iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 03/07/2026

It was really inspiring to hear about the work of @aria-research.bsky.social at an event at BALTIC Gateshead yesterday. ARIA is a UK research funding agency modelled on DARPA in the US, but with a scope that spans the whole of science and technology for economic and societal benefit. aria.org.uk

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 19/06/2026

I've had a great time at #TechNExt26 this week. High quality production, some thought provoking talks, and most of all good conversation. Thank you to everyone who came to my talk yesterday about the #WebOfThings and Krellian's #SmartBuilding solutions.

Jamie Hardesty interviewing Pete Cheyne on stage at the Festival Launch.

Henrietta Newble talking on stage about her Biotech startup at the Festival Launch.

The exterior of the Catalyst building hosting the Data & AI Hub in Newcastle.

Paul Hands from ARK51 discussing potential dangers of AI.

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 04/06/2026

Just two weeks until my talk at TechNExt Festival, "Making Buildings Smarter with the Web of Things" www.technext.co.uk/programme/ev... If you're interested in smart buildings or the Web of Things, please join me for this free talk at the The Catalyst in Newcastle on Thursday 18th June.

TechNExt, krellian

Making Buildings Smarter with the Web of Things

Extending the web to physical objects for smarter, safer & sustainable buildings

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 11/05/2026

I'm delighted to share that I will be giving a talk at TechNExt Festival 2026 called "Making Buildings Smarter with the Web of Things". technext.co.uk/programme/ev... #TechNExt #TechNExtFestival

I am hosting a session at the TechNExt Data and AI Hub! TechNExt 15-19th June 2026.

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 25/03/2026

Very excited at the prospect of the Web Thing Protocol joining a standards track at the W3C, as the "WoT Thing Protocol". This would be the next step towards standardising a universal web-based application layer protocol for the Web of Things. #WoT #IoT lists.w3.org/Archives/Pub...

A diagram showing an hourglass with the WoT Thing Protocol (HTTP REST & WebSockets) at the narrow part in the middle, IoT protocols like MQTT, BACnet and OPC UA a the bottom and applications, dashboards, cloud services and intelligent agents at the top.

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 25/11/2025

This is why I have trust issues. #AI

It's about 62.14 weeks from now to 17 January 2026

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 25/11/2025

We told our five year old daughter that this box contains the missing matter of the universe, and now she won't let us get rid of it 😂 #H2G2

A cardboard box containing packaging materials and a hand-written note saying "Please keep matter of the universe".

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 18/11/2025

Twitter ("X") is down due to a Cloudflare outage. How exciting.

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 21/10/2025

"This Jen, is the Internet." #AWSOutage

A scene from The IT Crowd where Moss tells Jen that a small black box on the table in front of them is the Internet, with the black box labelled AWS us-east-1.

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 02/07/2025

What an incredible experience exhibiting Krellian's climate tech innovations at the Houses of Parliament in London yesterday, with Sage and @techuk.bsky.social.

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 25/06/2025

I am honoured to have been invited to showcase Krellian's climate tech innovations at the Houses of Parliament next week, as part of the Digital Tools for Net Zero Parliamentary Showcase in partnership with Sage and techUK. www.techuk.org/what-we-deli...

techUK - For what comes next.

Confirmed Speaker: Ben Francis, Founder, Krellian.

Digital Tools for Net Zero Parliamentary Showcase
1 July 14:00 - 16:00, Houses of Parliament, Free event, Open to all

Register now!

Committed to Climate Action.

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 11/06/2025

An exhilarating and exhausting few days in Atlanta, representing Krellian at the Sage Impact Entrepreneurship Programme Summit with Village Capital. I've learnt a huge amount over the last three months and built valuable new relationships. #Impact #Startup #ClimateTech

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 01/04/2025

Today is Krellian Ltd.'s 5th Birthday! 🎉 And what a roller-coaster it has been so far.

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 20/01/2025

Trump (trʌmp). Verb. British slang, meaning to expel intestinal gas through the anus. Musk (mʌsk). Noun. A strong-smelling glandular secretion. From the sanskrit mushká meaning scrotum. Here's hoping the human race survives the events of the next four years.

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 19/01/2025

Idly mocking up a POSSE microblog that I will probably never implement because of the rabbit hole it would send me down that I may never emerge from! #IndieWeb #ActivityPub #ATProto

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 17/12/2024

Celebrating twenty years of this magnificent building. www.culturednortheast.co.uk/p/raising-a-...

A photo of the Glasshouse (formerly Sage Gateshead) taken over rooftops. Photo by Newcastle Portraits.

A photo of the Glasshouse (formerly Sage Gateshead) taken over the river Tyne. Photo by Newcastle Portraits.

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 03/12/2024

Representing Krellian at the Facilities Show at Anticipate London this week and learning about some cool #smartbuilding technologies.

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 26/11/2024

I was very privileged to get a ride on one of the brand new not-yet-in-service Tyne & Wear Metro electric trains today. A long overdue update for the current 40+ year old fleet. The only problem is they're so nice you won't want to get off! #NZNEE

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Ben Francis @tola.me.uk · 26/11/2024

Proud to be exhibiting Krellian's #netzero smart building solution at the Net Zero North East England Annual Summit today. I've already had lots of great conversations. See you again tomorrow! #NZNEE krellian.com/solutions/ne...

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