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In Conversation with Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Monday @ 12:15 PM
Kate Forbes is the Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency (which includes Dingwall, the Black Isle and the Great Glen). She is the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for the Economy and Gaelic in the Scottish Government.
Kate is from Dingwall, although she spent part of her upbringing in Glasgow and India. Until she was elected as MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Kate was employed as an accountant in the banking industry. Prior to that she studied History at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh.
First elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2016, she was re-elected as the constituency MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch in May 2021.
Kate first joined the Government in June 2018, as Minister for Public Finance and Digital Economy. She subsequently served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy from February 2020 to March 2023.
In Conversation with Kate Forbes MSP, Deputy First Minister of Scotland Monday @ 1:45 PM
In Conversation with Zia Yusuf, Spokesperson for Home Affairs, Reform UK Monday @ 10:45 AM
Zahra has been widely recognised throughout her career as an industry leader. In 2023, Zahra was awarded the distinguished Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the King’s Honours List, for services to the Information Technology Sector. Other awards include The Business Anecdote’s Top 20 Women In Tech 2023, Computer Weekly’s Most Influential People in UK Tech 2022 & 2023, The Cranfield Female FTSE Board Report "100 Women to Watch 2022" list, Woman of the Year for MENA Women In Tech Awards 2022, and Most Influential Women in UK Tech 2021.
As the EVP & CEO of Salesforce UK & Ireland, Zahra helps Salesforce customers navigate digital transformations in the new AI landscape so they can build resilience and grow their businesses. Zahra recognises that success comes not only from innovative technologies but also from a deep understanding of the value they can offer customers, employees, partners and anyone involved in their use. She passionately serves all stakeholders by inspiring team excellence; fostering digital skills; making a positive impact on the planet; and furthering diversity, equality, and inclusion.
Prior to Salesforce, Zahra spent 22 years at Accenture, most recently leading Accenture Technology UK & Ireland, during which time she served as an executive board member.
As a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion, Zahra has held a number of D&I leadership roles globally and within the UK & Ireland. She has written on digital skills, diversity and AI for publications, such as Management Today, Forbes, diginomica and The Telegraph.
Zahra serves on the TSB Board as an independent non-exec director. As a member of Business in the Community, Zahra serves as the Seeing Is Believing Coventry Place Board lead, collaborating with local communities to build a fairer and greener world. She also sits on the Movement to Work board and chairs the Cancer Research UK Corporate Partnerships board.
In Conversation with Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Monday @ 12:15 PM
Liz is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ctrl-Shift. With over 25 years’ experience, she has a proven track record in business leadership, entrepreneurship, and strategic consultancy. She has advised global clients including Meta, JPMorgan Chase, O2, the Guardian, and Suncorp, helping them design and future-proof their digital products and services.
Her career spans consultancy, digital media, customer experience design, and strategic marketing. She has founded several companies, among them the mobile CRM business Zishi and Digital Public (now Transform), a public sector consultancy that created consumer-centric digital media services for government.
Liz has also worked with governments around the world to design frameworks for personal data portability. In the UK, she has advised the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Department for Business and Trade, where she sits on the government’s Smart Data Council.
Since its launch, Ctrl-Shift has led the way in shaping what is now known in the UK as the Smart Data Economy. The company has pioneered Smart Data-enabled services and continues to be recognised as a leading strategic advisor in the Smart Data market.
Panel:The digital solution: How can digital ID address many of the challenges the UK faces, and how do we get it right? Sponsored by Yoti Monday @ 11:15 AM
Panel:The digital solution: How can digital ID address many of the challenges the UK faces, and how do we get it right? Sponsored by Yoti Monday @ 11:15 AM
Sue leads techUK's Technology and Innovation work at techUK.
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. 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 is co-chair of the UK government's National Data Strategy Forum. 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.
Driving Innovation: How do we create the right landscape to support and develop innovative transport and technology solutions? Monday @ 10:00 AM
Julie leads regulatory and government relations for Yoti’s digital identity platform; developing policy approaches for fraud prevention and safeguarding, liaising with national and sectoral trust frameworks, in conjunction with Yoti's internal and external ethics boards.
Yoti is an identity checking system that allows organisations to verify who people are, online and in person. Yoti offers Identity verification, Age verification, E-signatures and Authentication.
Yoti is a team of over 400, has its HQ in London and counts over 12 million installs of the Yoti app; has conducted over 500 million age checks.
Panel:The digital solution: How can digital ID address many of the challenges the UK faces, and how do we get it right? Sponsored by Yoti Monday @ 11:15 AM
Kate Forbes is the Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency (which includes Dingwall, the Black Isle and the Great Glen). She is the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for the Economy and Gaelic in the Scottish Government.
Kate is from Dingwall, although she spent part of her upbringing in Glasgow and India. Until she was elected as MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Kate was employed as an accountant in the banking industry. Prior to that she studied History at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh.
First elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2016, she was re-elected as the constituency MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch in May 2021.
Kate first joined the Government in June 2018, as Minister for Public Finance and Digital Economy. She subsequently served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy from February 2020 to March 2023.
In Conversation with Kate Forbes MSP, Deputy First Minister of Scotland Monday @ 1:45 PM
Laura is techUK’s Head of Programme for Technology and Innovation.
She supports the application and expansion of emerging technologies across business, including Geospatial Data, Quantum Computing, AR/VR/XR and Edge technologies.
Before joining techUK, Laura worked internationally in London, Singapore and across the United States 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.
Panel:The digital solution: How can digital ID address many of the challenges the UK faces, and how do we get it right? Sponsored by Yoti Monday @ 11:15 AM
Driving Innovation: How do we create the right landscape to support and develop innovative transport and technology solutions? Monday @ 10:00 AM
Dr Nicola Hodson was appointed Chair, IBM UK and Ireland, in January 2025. Prior to taking on this role, Dr Hodson served as Chief Executive IBM UK and Ireland, a position she held for two years.
Dr Hodson is an accomplished technology industry leader with a deep understanding of the challenges facing the tech industry, as well as extensive experience in business and digital transformation. In 2023, 2024 and again in 2025, Dr Hodson ranked highly in Computer Weekly’s list of the 50 most influential people in UK technology, and in CRN’s 2024 A-List.
Dr Hodson held senior positions at Microsoft for 15 years, including as a global leader of the transformation of the Microsoft commercial sales, marketing and operations business and UK Chief Operating Officer covering its UK commercial and consumer business.
As Deputy President of techUK, the trade association for the IT industry, Dr Hodson has a wide breadth of experience and understanding of the tech sector, from large companies to start-ups, coupled with significant experience in the energy sector. She has extensive Board experience across multiple sectors, including Beazley plc, Drax Group plc, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). She has formerly served as a non-executive at Ofgem, the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) group, as a governor of Bradfield College, and as a director of start-up Bramble Energy.
Dr Hodson previously worked in the IT and business services division of Siemens, at CSC (now DXC), as a management consultant for EY and in the nuclear industry at BNFL.
Dr Hodson holds an MBA and a PhD in Engineering. She is married with three sons and two stepsons, loves outdoor pursuits and is a keen motorbike enthusiast.
In Conversation with Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Monday @ 12:15 PM
In Conversation with Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Monday @ 12:15 PM
Professor Siddartha Khastgir is the Head of Safe Autonomy at WMG, University of Warwick. With a research portfolio spanning over £17 million, he leads several collaborative R&D projects with over 100 industrial and academic partners globally. His research focuses on AI safety and proving the safety of autonomous transport across land, aviation and marine domains. He has been appointed as a member of the UK Govt’s Department for Transport’s Science Advisory Council and the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Expert Advisory Panel to provide expertise and insight for the UK Automated Vehicles Act implementation programme.
Siddartha is also the Director of Partners for Automated Vehicle Education United Kingdom (PAVE UK). PAVE UK is the country’s first initiative to deliver inclusive and accurate public awareness and education programmes to enable the public's trust and acceptance of Automated Vehicles.
Siddartha represents the UK on various international standardisation and regulatory committees, including ISO, SAE and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) on safety of self-driving vehicles. He has served as the lead author for three ISO standards.
He has received numerous national and international awards for his research contributions, including the prestigious UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship and a Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list maker.
Prior to joining WMG, Siddartha was with FEV GmbH in Germany, leading automotive software development series production projects. He has a PhD from WMG, University of Warwick, UK, and a B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur in Mechanical Engineering.
Driving Innovation: How do we create the right landscape to support and develop innovative transport and technology solutions? Monday @ 10:00 AM
Nimmi Patel is the Associate Director of Policy 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 the Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (digit). The Centre’s 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 also took part in the 2024-25 University of Bath Institute for Policy Research Policy Fellowship Programme and is the Education and Skills Policy Co-lead for Labour in Communications.
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https://www.techuk.org/skills-talent-and-diversity-programme.html
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nimmi-patel1/
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@nimmiptl
Panel: Societal disruption: How can the UK look to create the right climate for responsible AI adoption? Sponsored by Salesforce Monday @ 2:00 PM
Panel: World-leading: How can the UK create an internationally thriving technology sector in the age of digital sovereignty? Monday @ 3:00 PM
Antony Walker is deputy CEO of techUK, which he played a lead role in launching in November 2013.
Antony is a member of the senior leadership team and has overall responsibility for techUK’s policy work. Prior to his appointment in July 2012 Antony was chief executive of the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), the UK’s independent advisory group on broadband policy. Antony was closely involved in the development of broadband policy development in the UK since the BSG was established in 2001 and authored several major reports to government. He also led the development of the UK’s world leading Open Internet Code of Practice that addresses the issue of net neutrality in the UK. Prior to setting up the BSG, Antony spent six years working in Brussels for the American Chamber of Commerce following and writing about telecoms issues and as a consultant working on EU social affairs and environmental issues. Antony is a graduate of Aberdeen University and KU Leuven and is also a Policy Fellow Alumni of the Centre for Science and Policy at Cambridge University.
In Conversation with Zia Yusuf, Spokesperson for Home Affairs, Reform UK Monday @ 10:45 AM
In Conversation with Kate Forbes MSP, Deputy First Minister of Scotland Monday @ 1:45 PM
In Conversation with Dr Ben Spencer MP, Shadow Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology Monday @ 3:45 PM
In Conversation with Zia Yusuf, Spokesperson for Home Affairs, Reform UK Monday @ 10:45 AM
Join us on 16 March for techUK’s annual Policy Conference, bringing together senior leaders from government, regulators, industry and academia to discuss the key issues shaping UK tech.
