London Tech Week Diary day one: AI takes centre stage

As London Tech Week kicks off, Russ Shaw, founder of Tech London Advocates & Global Tech Advocates, gives us the inside scoop on the industry with his daily diary  

London Tech Week 2024 has officially opened its doors, with 45,000 attendees from 146 countries due at events across the capital this week. 

As the world’s tech and innovation leaders gather at the UK’s biggest tech festival, the eyes of the tech world are firmly set on London for what is set to be a record-breaking edition of the festival in its 11th year. 

It will be of little surprise to hear that one technology in particular is dominating this year’s proceedings. Fresh off the back of another bumper year in the spotlight, AI will take centre-stage across LTW 2024. 

Some of the finest minds in the space have already graced Olympia’s stage, with the chief executive of IBM UK&I, CEO of Microsoft UK and COO of Deepmind all involved in AI-themed events on the opening day of this year’s London Tech Week. 

London leading the charge in AI innovation 

It’s against a very positive backdrop that London Tech Week 2024 begins: new research by London & Partners found more than three quarters of business leaders in the AI field saw London as a more supportive destination for AI development than other similar-sized competitors. 

This news underscores the capital’s long-standing trend of positioning itself at the cutting edge of technological development.

London is a hotbed for global talent and thrives when courting the very best the world has to offer. With the same report finding 85 per cent of business leaders to be very confident in London’s ability to attract talent in the AI space, there is no better time to be attending this year’s tech week. 

With Salesforce also just recently announcing the opening of a new AI centre as part of a $4bn investment in the UK, the country can be hopeful that speakers and attendees gathering for London Tech Week are here both to absorb knowledge, but also plant the seeds of commercial opportunities to come. 

Capitalising on a promising start

For all the buzz that surrounds AI, for it to act as the truly transformational technology it has the potential to be, policymakers must match the dynamism of the private sector and build a regulatory system capable of ensuring that the technology delivers tangible benefits for the population as a whole. 

The financial benefits that the technology can create are there for all to see – from finding and preventing financial fraud, to analysing medical data to help develop life saving drugs. 

But these benefits must be coupled with a sincere commitment to tech inclusivity so that everyone can benefit from its deployment. 

This is the reason that ethical AI and governance is one of the themes at the very top of London Tech Week 2024’s AI agenda. 

In order to address these challenges, it is crucial that a broad range of perspectives is heard, on all sides of the debate. I always encourage – and spend much of my time visiting – London Tech Week’s fantastic fringe events. 

These events are where London’s tech community comes to life, offering forums for the most pressing tech debates to be hashed out and spaces where the fundamental questions behind the AI debate can be explored. 

Tomorrow, our very own GTA Data & AI group will be co-hosting, together with Microsoft, an AI implementation ‘Ignite’ workshop. Similarly, there will be more AI talk on Wednesday at the Barbican, where the impact of the technology on the medical field will be explored.

A festival of tech awaits 

Over the coming week I will be writing daily updates for all those wanting to hear more from the week’s festivities. 

To those attendees visiting the capital: welcome to London, please explore as much of this most dynamic city as you can muster. 

The very best of luck to all those hosting, or taking part in any of the week’s events – your commitment to putting on world-class events is what drives the success of this week. 

In the mayor’s own words at the week’s opening address this morning; “London is daring, dynamic and diverse”, and it’s exciting welcoming so many international delegates to London for what promises to be an excellent week.

The possibilities that tech has to offer London are near endless – there is nowhere better than London Tech Week to hear all about it. 

Russ Shaw CBE is the founder of Tech London Advocates & Global Tech Advocates