million in grant funding and supporting capital raises exceeding £350 million.
Rachel now leads the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Enterprise Hub activity across South Yorkshire, helping founders and innovators scale their businesses. She is also an angel investor, bringing direct experience of company building, commercialisation and investment to the discussion.
Chris Borrett
Investor, Mercia Ventures
Chris is an investor with Mercia Ventures, investing in businesses across the North of England. His investments include several Sheffield-based companies, including Sitehop, FourJaw, FinLegal and Tickets for Good.
Previously, Chris launched several new businesses with the incubation and investment arm of Boston Consulting Group. His career has also included venture building, consulting and data science roles across Europe, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.
With a Master’s degree in Physics, Chris brings a combination of investment, venture-building and technical experience to the discussion.
Giles Moore
Regional Development Manager, PXN
Giles is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and scaled several technology companies in the North of England, raising both angel and venture capital investment from around the world.
In 2023, he joined Par Equity as Regional Development Manager, leading its expansion into Yorkshire and the North of England. Following the merger of Par Equity and Praetura Ventures to create PXN Group, Giles continues to work with startups and scaleups across the North.
He brings first-hand experience of building and financing technology businesses, alongside his current perspective from venture capital.
Marie Cooper
Chief Commercial Officer, CBE+
Marie is a manufacturing leader with extensive experience building, consolidating and scaling engineering businesses. Following the management buyout and subsequent exit of President Engineering Group, she led the strategic consolidation of six engineering and manufacturing businesses into CBE+, creating an integrated precision engineering and specialist surface technology group.
Under her leadership, CBE+ has scaled its operations across precision engineering and electroless nickel plating while supporting critical sectors including aerospace, defence, energy and automotive. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the business played a key role in the UK ventilator production programme while remaining fully operational.
Named among The Manufacturer Top 100 Inspiring Leaders, Marie is also a passionate advocate for developing future manufacturing talent. She is a trustee of the Work-wise Foundation and Vulcan to the Sky Trust, a member of The Cutlers’ Company in Sheffield and is actively involved in championing UK manufacturing through Make UK.
Peter Hopton FVS
Technology founder and founder of Venture.Community
Pete is a multi-time founder whose focus today is helping founders with novel technologies and approaches turn their ideas into meaningful impact.
His mission to “help founders have their shot” led him to create Venture.Community, a network of Venture Societies bringing together entrepreneurs and experienced executives to collaborate and support one another.
With extensive experience of entrepreneurship and a particular interest in startups, psychology and sociology, Pete brings a founder-focused perspective on what it takes to build stronger businesses and more collaborative entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Together, the panel brings direct experience of industrial scale-up, technology commercialisation, manufacturing, company building and investment.
The Foundry
The Foundry is The Digital Forge’s selective platform for surfacing high-potential companies and connecting their founders with operators, investors and commercial opportunity.
On 10 September, five companies spanning offshore wind, circular metals, advanced materials, flexible manufacturing and industrial AI will take the Foundry floor.
Kinewell Energy
Dr Andrew Jenkins, Founder & CEO
Kinewell applies advanced mathematics, optimisation and AI to complex offshore wind development, from turbine layouts and cable systems to installation and operations.
Its technology is used internationally by major offshore wind developers, and the company received the King’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade in 2025.
Andrew trained in renewable energy engineering at Durham, completed doctoral research at Newcastle and worked as a power systems engineer before founding Kinewell.
Conform
Kate Bowers
Conform is a University of Sheffield commercialisation project developing a more direct route for converting lower-value copper scrap into high-grade industrial copper.
The technology builds on around a decade of Sheffield research into continuous extrusion, with potential to retain more valuable material within the circular economy.
Kate has a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering and spent around nine years working across manufacturing businesses within PCC Airfoils before returning to academia, bringing direct industrial experience across casting, extrusion and foundry operations.
Wull Technologies
Dr Liam Britnell
Wull Technologies is developing LAMDA, a high-performance acoustic and thermal insulation panel made from British sheep wool.
The company combines an abundant, underused natural material with advanced materials science to develop a plastic-free, recyclable alternative to conventional insulation products.
Liam is a materials physicist with a PhD from the University of Manchester and previously worked at its Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre, focusing on translating advanced materials research into industrial applications.
Dieless Forming
Xuan “Alex” Ouyang
Dieless Forming is a University of Sheffield advanced manufacturing project developing incremental sheet-forming technology.
Rather than requiring an expensive geometry-specific die, a CNC-controlled tool progressively forms sheet metal along a programmed path, changing the economics of prototypes, customised components and low-volume production.
Alex spent nearly five years as a Senior Manufacturing Engineer at BYD, working across major vehicle programmes and more than 400 sheet-metal components. After further study at UCLA, he came to Sheffield to pursue a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, specialising in flexible, tooling-free sheet-metal manufacturing.
Literal Labs
Professor Alex Yakovlev FREng
Literal Labs is a Newcastle University spin-out developing a fundamentally different approach to AI.
Its Logic-Based Networks are designed to deliver fast, deterministic and energy-efficient inference on CPUs, microcontrollers and constrained hardware, targeting industrial and edge applications where conventional neural networks can be too compute-intensive.
Alex is Professor of Computer Systems Design at Newcastle University, founder of its Microsystems Research Group and a Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and IEEE. He co-founded Literal Labs following decades of research into low-power and unconventional computing architectures.
Five very different companies, but a useful cross-section of what reindustrialisation now looks like: advanced mathematics applied to offshore infrastructure, circular metals, new materials, flexible manufacturing and compute-efficient industrial AI.
Closing Keynote
Oliver Coppard
Mayor of South Yorkshire
Born and raised in the region, Oliver Coppard has served as Mayor of South Yorkshire since May 2022 and was re-elected in May 2024.
His career has included roles with Barnsley Council, where he worked on low-carbon regeneration projects, Parliament and the US Congress, South Yorkshire’s Local Enterprise Partnership and the charity BookTrust.
Oliver will close the evening with a regional perspective on growth and industrial ambition, looking at what South Yorkshire must do to turn its strengths into sustained business growth, investment and opportunity.
What to expect
Opening keynote from the 386th Master Cutler
A direct discussion with people who have built, financed and scaled industrial and technology companies
Five technically ambitious Northern companies taking the Foundry floor
Closing keynote from the Mayor of South Yorkshire
Food, drinks and time with the founders, investors, manufacturers, engineers and operators in the room
Who should be in the room?
If you are building, financing, commercialising or scaling industrial technology in the North, this event is designed for you.
Founders. Engineers. Manufacturers. Investors. Researchers. Corporate leaders. Policymakers.
People with the capability, capital, experience or influence to help build the next generation of Northern industry.
Thursday 10 September 2026
Cutlers’ Hall, Sheffield
Tickets: £30
Places are limited.
🚫 Please note
This is a curated room for founders, investors, manufacturers, engineers, operators, researchers and senior leaders.
If you are a service provider, consultant, agency or recruiter, please only attend if invited or directly involved in the event.
📸 Photography & filming
Photography and videography will take place throughout the event. By attending, you acknowledge that you may appear in photographs or video footage captured for The Digital Forge’s marketing and communications.
If you would prefer not to be photographed or filmed, please let a member of the team know on arrival.