techUK's 2025 AI Campaign Week (12-16 May) - call for submissions!
techUK’s AI Campaign Week 2025 will bring together a wide range of stakeholders, including thought leaders and industry experts, to shine a spotlight on the UK’s AI ecosystem and explore the next steps needed to fully realise our AI potential. Through a week of dedicated content, we’ll explore how the UK can drive leadership to remain a global leader in AI, as well as critical themes such as AI adoption, assurance, compute and infrastructure and skills development. We'll explore how each of these elements are essential to the growth and deployment of AI at scale. Additionally, we will explore how AI can be a key driver in boosting economic growth and productivity, improving vital public services, and unlocking new opportunities across sectors and industries.
We’re inviting contributions in the form of blogs, video statements, and expert insights to help inform and inspire the debate. Whether you're showcasing real-world case studies, offering policy perspectives, or spotlighting best practices, we want to hear from you!
Please send your submissions to:
- Usman Ikhlaq: [email protected]
- Victoria Njururi: [email protected]
What we’re looking for:
- Blogs: 600 to 1000 words
- Vlogs: 3 to 6 minutes
- Video statements: up to 2 minutes
- Short quotations
Please read our contributor guidelines here before submitting
PLEASE NOTE: WE ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS
techUK reserves the right to exercise its editorial judgment. Editorial decisions to publish, or not to publish, are made at our discretion.
What can you expect from each day?
Day 1 – UK AI leadership: shaping our AI-future: what does it mean to be a leader in AI?
The UK has a unique opportunity to build on its status as a global leader in developing transformative AI tools and championing responsible AI adoption. As the AI Opportunities Action Plan highlights, the UK is home to the third largest AI sector in the world. This day will explore how the UK can not only maintain but strengthen its leading position by driving cutting-edge research and scientific breakthroughs, while fostering meaningful collaborations between industry and research institutions to accelerate innovation and knowledge sharing. AI has the potential to be a major driver of economic growth and productivity, unlocking new markets, enhancing business efficiency, and enabling innovation across sectors. We’ll discuss how AI can boost productivity, drive economic growth, and establish the UK as a leader in AI development and deployment on the global stage. Furthermore, AI can be leveraged to improve vital public services, from healthcare to education and transportation, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of these services to better serve citizens and tackle societal challenges.
Day 2 – AI adoption: scaling AI for impact: overcoming challenges to seize the AI opportunity
How do we move from pilot to scale? This day will examine the building blocks of successful AI adoption including data readiness, stakeholder alignment, integration challenges and measuring AI return on investment. We’ll spotlight cross-sector success stories and emerging tools that help organisations embed AI into their operations effectively and ethically. This day will also shine a light on transformative, cutting-edge technologies that are redefining AI adoption, including agentic AI, small language models, and industrial AI. We invite submissions that explore the use, impact, and potential of these transformative tools, whether through case studies, technical insights, or thought leadership pieces.
Day 3 – AI assurance: building confidence in AI: operationalising safety, transparency, and accountability
Trust in AI is critical for its widespread adoption and long-term success. This day will focus on assurance mechanisms that promote and practically implement the ethical principles of transparency, safety, and accountability within AI systems. We'll delve into industry best practices such as model testing and validation, auditing, system cards, and red teaming, which help to ensure that AI systems perform as intended and mitigate risks associated with their use. We'll also explore the frameworks and tools for trustworthy AI that organisations are currently adopting to operationalise ethical principles, enabling them to monitor and govern AI systems effectively.
Day 4 – compute and infrastructure: powering progress: the infrastructure and compute foundations for AI growth
To realise the full potential of AI, we must build the digital infrastructure that supports its development and deployment at scale. This day will explore the critical components of AI infrastructure, including high-performance compute power, cloud services, data infrastructure and advanced connectivity, all of which are essential for driving AI growth and innovation across industries. We will examine the role of a broad range of stakeholders in establishing robust, sustainable infrastructure that can support AI at both national and regional levels.
Day 5 – AI skills and talent: building a future ready workforce for the AI revolution
The future of AI relies on developing a skilled, diverse, and inclusive workforce. This day will explore how the UK can build a future-ready talent pool, from primary education through to lifelong learning. We’ll examine strategies for addressing the AI skills gap, including upskilling and reskilling the current workforce to meet the demands of an AI-driven economy. Collaboration between industry and academia will be key to equipping individuals with the necessary technical and non-technical skills. Additionally, we’ll discuss how organisations can create inclusive AI career pathways and foster diverse talent pools, ensuring that AI's benefits are accessible across sectors and regions, driving innovation and economic growth for all.
techUK - Seizing the AI Opportunity
The UK is a global leader in AI innovation, development and adoption.
The economic growth and productivity gain that AI can unlock is vast, but to fully harness this transformative opportunity, immediate action is required. Our aim is to ensure the UK seizes the opportunities presented by AI technology and continues to be a world leader in AI development.
Get involved: techUK runs a busy calendar of activities including events, reports, and insights to demonstrate some of the most significant AI opportunities for the UK. Our AI Hub is where you will find details of all upcoming activity. We also send a monthly AI newsletter which you can subscribe to here.
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Contact the team
Usman Ikhlaq
Usman Ikhlaq
Usman joined techUK in January 2024 as Programme Manager for Artificial Intelligence.
He leads techUK’s AI Adoption programme, supporting members of all sizes and sectors in adopting AI at scale. His work involves identifying barriers to adoption, exploring solutions, and helping to unlock AI’s transformative potential, particularly its benefits for people, the economy, society, and the planet. He is also committed to advancing the UK’s AI sector and ensuring the UK remains a global leader in AI by working closely with techUK members, the UK Government, regulators, and devolved and local authorities.
Since joining techUK, Usman has delivered a regular drumbeat of activity to engage members and advance techUK's AI programme. This has included two campaign weeks, the creation of the AI Adoption Hub (now the AI Hub), the AI Leader's Event Series, the Putting AI into Action webinar series and the Industrial AI sprint campaign.
Before joining techUK, Usman worked as a policy, regulatory and government/public affairs professional in the advertising sector. He has also worked in sales, marketing, and FinTech.
Usman holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), a GDL and LLB from BPP Law School, and a BA from Queen Mary University of London.
When he isn’t working, Usman enjoys spending time with his family and friends. He also has a keen interest in running, reading and travelling.
Sue Daley OBE
Sue Daley OBE
Sue leads techUK's Technology and Innovation work.
This includes work programmes on cloud, data protection, data analytics, AI, digital ethics, Digital Identity and Internet of Things as well as emerging and transformative technologies and innovation policy.
In 2025, Sue was honoured with an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the Technology Industry in the New Year Honours List.
She has been recognised as one of the most influential people in UK tech by Computer Weekly's UKtech50 Longlist and in 2021 was inducted into the Computer Weekly Most Influential Women in UK Tech Hall of Fame.
A key influencer in driving forward the data agenda in the UK, Sue was co-chair of the UK government's National Data Strategy Forum until July 2024. As well as being recognised in the UK's Big Data 100 and the Global Top 100 Data Visionaries for 2020 Sue has also been shortlisted for the Milton Keynes Women Leaders Awards and was a judge for the Loebner Prize in AI. In addition to being a regular industry speaker on issues including AI ethics, data protection and cyber security, Sue was recently a judge for the UK Tech 50 and is a regular judge of the annual UK Cloud Awards.
Prior to joining techUK in January 2015 Sue was responsible for Symantec's Government Relations in the UK and Ireland. She has spoken at events including the UK-China Internet Forum in Beijing, UN IGF and European RSA on issues ranging from data usage and privacy, cloud computing and online child safety. Before joining Symantec, Sue was senior policy advisor at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Sue has an BA degree on History and American Studies from Leeds University and a Masters Degree on International Relations and Diplomacy from the University of Birmingham. Sue is a keen sportswoman and in 2016 achieved a lifelong ambition to swim the English Channel.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 020 7331 2055
- Twitter:
- @ChannelSwimSue,@ChannelSwimSue
Tess Buckley
Tess Buckley
A digital ethicist and musician, Tess holds a MA in AI and Philosophy, specialising in ableism in biotechnologies. Their professional journey includes working as an AI Ethics Analyst with a dataset on corporate digital responsibility, followed by supporting the development of a specialised model for sustainability disclosure requests. Currently at techUK as programme manager in digital ethics and AI safety, Tess focuses on demystifying and operationalising ethics through assurance mechanisms and standards. Their primary research interests encompass AI music systems, AI fluency, and technology created by and for differently abled individuals. Their overarching goal is to apply philosophical principles to make emerging technologies both explainable and ethical.
Outside of work Tess enjoys kickboxing, ballet, crochet and jazz music.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Website:
- tessbuckley.me
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tesssbuckley/
Laura Foster
Laura Foster
Laura is techUK’s Associate Director for Technology and Innovation.
She supports the application and expansion of emerging technologies, including Quantum Computing, High-Performance Computing, AR/VR/XR and Edge technologies, across the UK. As part of this, she works alongside techUK members and UK Government to champion long-term and sustainable innovation policy that will ensure the UK is a pioneer in science and technology
Before joining techUK, Laura worked internationally as a conference researcher and producer covering enterprise adoption of emerging technologies. This included being part of the strategic team at London Tech Week.
Laura has a degree in History (BA Hons) from Durham University, focussing on regional social history. Outside of work she loves reading, travelling and supporting rugby team St. Helens, where she is from.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- LinkedIn:
- www.linkedin.com/in/lauraalicefoster
Nimmi Patel
Nimmi Patel
Nimmi Patel is the Head of Skills, Talent and Diversity at techUK. She works on all things skills, education, and future of work policy, focusing on upskilling and retraining. Nimmi is also an Advisory Board member of Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (digit). The Centre research aims to increase understanding of how digital technologies are changing work and the implications for employers, workers, job seekers and governments.
Prior to joining the techUK team, she worked for the UK Labour Party and New Zealand Labour Party, and holds an MA in Strategic Communications at King’s College London and BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Manchester. She is currently taking part in the 2024-25 University of Bath Institute for Policy Research Policy Fellowship Programme.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 07805744520
- Twitter:
- @nimmiptl
- Website:
- www.techuk.org
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nimmi-patel1/
Audre Verseckaite
Audre Verseckaite
Audre joined techUK in July 2023 as a Policy Manager for Data. Previously, she was a Policy Advisor in the Civil Service, where she worked on the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and at HM Treasury on designing COVID-19 support schemes and delivering the Financial Services and Markets Bill. Before that, Audre worked at a public relations consultancy, advising public and private sector clients on their communications, public relations, and government affairs strategy.
Prior to this, Audre completed an MSc in Public Policy at the Korea Development Institute and a Bachelor's in International Relations and History from SOAS, University of London. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time outdoors, learning about new cultures through travel and food, and going on adventures.
Edward Emerson
Edward Emerson
Edward leads the Digital Economy programme at techUK, which includes our work on online safety, fraud, and regulation for growth initiatives.
He has prior experience working for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and has previously worked for a number of public affairs consultancies specialising in research and strategy, working with leading clients in the technology and financial services sectors.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-emerson-009189183
Heather Cover-Kus
Heather Cover-Kus
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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Authors
Usman Ikhlaq
Usman joined techUK in January 2024 as Programme Manager for Artificial Intelligence.