Industry Insights: Guy Hembury – building the Thames Valley’s future through tech, talent, and trust
When Guy Hembury speaks about technology, you quickly realise he doesn’t mean just “tech” in the narrow sense. For him, it’s not all AI, apps, and algorithms — it’s a broad, transformative force woven into every major industry from aerospace to sustainable finance. “Tech is everywhere,” he says, “whether it’s an enabler or a driver of innovation. You can’t talk about economic growth without recognising its role.”
As Director of Knowledge Exchange, Commercialisation & Partnerships at the University of Reading, Guy has spent years at the intersection of academia, innovation, and enterprise. He’s played a key role in fostering the Reading Tech Cluster — a collaborative initiative to link up the region’s tech businesses, universities, investors, and public sector players — with the goal of turning a scattered set of success stories into a thriving, sustainable ecosystem.
But as Guy is quick to point out, building a tech cluster isn’t about copying Silicon Valley. “That took decades,” he says. “You can’t just replicate it.
It’s about local leadership, long-term thinking, and building community from the ground up and top down – doing it together.
Defining tech — and its place in growth
To understand the motivation behind the Reading Tech Cluster, you first have to reframe how you think about technology.
“People hear ‘tech’ and think it’s just software developers or shiny gadgets,” Guy says. “But it cuts across everything — clean energy, finance, healthcare, agri-tech, logistics. Whether it’s central to the product or just powering it behind the scenes, it’s the enabler of high-value growth.”
Guy believes the public — and even some policymakers — still struggle to grasp just how embedded technology is in every economic sector. That’s why communication is key: if the region wants to support innovation, it must first understand what that actually means.
The challenges facing innovative companies
For all the potential in the Thames Valley, Guy is realistic about the hurdles local innovators face. Chief among them is talent.
“Finding the right people is the biggest challenge,” he says. “You need developers, yes — but also operational staff, business minds, marketing, and sales. And you need people who can afford to live here.”
Infrastructure is crucial: you need flexible and affordable workspaces, public transport, housing to ensure that companies do not leave the area or go overseas entirely.
Then there’s finance. While there’s no shortage of investment capital on paper, accessing it can be difficult for early-stage companies. “It’s all about confidence,” he says.
Investors want to know there’s a market, a product fit, and a path to scale. But that kind of clarity only comes through connections — with suppliers, customers, and advisers.
Why the Reading Tech Cluster was born
These challenges — and the opportunity they mask — were the genesis for the Reading Tech Cluster. The idea emerged from people who recognised that, despite a high concentration of tech businesses in the region, there wasn’t a cohesive tech “community.”
“Reading already had the ingredients,” Guy explains. “World-class research. Global companies. Start-ups. Infrastructure. But it lacked the connective tissue — that sense of shared purpose and mutual awareness.”
The cluster’s aim is to change that: to make the Thames Valley not just a place where tech companies happen to be, but where they choose to be, grow, and collaborate.
Building connections that drive growth
The first step, according to Guy, is bringing the right people into the room. That’s the point of the cluster’s inaugural investor summit — to match promising ventures with sources of capital.
“But that’s just a start,” he stresses. “Hosting a few events doesn’t make you a cluster. You need sustained effort — to build relationships between universities, companies, local government, investors, and the community.”
In particular, he sees the university as a key convening force. “We discover new knowledge, we train the next generation, and we help turn ideas into enterprises. But none of that works in isolation. It’s all about partnerships.”
That’s where the cluster comes in — acting as both matchmaker and advocate. “If it can genuinely represent the sector and communicate what businesses need — whether that’s labs, housing, roads, or policy changes — then it becomes a powerful voice,” he says.
The role of legal partners like Blake Morgan
Part of building a thriving tech ecosystem is surrounding businesses with the right professional support — and legal advice is critical.
“It’s not just beneficial,” Guy says. “It’s fundamental. From IP protection to shareholder agreements, if you get it wrong early, you’ll regret it later.”
He stressed the importance of building relationships with professional services.
The best legal partners don’t just bill you. They educate you, they de-risk the early stages, and they grow with you.
He encourages founders to learn what they can before engaging a law firm — “so you can ask the right questions and get the most value from the relationship.” In his experience, firms like Blake Morgan that understand this dynamic — and tailor their services accordingly — are the ones worth building long-term relationships with.
Blake Morgan has long supported the tech sector in the region, sponsoring the Reading Tech Cluster as well as the Tech & Innovation Awards again in 2025 for the Thames Valley and South Coast regions. The law firm provides a wide range of services to the tech sector, from protecting intellectual property, supporting its commercialisation, to transactional legal services and employment advice.
Advice for entrepreneurs and start-ups
“I’m not a tech entrepreneur,” Guy says — but he’s spent enough time in the space to offer some clear advice.
First: spend time in the ecosystem.
Go out and talk to people. Not just customers, but other innovators, funders, suppliers. Even people only tangentially related to your space.
Second: build relationships early. “Don’t wait until you’ve built your product to start asking what the market wants. Engage now. Understand what people want, how they want it, what they’re missing.”
And finally: stay in the Thames Valley — or move here. “If you want to grow a tech business in the UK, this is one of the best places to do it. The potential is huge — but only if we all work together to make the region what it can be.”
Looking ahead
For Guy, the Reading Tech Cluster isn’t just a project — it’s a long-term investment in the region’s future. “It will take time. It will take leadership. But if we focus on community and connections, everything else can follow.”
As the cluster evolves, his hope is that it becomes more than just a collection of companies. “We need an ecosystem where ideas flow, people support each other, and innovation leads to real, inclusive growth.”
That, he says, is what will truly put the Thames Valley on the global tech map.
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