22 Sep 2025

From Blueprint to Brilliance: Building the Smarter State 2025

On Wednesday 10 September 2025, techUK hosted the eleventh Building the Smarter State Conference.

The conference, headline sponsored this year by Cisco, saw over 200 attendees from across the public and private sector come together at Convene, 155 Bishopsgate, to discuss the future for digital public services.

This year’s focus was on the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government, published in January 2025, it sets out a bold vision for transforming the UK public sector, closing the gap between current service delivery and growing citizen expectations. With government ready to harness technology for real impact, we explored how we can take the public sector ‘From Blueprint to Brilliance’, turning ambition into delivery.

Julian David OBE, CEO, techUK, set the stage for the day, and thanked attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors. The sponsor keynote address was delivered by Sarah Walker, Chief Executive, Cisco UK & Ireland, who highlighted Cisco’s vision for a more inclusive, secure and connected future for all and how today’s mantra from blueprint to brilliance has never been truer.

Our fantastic line-up of speakers brought the jam-packed agenda to life, which included the launch of techUK’s latest report from our Public Services Board, “Financing the Future: Building a Smarter State through Digital Public Services”. With the room buzzing and full of like-minded people, ready to learn how to deliver on the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government, we got off to a flying start. Please see the tabs below to see what else our agenda had to offer:

Opening panel session - Building the Modern Digital Government

This session reflected on the priorities and progress of the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government report, including the opportunities and challenges it presents. This panel was chaired by Adele Every, Managing Director, Public Sector, Cisco, UK & Ireland. As part of the discussion, panellists gave a three-word overview of the blueprint – Clear, bold, vision; ambition, collaboration, transformation, and long-term vision.

Looking to the future, Emily Middleton, DG for Digital Centre Design at DSIT said “By the end of next year, every public sector organisation should have a digital leader on the board” stating that progress on leadership structures from the Blueprint is “good” but the bigger goal is for all leaders to be digital leaders.

Owen Pritchard, Head of Cyber Digital and Technology Programme at the LGA stressed the fact that real progress needs foundational fixes first such as overcoming Legacy IT, technical debt and having the right skills – “You can’t drive F1 cars on dirt-track roads”.

Panellists:

Sonia Patel, Chief Technology Officer, NHS
Owen Pritchard, Head of Cyber Digital and Technology Programme, Local Government Association
Emily Middleton, Director General, Digital Centre Design at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Keynote Address – Precision Policing - Sir Mark Rowley, QPM, Commissioner of Metropolitan Police

We were delighted to be joined by Sir Mark Rowley, QPM, Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, his presence alone marking a shift in how important technology is in the efficiency and delivery of public services. Mark spoke to attendees about “Precise Community Crime Fighting” which is making the Met more capable, productive, and focused. The challenges the public sector faces in spotting and scaling good technology are at the forefront of his mind, such as clunky processes and data bureaucracy, but so is the potential technology has to transform public services - drawing on the successes enabling officers to keep communities safe.

Fund for Outcomes: Procure for Growth and Innovation (Powered by Tussell)

Focused on the government’s aim to “make use of [its] scale to unlock greater value and procure in a way that drives creation of responsible, inclusive and secure technologies and benefits the public, public services and UK businesses including SMEs.”, this session, delivered by Gus Tugendhat, Founder, Tussell, explored the govtech procurement landscape and the opportunities it presents to suppliers. Everything from the latest trends to who the biggest buyers and suppliers in government tech are.

Rewiring the State - Leadership, Systems and the Future of Government (Powered by Cognizant)

In this session, Yatin Mahandru, VP, Head of Public Sector and Health, Cognizant UK and Ireland, and Siobhan Benita, former senior civil servant, discussed the leadership, skills, and system-level changes needed for genuine transformation. Drawing on insights from inside and outside government, they explored both the challenges and the opportunities of getting reform right. This conversation also offered a first look at the themes of a major new study by Global Government Forum with 12 Permanent Secretaries, led by Lord Gud O’Donnell and supported by Cognizant and AWS, ahead of its full release.

Report Launch: Financing the Future; Building the Smarter State Through Digital Public Services

This year we were proud to publish techUK’s latest report from its Public Services Board developed together with Henham Strategy - “Financing the Future: Building a Smarter State through Digital Public Services” . Paige Portal, Senior Account Director, Henham Strategy, took attendees through an overview of the publication, which examines how outdated funding models and rigid procurement practices are holding back innovation and makes the case for a fundamental shift in approach to procurement processes and funding models for digital procurement.

Afternoon Panel 1: Joining up Public Services – the opportunities and obstacles

“Join up public sector services” is a key priority in the six-point plan for government digital reform laid out in the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government. This session, chaired by Sam Trendall, Editor, Public Technology, brought the panellists together to explore what good joined up services look like, the difference that can make to the citizen experience and the challenges to reaching this ideal.

To set the scene for the discussion, our panellists highlighted what joined up public services means to them in the context of their own organisations - James Mitton, DG for Enterprise Transformation at HMRC said “A joined-up government is a customer that can come in and not have to say the same thing 26 times”, while Hannah Roden, Innovation Officer for the Integrated Digital Service at Leeds Council/Leeds City Office of West Yorkshire, reflected that “Joined-up services are systems and experiences that reflect the reality of people’s lives.”

To measure success, Theo Blackwell MBE, CDO for London stated that “creating data platforms isn’t success, doing things with data that help citizens and those who serve them is.”

Panellists:

Hannah Roden, Innovation Officer for the Integrated Digital Service, Leeds City Council/Leeds Office of West Yorkshire ICB
James Mitton, Director General, Enterprise Transformation, HMRC
Sue Bateman, Chief Data Officer, Defra,
Theo Blackwell MBE, Chief Digital Officer for London

Connecting the Dots: How Shared Data Can Make Government Smarter (powered by Netcompany)

Greg Williams, Editor in Chief, WIRED UK, and Thomas Rysgaard-Christiansen joined us to discover how shared data infrastructure can enable more joined-up, responsive, and trusted public services, and what it takes to build the right foundations - from common digital components to data governance - and how these efforts can support more data-driven decision-making across government. This session also reflected on lessons from Denmark and other countries, the role of AI as an accelerator, and practical steps for the UK to unlock value and strengthen public trust through better use of connected data.

Looking at lessons from Denmark, Thomas Rygaard Christiansen, Partner at Netcompany, said “Brave politicians decided; from tomorrow on, we all communicate digitally” – making digital the default sped up service redesign and automation across agencies. On the role of AI as an accelerator, Thomas stressed that “AI will save us – but not you if you have fax machines…there’s no way to pull real value from AI until the foundation is better.” The big wins demand high-quality, shared data and infrastructure.

Strengthen and Extend Digital Public Infrastructure (Powered by Leidos)

"Our infrastructure needs to be stronger than ever before to protect against current and future threats. … [and] to build and maintain public trust and confidence.” – Blueprint for Modern Digital Government. This session, chaired by Roz Barrance, Head of Business Development, Civil, Leidos UK, and chair of techUK’s Public Services Board, reviewed the current state of digital and data public infrastructure and how industry can work with government to strengthen it, look at the brilliance already being built, and build on the earlier calls to action, to be bold and to be collaborative.

Panellists:

Richard Jones, Head of Cyber, Leidos UK
Mark Watson, Chief Architect, Civil Division, Leidos UK
Georgina O’Toole Chief Analyst, TechMarketView
Matthew Wynn, Data and Technology Executive Director, NHS Supply Chain

Public Sector Tech Talk with Rob Thompson, Chief Digital, Data and Technology Officer, Home Office

Last, but certainly not least, Heather Cover-Kus, Associate Director for Central Government and Education at techUK, sat down with Rob Thompson, Chief Digital, and Technology Officer at the Home Office for a Public Sector Tech Talk. This session is part of a regular series of fireside chats with senior public sector figures, exploring their drivers, priorities and challenges, and aiming to improve the dialogue across the public sector tech ecosystem and set the scene for more meaningful market engagement.

In this fun and final session of the day Rob walked us through his journey from a wannabe fighter pilot when he was little to his current post with Home Office Digital. He passionately laid out ambition to transform how the Home Office delivers, modelling his approach to that of companies like Monzo which revolutionised their industries. Rob was also clear on how the tech supplier community can best partner with the Home Office and support his vision.

Wrapping up

Bringing our fantastic day to a close was Matt Evans, Director of Markets and Chief Operating Officer at techUK – he reflected on how attendees heard about what is possible for the future, and how people are at the heart of a truly smarter state. The challenges are well known, and it is clear no single organisation or government department can do it alone.

Attendees could go forth in the knowledge that techUK will continue our mission to help government and society harness digital technologies – and this year we’re taking it one step further with the launch of our Digital Transformation in the Public Sector awards, which aim to recognise and celebrate government programmes that harness digital innovation to deliver tangible benefits for UK citizens and public sector operations and foster good working relationships between industry and public sector stakeholders. Winners will be announced at BTSS 2026.

Please do join us next year, where more senior leaders and decision-makers from across the public and private sector will convene to share more visions for the future, reflect on lessons learnt and continue to discover what will be the smarter state of tomorrow.

Thank you to our headline sponsor Cisco, our panel sponsors Leidos, Cognizant, Tussell and Netcompany and demo sponsors CACI, Elsewhen, Exponential-e and Fortinet.

Heather Cover-Kus

Associate Director, Central Government and Education, techUK

Georgina Maratheftis

Associate Director, Local Public Services, techUK

Ellie Huckle

Programme Manager, Central Government, techUK

Margot Stumm

Head of Events and Sponsorship, techUK

Dora Pass

Junior Events Manager, techUK

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