The Highlights of London Tech Week 2021

A little about London Tech Week 2021

London Tech Week is an annual event that began eight years ago, but as with so many things, the pandemic caused problems for the event in 2020, forcing the event entirely online.

However, last year's struggle became this year's opportunity, as London Tech Week 2021 was an outstanding success, using a virtual and in-person hybrid that saw 20,000 tech innovators, professionals, and leaders united, discussing these themes:

• Investment and startups
• Knowledge and skills
• Diversity and inclusion
• Digital enterprise
• Global impact

For those who missed Tech Week, but want to learn more about the themes discussed, we've provided a summary of each below. Enjoy!

1. Leaders and innovation

This is the first theme that had some topics assigned to specific speakers. There were many global leaders present to give insights and speak from an experienced angle. The function of the leaders is to stimulate growth, accelerate innovation, and drive positive changes through sharing best practices.

Because of market disruption by employee and consumer demands, leaders focused on the power of empowering global communities to unlock new opportunities. Since the world is rebuilding, the summit explored the tech ecosystem and how it can positively impact the economy and society.

The London tech week 2021 saw the UK Government and senior leaders emphasise leveraging expertise from every continent and expanding the innovation landscape to create new business opportunities.

Some of the main topics discussed under this theme included:

• Things that keep leaders awake at night
• How to maintain innovation pace and expedite progress
• The UK as an international innovation hub

The main speakers on the theme were Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon, Experian plc CEO Brian CassianRoyal Academy of Engineering CEO Haayatun Silem, and NHS CEO Matthew Cloud.

2. Investment and startups

This global event consisted of Seed and Serial A startups from around continents with the potential to reinvent and grow their industries for a pitch competition and product showcasing.

Speakers on these themes explored investment in technology and the entire ecosystem of funding. They discussed the importance of matching startups and the region's top businesses with vendors, investors and customers.

Investors from top VC firms, essential enterprise buyers, up-and-coming founders met in an interactive and relaxed environment where they listened to speakers of the day. The selected speakers included Leon de Bono from BVCA, Mursal Hedayat MBE from Chatterbox, Lina Wenner from Firstminute Capital, Poppy Gustafsson from Darktrace, Neeta Patel from Centre for Entrepreneurs, and more.

The key topics that were discussed included:

• Losing an investor in 10 days
• Key points to note when starting up; Top lessons from first-time Founders
• When to raise and when not; from a founder’s perspective
• Setting up in the right tech ecosystem

On top of this, ten young finalists battled for £10k in equity-free funding, which made the week even more exciting!

3. Knowledge and skills

This theme was focused on how to create a digital nation through upskilling opportunities. Although it came with many negative impacts in most sectors, the Covid-19 pandemic catapulted education technology. Education was digitised at an unprecedented rate, with the world forced to experiment with online learning broadly.

The Covid-19 impact on education changed learning methodologies and life outcomes. That presented an opportunity for transformational changes within the education systems. The speakers on the knowledge and skills highlighted the same and further added on what is likely to happen going forward.

Some key questions needed answers during the summit. For example, what is next for EdTech (Education Technology) and how will its growth impact the future learning ecosystem?

This theme's topics also included:

• A new approach to learning and work
• Virtual learning in higher education; learning without borders
• The new normal in the education system; wellbeing, inclusion and tech

4. Global impact

Under this theme, the main focus was how ClimateTech and Founders Forum HealthTech could handle era-defining questions. The impact of technology on the global ecosystem was also discussed in detail.

The Founders Forum HealthTech Summit's dedication to enriching the global system with innovative minds, policymakers, MedTech entrepreneurs, celebrated scientists, and rising stars in the healthcare industry was explained.

Guests were allowed to discuss, debate freely, and brainstorm the best ways to transform healthcare. Supporting the next generation of healthcare entrepreneurs was also considered in the discussions.

The other topics under this theme included:

• AI and Healthcare revolution
• Remote monitoring and patient care diversity
• Rise of HealthTech in a post-covid era
• Equal inclusivity in healthcare
  

5. Diversity and inclusion

The theme addressed the very important subject of under-representation in the technology industry. Discussions on this theme were geared towards coming up with positive and relevant ways of dealing with disparities in the tech industry.

Some of the highlighted issues included how to create positive change through assistive tech for:

• Gender
• Social mobility
• Race

AccelerateHER was discussed where exciting women founders in the tech industry were celebrated. The speakers championed inclusion and diversity in business and tech as a whole.

6. Digital enterprise

Under this theme, 5G was the main discussion point. It remains the most powerful global platform for connecting and learning from high-tech CPs. People who benefited the most from these discussions included:

• vertical enterprises
• telecom carriers or operators
• Regulators, Governments
• Media
• Analysts
• Telco
• Tech vendors

AI (artificial intelligence) and its influence on business were also discussed. It was highlighted that AI is likely to disrupt the building and running of companies. When that happens, those who know how to withstand the disruptive forces will have no problem.

In summary

As London Tech Week 2021 wrapped up, it was more clear than ever that the world was moving quickly in terms of technology. The next step is to align your business in that same direction.

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