Welcome to our weekly South West Tech News roundup, where you can get all the headlines from the past week in one place.
What has our busy tech and digital community been up to this week? From award wins and innovative breakthroughs to unmissable events and capital raised, take a moment to reflect on the hive of daily activity taking place in our region.
If you have a story to share, wizz it over to will@techspark.co – I look forward to hearing from you!
Agora: The App Designed To Address Care Home Staffing Shortages
A new app aiming to revolutionise how care homes connect with workers has launched with the help of a Wiltshire business owner and is kicking off its UK roll-out in Somerset this week.
Agora is a digital marketplace matching care homes with qualified, self-employed carers. The aim of the app and the mission statement of the team is to “increase staff pay and flexibility whilst making it far cheaper and easier to staff social and acute care services.”
Read the full story here | Learn more about Agora Staff
First published on 12th May 2025 | Business BiscuitÂ
Tech For Growth Helps Watersports Charity Strengthen Its Digital Presence
The Bristol-based charity, All-Aboard Watersports has boosted its digital presence thanks to support from the Tech for Growth programme.
Jemma Corbett is an administrator at All Aboard and she has received expert guidance on social media and website strategy. She has learnt how to use Canva and create engaging content with confidence.
Since the support, All-Aboard has seen a rise in followers, stronger community engagement and new partnership opportunities.
First published on 13th May 2025 | Business West by Fay DanielsÂ
Tilly Lockey and Open Bionics Attend The House of LordsÂ
Bristol’s Open Bionics and advocate Tilly Lockey visited the House of Lords this week to push for fairer NHS access to multi-grip and sports prosthetics, highlighting postcode inequalities and unnecessary patient barriers.
They joined Lord Craig Mackinlay to share user experiences, propose practical solutions like wearable trials and champion nationwide change for amputees across the UK.
The team also called for better clinician training and long-overdue support for adults needing prosthetics to lead healthy lives.
From Space to Sustain: Bath Digital Festival 2025 Is Complete
This week, the techSPARK team and our brilliant event partners took over Bath for three days of inspiring talks, hands-on workshops and insightful sessions exploring the themes of Space, Sustain and Beings.
We heard how Apollo’s legacy is shaping the new space race and explored what it means to be human in a world increasingly shaped by technology.
Our partners also ran some brilliant sessions on everything from personal branding on LinkedIn to whether ChatGPT is killing the penguins.
Missed the festival? Not to worry. Over the coming weeks we’ll be sharing write-ups of our core events from all three days.
Meet The Twelve Silicon Gorge 2025 Finalists
Last week, we announced the twelve early-stage startups selected for this year’s Silicon Gorge Investor Showcase.
These brilliant teams are tackling everything from AI and aviation to biotech and biosciences:
Amutri, CoED Biosciences, Configo Software, Dimension Biotechnologies, Eleria, Epowar, IngeniumAI, Integrevise, LevelTech, Molendotech, Not Impossible and Sora Aviation.
Ahead of the big day, each founder will attend a specialist workshop led by our partners to help them refine their pitch, sharpen their numbers and get investor-ready.
