Tech Lounge
Join Lucy Paine and Andrea Kelly in an open-house experience designed for curious minds and bold thinkers. This is your chance to connect with leading thinkers (OJ Adekoya and Shane from Butler AI) at the forefront of innovation, explore their groundbreaking work, and spark conversations that could transform your business. Whether you’re looking for inspiration, collaboration, or fresh ideas, this discovery space is where possibilities begin.
Lucy Paine
TechSPARK
Bio
Lucy identifies, creates and nurtures collaborations in business to facilitate growth with experience in payments, education, technical and training.
Andrea Kelly
University of Bath
Bio
Supporting businesses to transform their business ideas into reality through support in the Bath area. Andrea leads the SETsquared business acceleration and incubation services and activities for start-ups and spin-outs.
Business Zone
Meet the teams from Invest in B&NES and WECA for an energising opportunity to explore how local businesses can truly shine.
11.25am – Procurement
Heare from Marie Spour from the West of England Combined Authority supporting this session. Marie will provide valuable insights into the Authority’s approach to procurement, covering:
- An overview of current Procurement Regulations
- The procurement process and practical guidance on engaging with the MCA Commercial team
- A high-level look at the forecast procurement pipeline
- An interactive Q&A to address participant questions
This session offers an excellent opportunity to better understand procurement requirements, upcoming opportunities, and how to work effectively with the Combined Authority’s commercial function.
12.15pm – Innovative Recruitment
1 in 5 young people don’t see the point in school because they can’t connect it to their future. If a credit card failed 20% of the time, you’d switch banks — yet our education and recruitment systems still run on outdated processes that shut out capable talent.
This talk explores why Gen Z is disengaging from traditional pathways and how businesses can respond. Today’s young people are motivated by values, connection, and real-world experience — not six-stage interview pipelines and endless forms. By shifting to low-barrier, high-connection recruitment models, organisations can unlock a wider talent pool and build lasting engagement.
Drawing on proven examples from Bath Rugby Foundation and across sectors from hospitality to construction, you’ll see how two-hour workplace tasters and micro-assessment centres transform disengaged learners into motivated employees.
Leaders will leave with three clear takeaways:
- New results require a new first step.
- Values alignment is Gen Z’s number one retention tool.
- A two-hour experience can outperform a six-stage recruitment process.
This is not about lowering expectations — it’s about raising engagement first, so motivation and performance follow naturally.
Marc Drew
Cogito
Bio
Marc Drew is a forward-thinking talent strategist and speaker with over 20 years’ experience helping global brands, start-ups, and SMEs transform recruitment into a competitive advantage.
Lynne Fernquest
Bath Rugby Foundation
Bio
Lynne Fernquest is CEO of Bath Rugby Foundation and an ex-Trinity Mirror editor. Bath Rugby Foundation is a charity that drives change through community and educational interventions and believes that ‘every child deserves a fair start in life’.
Jonno Wood
Bath Rugby Foundation
Bio
Jonno Wood is the Alternative Learning Manager at Bath Rugby Foundation, specialising in re-engaging Gen Z learners marginalised by traditional education. Over more than a decade Jonno and his team have designed environments where young people can rebuild confidence and become independent.
Marketplace
Over the years, the Bath Business Conference has featured an incredible lineup of stallholders, offering interactive and fun activities for you to take part in. This year is no different! This year’s Conference features the return of some old favourites like bath bomb making with Lush Bath Spa, as well as new highlight activities, including shuffleboard from Boom Battle Bar and relaxing hand and arm massages from Molton Brown Bath.
Take a look at the list below to see all of the businesses taking part in the Marketplace:
Rengen House
Bath Unlimited
Mogers Drewett
Leadership Together
Bath Safe Bus
Jolly’s
Monahans
Bath Spa University
Molton Brown
Canned Wine Co
Donate IT
N3 Display Graphics
Rainforest Concern
Lush Bath Spa
Boom Battle Bar
Inigo Business Centre
Business Network International
Total Guide to Bath
Minfo
Brown and Brown
Rengen House is a friendly, flexible space in the heart of Bath for co-working, meetings, and events.
Bath Unlimited is an independent Bath-based brand and design studio helping organisations stand out and connect with.
Mogers Drewett is a leading Southwest legal and financial planning firm that takes pride in building long-term client relationships.
Leadership Together enables leaders to achieve excellence and overcome challenges through highly effective support.
The double award-winning Bath Safe Bus is a safe space delivering welfare support and medical care for vulnerable people to use during the nighttime. It is usually parked on Orange Grove in Bath City Centre.
One of the oldest department stores in the world, Jolly’s is currently going through a facelift with their new owners Morley’s. Discover all of the hard work that has been going into restoring this beautiful building and what is to come in the future.
Monahans is the leading accountancy and advisory firm providing regional, national, and international reach to businesses in the South West.
Bath Spa University is where creative minds meet. They teach and research across art, sciences, education, social science, and business. The University aims to be a leading educational institution in creativity, culture and enterprise.
Born on South Molton Street, London in 1971, Molton Brown is an icon of uniquely British style. True to their founders’ values, they live by an ‘individual first’ ethos, with uncompromising care at the heart of everything they do.
Simon and Ben were inspired to launch Canned Wine Co. in 2019 to deliver a better choice to customers for single-serve wine. Quality wines that deliver an experience and give you a better choice of what to drink. All of this could be delivered in a way that didn’t cost the planet.
Donate IT works alongside local heroes to bridge the digital divide. Across Somerset, and surrounding areas, generous individuals and organisations are pooling resources and donating devices. Donate IT refurbish these devices, ensuring they are ready for distribution to those who need them most.
N3 is a leading integrated large format print company. With a difference. N3 brings to every client an unrivalled understanding of how to combine the physical and digital worlds to ensure a brand appears as powerful through display as any other medium
Rainforest Concern avoids deforestation of critically endangered habitats by working with local communities and indigenous groups to understand the issues and finding long-term solutions to the threats facing them.
Lush Spa Bath can be found at the top of Union Street. They are one of only 10 spa stores in UK & Ireland offering 13 different holistic treatments downstairs in the basement of the store. With a store full of fantastic products upstairs.
Battle it out with a mate or a date with our selection of games including Axe Throwing, Crazier Golf, Augmented Reality Darts, Beer Pong, Shuffleboard & much more
Inigo Business Centre
Inigo Business Centre Bath offers serviced offices, meeting rooms, and virtual services, including a virtual office with address and post handling.
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