Bristol — Week of 26 Oct 2026

with Jake Rigby (Global Head of Innovation and Research, BMT)

Technical lecture to the IMarEST and RINA Western Joint Branch by Jake Rigby, Global Head of Innovation and Research at BMT, on the minimum viable warship. Rigby trained as a naval architect and worked as a senior and principal naval architect before moving into research management. Replaces the branch's previously advertised FSS lecture, which is not going ahead. Free, in room 1N05 at UWE Bristol and also streamed online.

Free 60-minute one-to-one business idea and IP advice appointment. Start time not stated on the listing at time of research.

Session five of the NatWest Funding Accelerator's six-part series, and the one about the numbers: which financial and trigger metrics make a business fundable, how to present them to an investor or a lender, how to forecast cash flow, and what to change to improve the picture before you ask. Interactive rather than lecture-style, and you can attend it on its own. Welcome from 9:30, workshop 10:00 to 12:00, break to 12:30. Entrepreneurs and finance experts lead it; speaker bios were still to follow at the time of writing. Free, at the NatWest Accelerator hub, 2 Avon Street, BS2 0PT. You are asked to download the Accelerator app and apply to join the Funding Group first. General information only, not individual financial advice, and photographs are taken for social media. Why go: worth it if you are raising for the first time and your model has never been read by someone who lends for a living. Founders past a priced round will find it basic.

Hi all, This is a free coworking session intended to alleviate the isolation of remote work/WFH! We are a group of freelancers, remote workers and business owners who get together for a chat over coffee, work on our respective projects for a few hours, and then enjoy some more social time at lunch (we will head to St. Nick's food market at 13:00).

A one-hour working session on AI Optimisation and Generative Engine Optimisation: how models such as ChatGPT and Google's AI Overview decide what to say about a company, what part earned media plays in that, and what you can change. You audit your own AI visibility in the room, find gaps and quick wins, and leave with three actions. Part of Future Space's Innovation Forum series, 12:00 to 13:00, face to face and interactive. The listing frames the content around media coverage, thought leadership, content structure and digital PR, and carries a profile of Purplefish, a Bristol technology PR agency; no individual presenter is named. Free, at Future Space, Filton Road, Stoke Gifford, BS34 8RB, on the UWE campus north of the city. Why go: a short, practical slot for marketers and founders who have watched organic search traffic fall and want to see where they actually stand inside AI answers. Read the PR framing as a point of view, not neutral ground.

STEM Women's Bristol graduate careers event — employers hiring into science, engineering and technology roles meet final-year students and recent graduates.

with Phil Pearce (CEO and Analytics Director, MeasureMinds)

Online session from the Bristol-based Digital Analytics Meetup. Phil Pearce, CEO and Analytics Director at MeasureMinds, goes through Google's new Optimised Tagging Experience for Google Tag Manager and what the team found when they tested the migration: what raised questions and what to check before switching. Aimed at people who manage GTM, GA4, Google Ads, consent or tracking for clients. Free; the joining link is visible to attendees after signing up.

with Glyn Wintle (Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Tradecraft)

A chapter night on SAML - how the protocol actually works, how it gets attacked in the wild, and what holds up as a defence. Glyn Wintle, co-founder and CTO of the UK security consultancy Tradecraft, is taking the talk, and he is going through real attack techniques rather than a standards walkthrough. Doors at 6pm on the 7th floor of Prologue Works, the usual OWASP Bristol room. Ping Identity provide the venue and refreshments; Made Tech are putting on the food. Free, 23 people signed up so far. The format is the chapter's standard one: time to mingle either side of the talk. Why go: identity and access management is where most real breaches start, and this is the one Bristol room where the people who run SAML in production compare notes on how it breaks. Best for AppSec engineers, platform and identity teams, and developers who own authentication.

Pervasive Media Studio's weekly open day for producers and people in a producing role: grab a hot desk, meet other producers and get to know the Studio and its community. Runs 10:00 to 17:00 at the Studio inside Watershed on the harbourside. The companion session for everyone else is Open Studio Friday.

October edition of the monthly founders' coffee meetup — no speeches, no selling, plus a coworking day pass.

Digital Skills Course Digital Skills Course welcomes Beginners to Improvers, topics include Online, Ai, Emailing, Social Media and Online Safety. 8 Weeks Break for Half Term

A lunchtime research seminar from the Perivoli Africa Research Centre at the University of Bristol on investigating climate change impacts to inform adaptation decision-making in southern Africa. 13:00 to 14:30 in the Verdon-Smith Room at Royal Fort House, free to attend.

Women's Tech Hub's fortnightly open study and careers session.

Three hours of quiet, laptop-open working time for people making games. Programmers, artists, designers and solo developers bring whatever they are currently building and work on it alongside others doing the same, with conversation kept low so everyone can concentrate. Bristol Indie Developers run it as a drop-in rather than a talks night: bring your own hardware, take a table, arrive and leave when you like. It runs 18:00 to 21:00 at Replay, the board game bar on Cheltenham Road, where food and drink are available at the bar. The group keeps a Discord going between sessions. It falls on the fourth Wednesday, its monthly slot. Free to attend. Organisers may take photos for the group's Discord; you can ask not to be in them. Why go: it is one of the few Bristol rooms where game developers actually work in front of each other, which is how collaborators and honest feedback get found. Best if you have a project in progress, not just an interest.

Join industry leaders for a practical, case focused discussion on off site fabrication and DFMA for building services.

A three-talk evening on what people are actually building with AI, followed by pizza, drinks and open networking. The three talks mix one build story, one hands-on demo and one wider argument about where AI is heading. The published line-up is "What I Learned Building With LLMs", a technical demo covering real lessons from shipping an AI product; "Beating the Lotto, with AI" from Jason Holloway, a step-by-step walkthrough of speeding up work with AI tooling; and "What Does The Future Look Like With AI?", a theoretical look at AI's effect on work and society. Doors at 18:00, done by 21:00, at Origin Workspace on Berkeley Square. Free, but spots are limited. Set up a Mindstone profile before you arrive and bring your login details for check-in. Why go: the talks lean on real builds rather than vendor decks, and Mindstone bills it as Bristol's biggest practical AI meetup, which makes it a good room for engineers and product people who want to see what actually works.

October social for Bristol's younger business owners and founders.

A working peer-support session for people learning data science, machine learning and AI, rather than a talks night. Members bring whatever they are stuck on: a course module, a half-built project, a paper they cannot parse. The room works through it together. The group runs a rotating set of formats across its fortnightly sessions: a course spotlight where one or two free courses or modules get picked apart, a project roundtable where members put up projects, blockers and ideas, member-led demos of DS, ML and AI tools, a paper club on a recent paper, and occasional two-hour mini hackathons. Each format is open for contributors. Hosted by CY Y. and Sam D., 18:30 to 20:30 at DeskLodge House on Redcliffe Way, ground floor. Bring a laptop; friends are welcome. Free to attend. Why go: it is a genuinely hands-on room for anyone mid-way through learning ML, and the contributor-led format means you get specific answers rather than a general introduction.

Hi all, Hi all, This is a free coworking session intended to alleviate the isolation of remote work/WFH! We are a group of freelancers, remote workers and business owners who get together for a chat over coffee, work on our respective projects for a few hours, and then enjoy some more social time at lunch. No obligation to show up at the start of the appointed session time, either - feel free to join whenever, even if just for lunch :) Beacon Loaf is a spacious, airy cafe with good WiFi that makes great coffee, pastries and lunch options.

Run by Bristol City Council - Economic Development Team at The Gatehouse. Starts 09:30. Listed for the organiser and venue pages; see the registration page for the full details.

A facilitated peer group for founders, run by for the FOUNDERS at the Lexus Bristol site in Patchway rather than in the city centre. The format is a circle rather than a talk: a small group works through what each person is actually stuck on, with a facilitator keeping it honest and on track. Morning session, starting 9:30. Free for for the FOUNDERS Core and Inner Circle members; GBP 65.71 otherwise. Patchway is a drive or a train to Patchway station, not a walk from Temple Meads, so budget the travel. Why go: Bristol has plenty of rooms where founders network and very few where they say out loud what is going wrong. The paid tier and the small format are what make that possible. Best for founders past the idea stage who want a standing group to think with, and who will get more from being challenged than from another set of business cards.

A peer meet-up rather than a networking event: you bring a live business challenge, question or opportunity, and the room works on it with you. Coming without one is fine too. Run by the Bristol NatWest Accelerator with Enterprise Nation as part of the Catalyst series. Hosted by Dan Martin, a freelance journalist who has written about entrepreneurship and small business for over twenty years and presents Enterprise Nation's Small Business Sessions podcast. 10:00 to 12:00 at the Accelerator Hub on Avon Street. Free. Bring photo ID - you need it to get into the building. Cameras will be at the event and photos may be used on social media. Why go: the Catalyst sessions are usually a speaker and a slide deck; this one puts your own problem in front of twenty other small business owners instead. Best for founders and owners of small businesses who have something specific they are stuck on.

Run by Pervasive Media Studio at Pervasive Media Studio, Watershed. Starts 14:00. Listed for the organiser and venue pages; see the registration page for the full details.

Future Space puts one resident company on stage per edition, with founder insight, the behind-the-scenes story and a live product demo. This one spotlights Ferryx, a health-tech company developing a next generation of probiotics for chronic gut conditions. Its product Ferrocalm is described as the first probiotic designed to work during stress or an IBS flare-up, when conventional probiotics struggle; Future Space cites consumer trials in which 76 percent reported improvement in key IBS symptoms within eight weeks and 88 percent would take it again. Run by Future Space, the high-tech incubator on the UWE Bristol campus, as the evolution of its Beer and Pizza nights. 16:00 to 18:00, deliberately relaxed, with beer, pizza and networking around the talk. No individual speakers are named beyond the Ferryx team. Free to attend. Why go: a rare chance to hear a research-born life sciences company explain the commercial path out of the lab, demo included. Best for deeptech and health founders, and for anyone tracking what comes out of UWE.

Bristol AI Ethics' monthly evening on how AI is actually being used and where that goes wrong. The running order is fixed and brisk: arrivals and networking from 6pm, a monthly news roundup at 6:30, the main talk at 6:50, Q&A and open discussion at 7:20, drinks at 7:35, and a Positive Actions slot at 7:50 where the room commits to something concrete. Wraps by 8pm, with the building open for talk until 8:30. Hosted at Torchbox on the third floor of 15 Colston Street - buzzer at the door, lift or stairs. Free. The October talk was still listed as TBC when we checked. 50 people are signed up and the event is full, with 9 on the waitlist. Why go: the Positive Actions slot is what separates this from the usual AI-worry panel - people leave with something to do. Best for anyone shipping AI into products who wants the ethics conversation held by practitioners rather than commentators.

The Friday morning leg of Bristol Co-Workers' standing rota, in the Watershed cafe bar on the harbourside. Writers, software engineers, designers, students and freelancers turn up with laptops from 9:30, work through the morning, break for lunch around noon, and some stay on into the afternoon. No obligation to arrive on time - people join when it suits. Up the stairs from the Watershed cinema entrance and right into the cafe; the group sits on the big table on the raised platform and leaves a stuffed crab out so you can find them. Plug sockets are usually available. Free, on the understanding that you buy something from the cafe while you are there. Why go: it is the simplest answer in Bristol to working alone all week, and the Watershed is the best of the three venues the group rotates through. Best for freelancers and remote workers who want company and a change of desk rather than a programme.

A daytime playtesting session for game designers run by Playtest UK at Excelsior! in Broadmead. Three 90-minute slots across the day, with designers allocated to slots on the day rather than in advance. Board games, card games and puzzle games are all in scope as long as a session fits inside 90 minutes, and playtesters who do not have a game of their own are welcome. Anyone bringing a game is asked to stay long enough to test at least one other. Adults only, free, hosted by Jo Kelly and Harriet Cody. Schedule: 10:30 arrivals, playtest slots at 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00, close 16:30.

Jessica Warren (Hoffmann) on a recent collaboration with Bristol City Council that used arts, culture and immersive technology to do neighbourhood visioning in South Bristol - asking residents what a place should become, and using immersive tools to let them see it rather than read about it in a consultation document. One of the Pervasive Media Studio's weekly Lunchtime Talks, 13:00 to 14:00 at the Watershed on the harbourside. Free, and part of Open Studio Friday, so you can take a hot desk in the Studio for the rest of the day either side of it. Why go: immersive tech in a civic setting is usually pitched rather than reported on, and this is a practitioner saying what actually happened with a real council and real residents. Best for people working in creative tech, civic tech, planning or public-sector innovation.

A facilitated small-group session for founders, run by for the FOUNDERS at DeskLodge House. Each participant works through one specific goal, obstacle or decision that keeps getting postponed, with the rest of the circle providing challenge and accountability. Runs roughly every two months on a Friday afternoon.