NOTE: This event will be held at The Bayes Centre.
Join us for a special Thursday Gathering with the UK’s Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) to discuss how they are funding scientific and technological breakthroughs at the edge of what’s possible.
ARIA was built on a high-risk, high-reward premise: backing unconventional ideas, scientists, and impact-led founders that traditional funding frameworks tend to miss. Given Scotland's density of breakthrough research across life sciences, cybersecurity, climate tech, and beyond, this session explores where ARIA’s approach intersects with the local ecosystem, featuring a live showcase of Scotland’s deep tech innovators translating hard science into global impact.
With applications opening on August 17th for ARIA’s 3rd cohort of Programme Directors, this event also offers a direct look into one of the most high-impact roles in UK R&D. ARIA Programme Directors are empowered with ~£50M budgets to design and lead ambitious, multi-year programmes selecting, funding, and actively steering diverse project portfolios across disciplines to unleash transformative change.
Whether you are a deeply technical leader seeing opportunity where others don't, a founder or researcher aligned with ARIA’s mission, or an ecosystem builder, join us to connect directly with the ARIA team and experience the cutting-edge companies commercialising research on the front lines.
Powered by Advanced Research + Invention Agency
Grab a drink, and join the conversation! Whether you're looking to meet potential collaborators, exchange ideas, grow your network, or simply continue the conversation, this is a great opportunity to connect with fellow innovators, entrepreneurs, and members of the community. You never know where a conversation might lead!
Find out more about the exciting startups in our ecosystem at our Innovator Showcase - the perfect chance to meet the people behind the ideas.
The Global Research Space - The Global Research Space is the foundation for planetary-scale research coordination. Using our live, interactive semantic map and attribution system as a framework, we are designing mechanisms to radically accelerate discovery by automating resource allocation and transparently propagating rewards. In this demo, we will walk through the infrastructure built to tackle this challenge. You will explore a live, interactive map of global science paired with real-time AI synthesis, demonstrating how scientific activity can be represented as a slice of a high-dimensional search tree for algorithmic funding.
Draconite Tech - Draconite is a synthetic meteorite heat shield. At rest, it is a bio-leather that is conformable down to cryogenic temperatures. Under high heat, it solidifies in situ into a thermally insulative rock. Engineered for Space, Earth and Defence, Draconite offers zero-ablation thermal protection while remaining PFAS-free and RF-transparent.
dot (Digital Odour Technologies) - dot (Digital Odour Technologies) is a UK-based digital odour intelligence company, originating as a spin-out from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, transforming volatile chemical signals into biological and environmental insight. Our technology platform, dot.coreTM, is designed to capture and interpret the complex odour signatures produced by living organisms and their environments. We are developing highly-accurate, non-invasive sensing technologies capable of rapidly detecting chemical signatures associated with pests, pathogens, disease and other biological states.
Pascol transforms audience stories into improvised soundscapes in real time. Using only voices and bodies, the performers create intimate musical reflections of shared memories, emotions and experiences. This 30-minute taster invites the audience into a moment of listening, connection and collective imagination.
As part of their Edinburgh Fringe run from 24–29 August at theSpace @ Niddry St, Pascol presents a special short interactive version of their vocal performance for Venture Café Edinburgh.
More about the full Fringe performance:
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/pascol-vocal-performance
Session host information
Pascol is a women-led vocal performance project created by composer, singer and music therapist Sasha Gefen. The collective brings together international vocalists and performers who use improvisation, voice and deep listening to transform audience stories into music. Each performance is created live in the room and exists only once.
Performers: Sasha Gefen, Vera Raskina, Phoebe Osborne, Namvula Rennie, Claudia Marques, Monique DeBose
Producer: Alina Golubeva
Take a seat and hear from Venture Café Edinburgh Director, Claudia Cavalluzzo who will go through how to make the most of a Thursday Gathering and give you a quick preview of what's in line for this week's event.
Venture Café is a global movement built on a simple but powerful belief: isolation is the enemy of innovation.
At our weekly Thursday Gatherings, we connect creators, entrepreneurs, investors, coworkers, students and visionaries to build strong, inclusive and equitable innovation ecosystem. As ecosystem activators, Venture Café Edinburgh is creating a central hub for the city's innovation ecosystem, driving visibility, collaboration and community.
And if you’d like to get more involved with Venture Café, there are plenty of ways to join our network:
🤝 Become a partner
🎤 Speak at an upcoming Thursday Gathering
🙌 Join our ambassador team
Join us for this special opportunity to hear directly from Kathleen Fisher, CEO of the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA), in conversation with Vaishak Belle, Director of Research and Innovation at the Bayes Centre.
Hear from Richard Bickerton, Co-founder of Exscientia, on his incredible journey to build a pioneering AI-driven pharmatech company.
What does it take to design a programme at the frontier of science? Join Ryan Olf, Programme Director of ARIA's Precision Mitochondria programme, for a conversation that pulls back the curtain on ARIA's unique creative engine. Ryan will walk us through the reality of operating at the edge of what's possible, and how you actually arrive at the ideas that could genuinely reshape a field. Whether you're a prospective Programme Director or simply curious about how ARIA shapes its high-risk, high-reward bets, this is a discussion you won't want to miss.
NOTE: This event will be held at The Bayes Centre.
Join us for a special Thursday Gathering with the UK’s Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) to discuss how they are funding scientific and technological breakthroughs at the edge of what’s possible.
ARIA was built on a high-risk, high-reward premise: backing unconventional ideas, scientists, and impact-led founders that traditional funding frameworks tend to miss. Given Scotland's density of breakthrough research across life sciences, cybersecurity, climate tech, and beyond, this session explores where ARIA’s approach intersects with the local ecosystem, featuring a live showcase of Scotland’s deep tech innovators translating hard science into global impact.
With applications opening on August 17th for ARIA’s 3rd cohort of Programme Directors, this event also offers a direct look into one of the most high-impact roles in UK R&D. ARIA Programme Directors are empowered with ~£50M budgets to design and lead ambitious, multi-year programmes selecting, funding, and actively steering diverse project portfolios across disciplines to unleash transformative change.
Whether you are a deeply technical leader seeing opportunity where others don't, a founder or researcher aligned with ARIA’s mission, or an ecosystem builder, join us to connect directly with the ARIA team and experience the cutting-edge companies commercialising research on the front lines.
Powered by Advanced Research + Invention Agency
Grab a drink, and join the conversation! Whether you're looking to meet potential collaborators, exchange ideas, grow your network, or simply continue the conversation, this is a great opportunity to connect with fellow innovators, entrepreneurs, and members of the community. You never know where a conversation might lead!
Find out more about the exciting startups in our ecosystem at our Innovator Showcase - the perfect chance to meet the people behind the ideas.
The Global Research Space - The Global Research Space is the foundation for planetary-scale research coordination. Using our live, interactive semantic map and attribution system as a framework, we are designing mechanisms to radically accelerate discovery by automating resource allocation and transparently propagating rewards. In this demo, we will walk through the infrastructure built to tackle this challenge. You will explore a live, interactive map of global science paired with real-time AI synthesis, demonstrating how scientific activity can be represented as a slice of a high-dimensional search tree for algorithmic funding.
Draconite Tech - Draconite is a synthetic meteorite heat shield. At rest, it is a bio-leather that is conformable down to cryogenic temperatures. Under high heat, it solidifies in situ into a thermally insulative rock. Engineered for Space, Earth and Defence, Draconite offers zero-ablation thermal protection while remaining PFAS-free and RF-transparent.
dot (Digital Odour Technologies) - dot (Digital Odour Technologies) is a UK-based digital odour intelligence company, originating as a spin-out from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, transforming volatile chemical signals into biological and environmental insight. Our technology platform, dot.coreTM, is designed to capture and interpret the complex odour signatures produced by living organisms and their environments. We are developing highly-accurate, non-invasive sensing technologies capable of rapidly detecting chemical signatures associated with pests, pathogens, disease and other biological states.
Pascol transforms audience stories into improvised soundscapes in real time. Using only voices and bodies, the performers create intimate musical reflections of shared memories, emotions and experiences. This 30-minute taster invites the audience into a moment of listening, connection and collective imagination.
As part of their Edinburgh Fringe run from 24–29 August at theSpace @ Niddry St, Pascol presents a special short interactive version of their vocal performance for Venture Café Edinburgh.
More about the full Fringe performance:
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/pascol-vocal-performance
Session host information
Pascol is a women-led vocal performance project created by composer, singer and music therapist Sasha Gefen. The collective brings together international vocalists and performers who use improvisation, voice and deep listening to transform audience stories into music. Each performance is created live in the room and exists only once.
Performers: Sasha Gefen, Vera Raskina, Phoebe Osborne, Namvula Rennie, Claudia Marques, Monique DeBose
Producer: Alina Golubeva
Take a seat and hear from Venture Café Edinburgh Director, Claudia Cavalluzzo who will go through how to make the most of a Thursday Gathering and give you a quick preview of what's in line for this week's event.
Venture Café is a global movement built on a simple but powerful belief: isolation is the enemy of innovation.
At our weekly Thursday Gatherings, we connect creators, entrepreneurs, investors, coworkers, students and visionaries to build strong, inclusive and equitable innovation ecosystem. As ecosystem activators, Venture Café Edinburgh is creating a central hub for the city's innovation ecosystem, driving visibility, collaboration and community.
And if you’d like to get more involved with Venture Café, there are plenty of ways to join our network:
🤝 Become a partner
🎤 Speak at an upcoming Thursday Gathering
🙌 Join our ambassador team
Join us for this special opportunity to hear directly from Kathleen Fisher, CEO of the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA), in conversation with Vaishak Belle, Director of Research and Innovation at the Bayes Centre.
Hear from Richard Bickerton, Co-founder of Exscientia, on his incredible journey to build a pioneering AI-driven pharmatech company.
What does it take to design a programme at the frontier of science? Join Ryan Olf, Programme Director of ARIA's Precision Mitochondria programme, for a conversation that pulls back the curtain on ARIA's unique creative engine. Ryan will walk us through the reality of operating at the edge of what's possible, and how you actually arrive at the ideas that could genuinely reshape a field. Whether you're a prospective Programme Director or simply curious about how ARIA shapes its high-risk, high-reward bets, this is a discussion you won't want to miss.