How Digital Infrastructure will transition to meet accelerated computing and generative AI - A Chatham House Rules Roundtable hosted by Shoosmiths
3pm – 6.30pm29 November 2023
Shoosmiths - 5th Floor, 1 Bow Churchyard, London EC4M 9DQ
With the rapid adoption of AI and Machine Learning, the implications and challenges for its supporting digital infrastructure in the UK are becoming more apparent. Needless to say, this uptake will change the face of the digital infrastructure sector and cloud providers, which will need to upgrade to transition into accelerated computing and generative AI.
Some of the challenges that have surfaced include reports identifying this growth to be resource intensive, from energy to water, with a simultaneous push for further sustainability and to meet ambitious net zero targets. Furthermore, earlier this year techUK published its AI Adoption in the UK report which highlighted insufficient compute infrastructure as being one of the most significant barriers to AI adoption.
Join techUK for a Chatham House Rules in-person roundtable hosted by Shoosmiths, where AI companies will have the opportunity to forecast what future demand for compute from data centres may look like within their organisations, to ensure that data centres and the digital infrastructure sector have the provisions in place to meet the growing demand from the sector.
Against the backdrop of an upcoming general election, the roundtable will provide a forum to gather industry insights and put forward recommendations to government in order to realise the UK's AI potential.
Indicative agenda
15:00 - Arrival
15:30 - Welcome by Liam Phillips - Partner at Shoosmiths
15:45 - Presentation by Chris Woodward - UK Public Sector, Defence and Security Director at Nvidia
16:00 - Presentation by Spencer Lamb - CCO at Kao Data
16:15 - Break
16:30 - Panel Discussion:
Chair: Katherine Holden - Head of Data Analytics, AI and Digital ID at techUK
Alex Kirkhope - Partner at Shoosmiths
Spencer Lamb - CCO at Kao Data
Mark Turner - CCO at Pulsant
Rob Cooper - Head of Data Centre Advisory & Transaction Services at CBRE
Dr Martin O'Reilly - Director of Research Engineering at the Alan Turing Institute
Chris Woodward - UK Public Sector, Defence and Security Director at Nvidia
17:00 - Q&A
17.30 - Networking
Speakers:
Rob Cooper
Head of Data Centre Advisory & Transaction Services, CBRE
Shoosmiths is the law firm clients choose for excellent service, incisive thinking and above all for its ability to focus on what matters.
From offices across the UK and Brussels, the firm supports some of the world’s most exciting and ambitious businesses; amazing clients making an impact.
Shoosmiths empowers its people to be their authentic selves and deliver together in supportive teams committed to excellence and innovation. The firm has won prestigious industry awards, such as ‘Law Firm of the Year’ at the Legal Business Awards 2022, ‘Legal Team of the Year’ at the Estates Gazette Awards 2022 and has been recognised for being the most active law firm advising on corporate transactions across the UK (Experian, 2022). The firm has also been ranked by the Financial Times as one of the most innovative law firms in Europe (FT Innovative Lawyers Report, 2023). Shoosmiths’ innovative approach is also embodied in its non-legal solutions for clients, which complement its technical legal expertise.
The firm also believes in supporting the communities in which it operates, and it is firmly on its ESG journey, with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) validating near-term science-based emissions reduction targets, and launching grant-making body ‘The Shoosmiths Foundation’. To find out more about Shoosmiths and the positive impact the firm is making across its clients, people, and ESG and innovations, please visit: Impact report 2023 (shoosmiths.com).
For more on AI, including upcoming events, please visit our AI Safety Hub.
How do we ensure the responsible and safe use of powerful new technologies?
Join techUK for our 7th annual Digital Ethics Summit on 6 December.
Given the ongoing concerns about the impact of emerging tech, the Digital Ethics Summit will explore AI regulation, preparing people for the future of work, the potential impact of misinformation and deepfakes on elections, and the ethical implications of tech on the climate emergency.
Luisa C. Cardani is the Head of the Data Centres Programme at techUK, aiming to provide a collective voice for UK operators and working with government to improve business environment for the data centres sector.
Prior to joining techUK, Luisa worked in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as the Head of International Data Protection, where she led on the development of elements of the UK's data protection and privacy policy. In her role, she was also the UK official representative for the EOCD Privacy Guidelines Informal Advisory Group.
She has held a number of position in government, including leading on cross-cutting data provisions in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and in high priority cross-departmental projects when working in the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
She holds an M.Sc. from University College London's Department of Political Sciences.
Chairing the session is Katherine, techUK’s Head of Data Analytics, AI and Digital ID. Prior to techUK, Katherine worked as a Policy Advisor at the Government Digital Service (GDS) supporting the digital transformation of UK Government. Whilst working at the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) Katherine led AMRC’s policy work on patient data, consent and opt-out. Katherine has a BSc degree in Biology from the University of Nottingham.
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