9.30am – 2pm21 May 2025
London
techUK, 10 St Bride Street, London, EC4A 4AD
Attend techUK’s annual Local Public Services Innovation Summit where we will convene local authorities with tech industry to showcase good practise and facilitate greater collaboration between councils and industry.
Following on from last year’s Innovation Summit, Procurement, Skills and Technology supporting improvements in Local Government, this year’s summit builds on these topics, but will focus on, the role of technology and how it can support local government with creating improvements and efficiencies and drive real change.
Last year was disruptive for local government, with local elections, a general election, a new Government and a new budget, and now this year we are looking at the launch of the procurement act and devolution in England. This is an exciting time, and presents an opportunity for change, leveraging technology as a tool for change and growth, for local government and citizens.
This is a free to attend event for the public sector and techUK members. Join us as we rethink how councils’ services are delivered and the role innovation and technology can play in helping local authorities meet their pressing challenges.
Agenda
Time
Session
9:15
Registration, coffee and networking
10:00
techUK welcome
10:05
Keynote speech
The opportunity digital transformation brings to Local Government in a landscape of change and uncertainty
10:20
Panel 1: Devolution and digital transformation. The opportunity for local government
This panel will explore devolution and digital transformation, focusing on the opportunities these changes present for local government and how to harness them.
Key points to discuss:
Devolution: How devolution can empower local government to make decisions that better reflect the needs of their communities.
Digital transformation: The role of digital transformation in modernising local government services and improving efficiency.
Opportunities: Specific opportunities that arise from combining devolution and digital transformation, such as enhanced citizen engagement and streamlined processes.
Challenges: Potential challenges and barriers to implementing these changes, and strategies to overcome them.
Case Studies: Examples of successful devolution and digital transformation initiatives in local governments. Sharing learnings, good and bad.
Chair
Chris Melia
Growth Director – Local Public Services, Capita Public Service
Local Government key trends and highlights with Oxygen Insights
Oxygen Insights will present data on public contracts and spending outlining the state of local government IT and tech. Opportunity to gain insights through data, and understand key trends and where are the opportunities in Local Government.
Panel 2: Creating efficiencies through tech in Local Government: the AI edition
This panel will delve into how AI can create efficiencies in local government operations. Discussing how it is or isn’t being used, ethics and also are current procurement practices geared up to procure AI solutions.
Key Points to Discuss:
AI Implementation: How AI can be implemented in local government to streamline processes and improve service delivery. Ethical considerations and procurement practices.
Efficiency Gains: Specific examples of efficiency gains achieved through AI, such as automation of routine tasks and enhanced data analysis capabilities.
Challenges: Potential challenges and barriers to AI adoption in local government, including data privacy concerns, the need for upskilling staff and procurement.
Case Studies: Real-world examples of local governments successfully using AI to improve their operations.
Future Trends: Emerging trends in AI that could further benefit local government in the future.
Challenges and priorities for local government in 2025
This fireside chat, will bring together key local digital leaders and focus on the key challenges and priorities that local governments are expected to face in 2025 and beyond.
Key Points to Discuss:
Digital Transformation: The ongoing need for local governments to embrace digital transformation to improve service delivery and operational efficiency.
Citizen Engagement: Strategies to enhance citizen engagement and ensure that local government services meet the needs of the community.
Data Privacy and Security: Addressing concerns related to data privacy and security as local governments increasingly rely on digital solutions.
Resource Allocation: Efficient allocation of resources to address the most pressing needs of the community while managing budget constraints.
Collaboration: The importance of collaboration between different levels of government and with private sector partners to achieve common goals.
techUK members and local government stakeholders are invited to contribute to techUK’s Local Public Services Innovation Awareness Day with key initiatives, on 21 May.
If you work in a local public sector organisation (local government – councils, local authorities, combined authorities etc.) and manage any tech/ IT procurement, we would like to invite you to fill in this short survey.
Georgina is techUK’s Associate Director for Local Public Services
Georgina works with suppliers that are active or looking to break into the market as well as with local public services to create the conditions for meaningful transformation. techUK regularly bring together local public services and supplier community to horizon scan and explore how the technologies of today and tomorrow can help solve some of the most pressing problems our communities face and improve outcomes for our people and places.
Prior to techUK, Georgina worked for a public policy events company where she managed the policy briefing division and was responsible for generating new ideas for events that would add value to the public sector. Georgina worked across a number of portfolios from education, criminal justice, and health but had a particular interest in public sector transformation and technology. Georgina also led on developing relationships across central and local government.
If you’d like to learn more about techUK, or want to get involved, get in touch.
Programme Manager, Local Public Services and Nations and Regions, techUK
Ileana Lupsa
Programme Manager, Local Public Services and Nations and Regions, techUK
Ileana Lupsa is the Programme Manager for Local Public Services and Nations and Regions, at techUK.
Ileana studied electronics, telecommunications and IT as an undergraduate, followed by an MSc in engineering and project management at Coventry University.
She refined her programme management expertise through her most recent roles working in the automotive industry.
Ileana is passionate about sustainability and creating a positive impact globally through innovation.
Programme Team Assistant for Public Sector Markets, techUK
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.
Our Local Public Services Programme helps techUK members to navigate local government. We champion innovation that can create truly digital local public services helping to create thriving, productive and safer places for all. Visit the programme page here
Building the Smarter State 2025 10 September
Building the Smarter State is techUK’s flagship public services conference and the go-to event for public sector digital leaders. The annual event welcomes over 200 senior leaders and decisions makers from across the public sector and the technology industry to showcase how technology is shaping today's and tomorrow’s public services.
Join experts from Juniper Networks, techUK, and local government to explore how councils can seize this moment to drive digital transformation. We’ll discuss how intelligent, secure, and scalable networks can unlock collaboration, improve service delivery, and future-proof your organisation.
Regional perspectives on local Net Zero through tech (Birmingham)
Join us in Birmingham for a dynamic and insightful session exploring how climate planning is evolving in devolved regions, with a spotlight on the West Midlands.
Our members develop strong networks, build meaningful partnerships and grow their businesses as we all work together to create a thriving environment where industry, government and stakeholders come together to realise the positive outcomes tech can deliver.
Georgina is techUK’s Associate Director for Local Public Services
Georgina works with suppliers that are active or looking to break into the market as well as with local public services to create the conditions for meaningful transformation. techUK regularly bring together local public services and supplier community to horizon scan and explore how the technologies of today and tomorrow can help solve some of the most pressing problems our communities face and improve outcomes for our people and places.
Prior to techUK, Georgina worked for a public policy events company where she managed the policy briefing division and was responsible for generating new ideas for events that would add value to the public sector. Georgina worked across a number of portfolios from education, criminal justice, and health but had a particular interest in public sector transformation and technology. Georgina also led on developing relationships across central and local government.
If you’d like to learn more about techUK, or want to get involved, get in touch.
Programme Manager, Local Public Services and Nations and Regions, techUK
Ileana Lupsa
Programme Manager, Local Public Services and Nations and Regions, techUK
Ileana Lupsa is the Programme Manager for Local Public Services and Nations and Regions, at techUK.
Ileana studied electronics, telecommunications and IT as an undergraduate, followed by an MSc in engineering and project management at Coventry University.
She refined her programme management expertise through her most recent roles working in the automotive industry.
Ileana is passionate about sustainability and creating a positive impact globally through innovation.
Programme Team Assistant for Public Sector Markets, techUK
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.
Head of Public Sector for the UK and Ireland, Juniper Networks
Naomi Elia is the Head of Public Sector for the UK and Ireland at Juniper Networks, where she leads strategic engagement across central and local government, the NHS, and emergency services. With a deep understanding of the unique challenges facing public sector organisations, Naomi is passionate about harnessing technology to enhance citizen services, drive operational efficiency, and support mission-critical infrastructure. Naomi’s work is grounded in the belief that smart, secure, and scalable networks are key to delivering better outcomes for communities across the UK and Ireland.
Tim Matson is the Local and Central Government Lead at Cloud Gateway, where he champions the transformative role of digital innovation in the public sector. Tim is passionate about helping Local Government organisations achieve more through the adoption of new and emerging technologies, enabling them to drive efficiencies, deliver smarter services, and better serve their communities. He believes in reimagining public service delivery to unlock the full potential of digital transformation and emerging technologies, including AI.
With a background in programme and project management, agile, cloud and digital transformation, strategy and future operating models, Alex helps organisations to shape their response to technologically driven business evolution. Having worked in both local government and consultancy, Alex’s comprehensive experience benefits his clients. In his spare time Alex runs a regenerative agriculture business from his farm in Devon.
Majid Ali, currently the UK Public Sector CTO for CrowdStrike, is a highly experienced cyber security professional with a background in technical and management consultancy. He has held senior roles at Deloitte and NTT, and is a recognized trusted advisor to his clients. Majid’s extensive experience in cyber security enables him to effectively and pragmatically guide his clients through the constantly changing threat landscape.
Jonny leads a growing data science team at ADSP, a consultancy specializing in applied AI solutions for organizations across diverse industries and regions. His team works across various machine learning domains, including classical structured machine learning problems, reinforcement learning, and generative AI.
Jonny originally specialised in natural language processing, leading the NLP expert group for Accenture UKI. He has successfully delivered machine learning solutions for text-based problems across industries such as the public sector, broadband, and resources. Additionally, Jonny is passionate about AI communication and is currently leading an O'Reilly course on AI Governance for business leaders.
Service Manager – Digital Innovation, Wokingham Borough Council
Sarah is a passionate advocate for innovation, collaboration, and public service. With over 25 years of experience spanning both private and public sectors, Sarah harnesses technology to help solve business challenges and deliver impactful solutions. She looks to combine the best of technology and people expertise to create a harmony where the genius of both can shine – to enable us, connect us and do good. Sarah's work extends to a number of practical applications, such as Simply Readable, a world-first GenAI solution, co-created with the Learning Disability community that helps organisations create Easy Read accessible information, Report It which uses computer vision to improve the response to ‘report it’ patterned services (e.g. flytipping, graffiti etc) and Document Translation which utilises advanced machine learning for improved community support.
Head of Digital City and Innovation, Birmingham City Council
Raj has over 33 years experience of working in the public and private sectors. He has worked in diverse roles, including finance and auditing, policy and strategy, business transformation and change and IT & Digital Services. For the last 19 years, he has been instrumental in developing the City’s digital and smart cities agendas, bringing together city partner collaborations between public, private, academic and voluntary and community sector organisations at European, regional and local levels in order to deliver transformational digital programmes covering infrastructure, innovation, data and inclusion, enabling inclusive and sustainable economic and positioning Birmingham as a leading international digital city.
Alex Nash is Head of Strategy at Access HSC and the founder of Alcuris, an AI-driven technology enabled start-up providing innovative connected solutions to enhance independence and wellbeing in local communities.
Following the acquisition of Alcuris by The Access Group, Alex has continued to bring his entrepreneurial expertise and strategic vision to advance innovation and improve outcomes in the technology enabled services.
Colin is the Chief Digital Officer for Glasgow City Council and is responsible for the Digital Glasgow Strategy. The latest strategy consists of three missions: A fair and empowered digital society, An inclusive digital economy, sustainable and innovative digital public services. Colin has a particular interest in how digital technology and data can improve outcomes for communities and the places where they live. As well as his role with Glasgow, Colin also plays a key role for digital transformation across local government in Scotland as the Chief Technology Officer for the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government. His current work for the Digital Office includes developing a future state vision for digital-enabled local government and working in partnership with Scottish Government to refresh Scotland’s digital strategy.
Innovation Officer for the Integrated Digital Service, Leeds City Council/ Leeds Office of West Yorkshire ICB
Hannah Roden is the Digital Innovation Officer for the Integrated Digital Service, providing digital services for both Leeds City Council and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) in Leeds, with a passion for driving positive change through technology and connectivity. Hannah plays a pivotal role in driving strategic initiatives and fostering innovation. With a keen eye for identifying emerging trends and a strategic mindset, Hannah excels in developing and implementing innovative solutions that address complex challenges. Hannah is particularly passionate about AI, smart city initiatives and technology enabled care, aiming to harness innovation to enhance the quality of life for residents in Leeds and beyond.
After several years working in trade and diplomacy, Sharna moved into human rights, defining policies and solutions on data sharing and the use of technology to significantly improve public service delivery for central and local government. This was the beginning of what has now been 18 years in designing digital solutions to address complex public needs.
In this time, Sharna has delivered endless programmes of digital transformation, designing solutions to meet the most strategic needs (and savings) for local authorities. Sharna has an education in law, economics and business which drives her perspective that technology should be an enabler to superior public services and achieving business/policy priorities.
Sharna has published academic articles on e-Democracy, advised the World Bank on digital inclusion in service delivery and (pre-Brexit) designed benchmarking framework to assess how digitally advanced local service delivery was across Europe.
Sharna is currently the Strategic Director for Local Government and Health at Hitachi Solutions.
Join us to hear The Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, this year’s keynote speaker at Building the Smarter State Conference!
