A curated agenda to future-proof your tech strategy
Explore the latest event agenda below, and check back soon for updates.
Thursday, May 14
Leading with Clarity as AI, Regulation, and Emerging Technologies Redraw the Enterprise Landscape
The next five years will redefine the role of the CIO more dramatically than the previous twenty. AI regulation is tightening; quantum readiness is accelerating; robotics, automation, and digital twins are moving from fringe to fundamental; and the UK is positioning itself as a global leader in responsible, sovereign digital innovation. This keynote confronts the moment head-on: what it means to lead when technology, policy, and public expectation converge at speed.
Key Themes:
Leading through rising regulatory oversight and technological convergence
Setting a clear strategic mandate amid unpredictable market forces
Building organisations that are transparent, resilient, and truly future-ready
The Leadership Test: Guiding People Through Disruption, Uncertainty, and Relentless Technological Change
Enterprises are entering an era where intelligent systems will reshape not just tasks, but identities, expectations and power dynamics across the workforce. Technology is advancing faster than organisations can adapt, and employees are signalling confusion, distrust, and fatigue.
This opening panel challenges CIOs to confront the uncomfortable truth: technological transformation will stall unless leaders actively rebuild trust, clarify purpose, and take ownership of the human consequences of their decisions.
Key Themes:
Confronting workforce anxiety and rebuilding trust through honest, accountable leadership
Redesigning organisational structures and expectations as intelligent systems reshape work
Embedding transparency, inclusion and ethical stewardship at the heart of every decision
Preparing for Impact Assessments, Transparency Requirements, and AI Oversight
The UK’s regulatory direction is shifting from principles to enforceable standards. This discussion explores what the Artificial Intelligence Regulation Bill means in practice, how CIOs should manage impact assessments, consent obligations, and transparency requirements, and how to prepare for centralised oversight under the AI Authority.
Key Themes:
- Understanding new regulatory expectations and timelines
- Building internal processes for audits, assessments, and explainability
- Preparing governance models that extend across AI and emerging tech
Redesigning Roles for AI, Automation, and Human Creativity
Work is evolving quickly as routine tasks shift to AI systems, automation engines, and smart devices. This conversation explores how organisations design roles centred on judgement, collaboration, and creativity, while embracing new tools, from co-pilots to robotics-assisted workflows. Attendees gain insight into crafting workplaces where technology elevates rather than diminishes human contribution.
Key Themes:
- Crafting roles that integrate AI and automated assistance
- Supporting employees through continuous learning and experimentation
- Building humane, adaptable digital workplaces
Accelerating Adoption Across AI, Automation, and Digital Infrastructure
Open source ecosystems now extend beyond AI models to include automation frameworks, orchestration tools, robotics platforms, and edge technologies. This session examines how technology leaders can harness open source safely while maintaining quality, resilience, and compliance. It offers practical approaches to adopting open innovation without increasing operational risk.
Key Themes:
- Evaluating open source maturity across multiple technologies
- Managing security, transparency, and governance
- Reducing dependency on proprietary platforms
Building Cost Models for AI, Automation, Robotics, and Edge Compute
CIOs increasingly face unpredictable cost structures across AI compute, automation licences, connectivity, and robotics deployments. This session offers guidance on creating stable financial models that account for experimentation, usage variance, and future expansion. The talk explores cost optimisation across multiple categories rather than viewing AI in isolation.
Key Themes:
- Managing volatile pricing across a multi-technology estate
- Forecasting spend for AI, automation, and connected devices
- Linking investment to measurable business and operational value
Controlling Costs Across AI, Automation, Cloud, and Connectivity
Rapidly shifting pricing models in AI, edge compute, and robotics-as-a-service are adding complexity to traditional IT planning. This panel examines how CIOs can negotiate predictability, architect for portability, and avoid lock-in across an expanding supplier ecosystem. Panellists explore strategies for modelling compute-heavy demands and building future-proof contracts for AI platforms, data infrastructure, and next-generation connectivity.
Key Themes:
- Managing unpredictable costs across multiple technology categories
- Structuring agreements that balance flexibility with control
- Preparing budgets for robotics, edge compute, and LLM workloads
Measuring ROI Across AI, Automation, and Emerging Technologies
Pilots often underperform not because the technology is flawed, but because workflows, data foundations, and expectations are misaligned. This session explores how organisations are operationalising not just AI, but also automation, IoT analytics, and early-stage digital twin projects. Panellists examine methods for quantifying impact across efficiency, resilience, and customer experience, while avoiding over-investment in experimental technologies thataren’tyetenterprise-ready.
Key Themes:
- Embedding promising technologies into stable workflows
- Evaluating readiness: when to scale and when to pause
- Demonstratingvalue across automation, analytics, and AI
Realising Transformation Across Automation and AI
Enterprises often underestimate the compounded impact of combining AI with advanced and automation. This session provides a broader framework for quantifying value across long-term innovation, resilience, and business model evolution. Attendees explore how to measure transformation in a world where technologies overlap and reinforce one another.
Key Themes:
- Capturing value from interconnected emerging technologies
- Communicating long-term transformation to boards
- Measuring strategic impact, not just cost savings
Scaling Intelligence, Automation, and Autonomy Responsibly
As enterprises shift towards autonomous decisioning, robotics deployments, and AI-driven infrastructure, governance must evolve to match. This discussion explores how leaders build standards for fairness, explainability, safety, and operational oversight. It touches on model audits, robotic process transparency, and early guidance for quantum-secure architectures. The panel highlights how to govern increasingly complex systems without stifling innovation.
Key Themes:
- Governing intelligent and semi-autonomous systems
- Aligning emerging tech adoption with evolving UK regulation
- Ensuring transparency across models, automations, and devices
Converging AI, Robotics, Quantum, and Digital Twins
Enterprise transformation is no longer driven by a single dominant technology but by the convergence of many. This panel explores how AI interacts with robotics on the factory floor, how quantum-readiness affects cybersecurity strategy, and how digital twins reshape real-time operations.Speakers willconsider organisational structures and cultural shifts needed to adopt these technologies responsibly and at pace.
Key Themes:
- Preparing for convergence across automation and intelligence
- Understanding quantum implications for CIO strategy
- Using digital twins and edge data to improve real-time decisions
Scaling Innovation for Tangible Citizen Outcomes
Public-sector organisations are increasingly combining AI with automation, IoT sensors, and advanced analytics to deliver more responsive, efficient services. This fireside chat examines how health, transport, and government agencies are adopting technologies such as digital twins for infrastructure planning or robotic automation for case handling. The focus is on measurable outcomes, trust, and governance.
Key Themes:
- Applying AI and automation to reduce delays and errors
- Scaling responsibly through transparency and citizen trust
- Using digital twins and analytics to improve public services
Architecting for AI, Edge, Quantum-Safe Security, and Compliance
Infrastructure decisions now span cloud, sovereign environments, edge devices, and early quantum-safe architectures. This session discusses how CIOs are modernising foundations to support data sovereignty, resilience, and AI-heavy workloads. It highlights how hybrid-cloud, containerised systems, and private edge deployments enable agility while meeting the needs of regulated industries.
Key Themes:
- Building infrastructure ready for AI, automation, and edge compute
- Navigating sovereignty and regulatory constraints
- Preparing networks and security for a quantum-influenced future
Stewarding AI, Automation, Robotics, and Quantum-Ready Organisations
This panel reflects on the expanded remit of the CIO: safeguarding ethics, guiding responsible adoption, and preparing organisations for the next decade of change. It explores how leaders balance experimentation with stability, accelerate innovation responsibly, and build digital enterprises where emerging technologies amplify human capability. The call to action emphasises clarity, compassion, and long-term foresight.
Key Themes:
- Leading responsibly across AI and emerging tech ecosystems
- Building transparent, secure, and future-ready organisations
- Ensuring technology enhances human potential
Closing Literacy Gaps, Fostering Trust, and Empowering the Workforce
Despite clear enthusiasm for AI and automation at leadership level, employees often feel unprepared, unsupported, and unsure how emerging technologies fit into their daily work. A panel of CIOs examine how to build confidence, not only in generative AI, but also in tools such as automation platforms, robotics-assisted workflows, and digital twin interfaces. The session explores communication, training, and inclusive design as enablers of responsible, widespread adoption.
Key Themes:
- Helping employees navigate AI, automation, and new interfaces
- Reducing shadow IT by providing trusted, guided tools
- Building cultures where new technologies eel empowering