Call for contributions: Building the Smarter State Week 2025

From Monday 8 September to Friday 12 September, we will be running Building the Smarter State Week in the run up to our annual flagship Building the Smarter State Conference.

The Blueprint for Modern Digital Government, published in January 2025 lays out the vision for a comprehensive digital transformation of the UK public sector, addressing the gap between current service delivery and rising citizen expectations. With government eager to embrace the promise of technology to improve public service delivery, this year’s Building the Smarter State Conference, taking place on Wednesday 10 September, provides a fantastic opportunity to connect key public sector and industry stakeholders to collaborate on taking public sector From Blueprint to Brilliance.

To support the conference, we want to hear from members and stakeholders their visions for a truly digital state and how the technology industry is shaping today’s and tomorrow’s public services, from overcoming challenges posed by Legacy IT to harnessing the power of AI and acting as one, joined up public sector.

The themes for the week are listed below:

Blueprint to Brilliance: Visions for a truly digital state – what could it look like and how do we enable the five outcomes: easier lives, faster growth, firmer foundations, smarter organisations, and higher productivity.

Data: How can government strengthen and extend their digital and data public infrastructure and overcome the challenges posed by old and costly legacy systems

The power of AI: How can we harness the power of AI responsibly and safely to improve public service delivery and capability, what are the opportunities it presents

Joined up public services: Exploring how we act as one public sector – enabling next-generation public services, better supporting businesses, redesigning cross-organisation end-to-end service delivery, and ensuring services are consistently high standard.

Skills: Exploring how government can best invest in talent, bridge the skills gap and raise the baseline

Heather Cover-Kus

Head of Central Government Programme, techUK

Heather is Head of Central Government Programme at techUK, working to represent the supplier community of tech products and services to Central Government.

Prior to joining techUK in April 2022, Heather worked in the Economic Policy and Small States Section at the Commonwealth Secretariat. She led the organisation’s FinTech programme and worked to create an enabling environment for developing countries to take advantage of the socio-economic benefits of FinTech.

Before moving to the UK, Heather worked at the Office of the Prime Minister of The Bahamas and the Central Bank of The Bahamas.

Heather holds a Graduate Diploma in Law from BPP, a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from LSE, and a BA in Economics and Sociology from Macalester College.

Email:: [email protected]
LinkedIn:: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-cover-kus-ba636538

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Ellie Huckle

Programme Manager, Central Government, techUK

Ellie joined techUK in March 2018 as a Programme Assistant to the Public Sector team and now works as a Programme Manager for the Central Government Programme.

The programme represents the supplier community of technology products and services in Central Government – in summary working to make Government a more informed buyer, increasing supplier visibility in order to improve their chances of supplying to Government Departments, and fostering better engagement between the public sector and industry. To find out more about what we do, how we do this and how you can get involved – make sure to get in touch!

Prior to joining techUK, Ellie completed Sixth Form in June 2015 and went on to work in Waitrose, moved on swiftly to walking dogs and finally, got an office job working for a small local business in North London, where she lives with her family and their two Bengal cats Kai and Nova.

When she isn’t working Ellie likes to spend time with her family and friends, her cats, and enjoys volunteering for diabetes charities. She has a keen interest in writing, escaping with a good book and expanding her knowledge watching far too many quiz shows!

Email:: [email protected]
Phone:: 020 7331 2015
Twitter:: @techUK,@techUK
Website:: www.techuk.org,www.techuk.org
LinkedIn:: https://bit.ly/3mtQ7Jx,https://bit.ly/3mtQ7Jx

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Charles Bauman

Junior Programme Manager - Central Government, techUK

Charles Bauman is a Junior Programme Manager in the Central Government Programme at techUK.

He supports the programme’s mission to represent the technology supplier community to the UK government and advocate for digital innovation to address public sector challenges. Charles helps facilitate market engagement, foster partnerships, and ensure that tech suppliers and the government work collaboratively to improve outcomes, deliver value for money, and enhance public services for citizens.

Before joining techUK, Charles gained significant experience in research, analysis, and strategic advisory roles. At H/Advisors Cicero, he specialised in public affairs and corporate communications, while at Verdantix, he supported sustainability research and advisory projects, focusing on regulatory and environmental challenges.

Charles holds an MSc in Theory and History of International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and an MA in Medieval History from King’s College London.

Charles enjoys volunteering with a think tank, reading, hiking, and spending time with his dog and family outside of work.

Email:: [email protected]
Website:: www.techuk.org
LinkedIn:: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-bauman-75712016b/

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Francesca Richiusa

Programme Team Assistant for Public Sector Markets, techUK

Fran serves as the Programme Team Assistant within techUK’s Public Sector Market Programmes, where she is responsible for delivering comprehensive team support, managing administrative functions, and fostering strong relationships with members.

Prior to joining techUK in May 2025, Fran built a meaningful career in the charitable and local government sectors. She worked extensively with both victims and perpetrators of crime, and notably led the coordination of Domestic Homicide Reviews across Surrey—an initiative aimed at identifying lessons and preventing future incidents of domestic abuse.

Outside of work, Fran is an avid traveller and a proud cat mum who enjoys unwinding with her feline companions.

Email:: [email protected]
Website:: www.techuk.org/
LinkedIn:: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesca-richiusa/

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Central Government Programme activities

The techUK Central Government Programme provides a forum for government to engage with tech suppliers. We advocate for the govtech sector, evangelise tech as a solution to public sector challenges, facilitate market engagement, and help make the public sector an easier market to operate in. Visit the programme page here.