Tech Policy Expertise: Start-ups and scale-ups

  • Iliana Pearce

    Iliana Pearce is a Policy Advisor at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) leading on innovation and technology policy. Her work focuses on how small businesses can be equipped to adopt new technologies well, to enhance their productivity and help them do more of what they love. Previously, she has undertaken legal research on accountability for AI-assisted decision-making and on how small businesses can be supported to adopt AI responsibly.

  • Hyeona Kim

    I’m a mission-driven Policy & Program Manager with a global track record across tech, public affairs, and regulatory compliance. At TikTok, I’ve led governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) efforts in monetization, streamlining policy operations while navigating complex global regulations.

  • Hollie Rose Hodgson

    Hollie Hodgson is Head of Account Management at Tussell, where she supports organisations in navigating and succeeding in public sector procurement. She also serves as Chair of techUK’s Scale-Up Council, championing government policy initiatives to enable UK tech scale-ups to thrive.

  • Heather Xiao

    I’m the Founder & CEO of Horizon Zero, a research and advisory partner helping UK and international policymakers, businesses, and entrepreneurs strategise and connect across the Open Banking, Open Finance, and Smart Data ecosystems. We support the creation of customer outcome – focused products, partnerships, and infrastructure.

    Previously, I served as Product & Operations Director at Open Banking Limited (OBL) and was a member of its Executive Committee. I led OBL’s product management, trust framework, participant support, and business development. I also represented OBL in the UK Open Banking Future Entity Working Group in 2023, contributing to the next phase of the UK’s open banking strategy, contributed to Smart Data Council, and chaired the UK Open Banking Participants Forum.

    I’m passionate about enabling secure, scalable, cross-sector data sharing to transform personal and business lives. Over the past decade, I’ve led open data initiatives in financial services, aviation, and consulting, building ecosystems across jurisdictions and regulatory environments. Earlier in my career, I helped global organisations define digital strategy, architect data ecosystems, and design operating models to drive transformation at scale.

    At Horizon Zero, we’re currently developing a Smart Data Research Framework to help ecosystem stakeholders shape infrastructure and services that create value for customers and unlock new business models. Our recent work GlowTrack, a cross-sector prototype identifying heating vulnerability, was named a finalist in the DBT Smart Data Challenge Prize 2025.

    Alongside my executive work, I advise policymakers and boards on translating open data sharing ethics, trust and inclusion into real-world infrastructure. I’m also an Honorary Research Fellow at Warwick Business School and a proud member of the Cranfield 100 Women to Watch, well positioned for non-executive roles and board appointments, including FTSE 350 companies.

  • Elena Sinel

  • Dr Erin Young

    Dr. Erin Young is Head of Innovation and Technology Policy at the Institute of Directors where she leads the IoD’s policy, strategy and thought leadership work on technology, science and innovation. Before joining the IoD, Erin was Project Co-Lead and Research Fellow in Public Policy at The Alan Turing Institute, where her work influenced the UK’s National AI Strategy and AI Opportunities Action Plan. Previously, Erin held positions at the UN in Paris, WPP in London, MediaX at Stanford University, and Thomson Reuters in New York City. She sits on the Strategy Steering Board for the City of London Corporation’s Women Pivoting to Digital Taskforce and advises the Hg Foundation on AI, inequalities and skills. Erin holds a BA from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Education (Learning and Technology) from the University of Oxford, a PGC in International Business Practice, Finance and Organisational Behaviour, and a DPhil in Science and Technology Studies from the University of Oxford.

  • Dr Claire Thorne

    Claire is Adviser and Venture Partner at Deep Science Ventures, co-founding and now scaling the Venture Science Directorate. She serves on the Council of The Foundation for Science and Technology, is a member of the Sutton Trust’s Tech Future Taskforce and techUK’s TechSkills Advisory Board. She is also co-Chief Executive Officer of a ‘tech for good’ scale-up, an industry-backed charity tackling the UK’s tech skills gap: Tech She Can.

    Claire regularly speaks at London Tech Weeks, Mobile World Congress, Accenture and Infosys’ client conferences, and contributes to publications in Computing, The Guardian and with the Tony Blair Institute.

    What drives me: social justice and opportunity for all
    Passionate about equitable pathways, skills, R&D policy, and STEM education and research
    Her background is in innovation strategy at UK universities: shaping Imperial’s 23-acre White City innovation district, and operating a #1 university business incubator. Claire holds a PhD in Astroparticle Physics on dark matter from Imperial College London.

  • Collette Bird

    Collette is the Head of Corporate Affairs for Just Eat, heading up Corporate Communications, Public Affairs and Social Impact for the UK and Ireland. Collette Joined Just Eat from the Labour Party where she was a special advisor for the Shadow Health Secretary. She has previously held roles in Cabinet Office, trade unions and local governments.

  • Clare Huxley

  • Clara Aranda