Innovation funding in digital and technologies

Luke has been a leader in tech innovations since the early 2000s. After studying mathematics, computing and education at the Universities of Oxford and Bath he taught maths and IT for several years before embarking on a career in software engineering.

Luke has worked for several start-ups, some of which have gone on to become successful enterprises. He has amassed experience in the HealthTech and FinTech sectors, developing systems used nationally by the NHS and working on an innovative Tax Pooling platform used in New Zealand.

In many of his roles, Luke has been the ‘Competent Professional’, submitting many R&D tax claims for his innovative, ground-breaking work. A recent position saw Luke leading development on a number of high profile projects for Google, Meta and The Home Office.

Luke is always striving to stay ahead of the game with the latest advances in the field of software engineering and technology. He has worked with most of the major tech stacks and cloud computing providers and takes a great interest in blockchain, quantum computing and AI.

Luke joined us from JP Morgan where he worked on the unification of their internal management platforms, which handle millions of requests a week from over 300,000 employees. He is a certified ScrumMaster and appreciates the benefits of using agile practices like Test Driven Development and Continuous Integration/Deployment to facilitate the bringing of new R&D projects to market.

Rob is an expert software engineer in our sector specialist team. He plays an invaluable role in translating our clients’ highly technical scientific R&D activity into reports for HMRC.

After graduating with a master’s degree in computer games development from the University of South Wales, he worked for a number of years as a full stack software developer for an award-winning digital agency.

With a passion for AR, VR, game and mobile app development, Rob acts as a conduit between our clients’ technical teams and our tax specialists, enabling us to communicate our clients’ complex R&D projects effectively to HMRC.

Rob is always keen to share his knowledge and has delivered Learning Lab presentations to the wider business on a range of topics.

Beginning her career with a Big Four firm and gaining experience across a range of auditing and tax roles, Katy has specialised in R&D tax relief since joining ForrestBrown in 2019.

During a time of unprecedented change, Katy has led ForrestBrown’s approach to key policy developments including restrictions on overseas R&D activities and HMRC’s introduction of an additional information form. This has included liaising with HMRC, delivering internal training and providing insights to clients.

Clients working with Katy benefit from her commercial mindset and deep knowledge of R&D tax relief, including how it can work alongside other innovation incentives. She works with a range of established SMEs and large businesses in sectors including manufacturing, financial services and aerospace, where she is a trusted adviser on the RDEC incentive.

Katy co-authored the Tolley’s Tax Digest on R&D tax relief and has contributed articles to publications including Taxation and The CFO.

Jayne is an experienced chartered accountant with Big Four experience, who has worked in both the UK and Middle East. She is a senior adviser in FB Consulting, ForrestBrown’s specialist tax advisory service, as well as leading on the delivery of Patent Box claims for clients.

Jayne joined ForrestBrown in 2020 and brings a wealth of experience in leading complex tax advisory projects, which helps her provide invaluable advice to our clients. She also plays a key role in assessing and managing tax risks and leading client relationships with HMRC.

Drawing on her science background, she takes particular interest in the pharmaceutical and medical sectors. In her role with ForrestBrown, Jayne is focused on developing our advisory services to help more businesses across the UK benefit from R&D tax relief. This includes working with clients and accountants to create robust claims and providing strategic advice or specialist support should HMRC open an enquiry.

After completing a Master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Sheffield, Jayne began her career with Deloitte in 2006. She was based in the entrepreneurial business tax practice and studied for her ACA qualification.

In 2010, she moved to Dubai to help establish Deloitte’s international tax practice for the Middle East region. She managed a diverse portfolio of clients including large multinationals, owner-managed companies and startups.

Richard joined ForrestBrown’s research team in 2023 to help translate and communicate clients’ R&D projects to HMRC. He has broad scientific knowledge gained from an MSci in Natural Sciences, and a PhD developing a quantum optical atomic clock.

He works closely with ForrestBrown’s tax and consulting teams, acting as the bridge between a company’s competent professional and HMRC. He leads tech discovery calls and uses the insights gained to qualify the R&D and ensure that complex projects are effectively communicated in accessible language.

Prior to joining ForrestBrown, Richard worked as a writer for scientific magazines, translating academic papers on scientific and technological discoveries into digestible content for readers.

Ben is a digital expert at the forefront of tech trends. A digital sector specialist at ForrestBrown, his extensive knowledge is invaluable to our clients who are pushing the boundaries of innovation.

He began his career as a law and philosophy graduate in publishing, but quickly developed a keen interest in web development and software engineering. At the time he was working for family law publisher, Jordan Publishing, but subsequently moved from there into the world of digital agencies.

Since then, Ben has amassed more than 15 years of digital agency experience, some at general agencies; others specialising in sectors such as travel and product development. These include 3Sixty, Bray Leino, Cognizant and AKQA.

With experience as a full-stack developer and technology director, Ben has mastered a wide range of development frameworks and tools. He has worked extensively with content management systems, modern web technologies, and responsive design principles.

Ben has also developed expertise in cloud platforms and infrastructure as these technologies have emerged. In his senior roles he has led teams of developers and been involved in wider business management.

His extensive experience at agencies has led him to work across many sectors, including legal, transport infrastructure, entertainment, homebuilding and ecommerce.

Ben’s expertise is tremendously valuable to our clients at the cutting edge of digital innovation. He works directly with them and our R&D tax practice to uncover all qualifying innovations for robust R&D tax credit claims.