Cambridge Tech Week 2026 has unveiled its most ambitious agenda yet, with more than 100 technology leaders set to speak and debate across five days from September 14-18.
Under this year’s theme, ‘How Deep Tech Changes the World’, the programme goes beyond simply showcasing technology to ask harder questions: who controls it, funds it, powers it and regulates it – and what does it really take to turn deep tech into something that changes the world?
BusinessCloud will be attending Cambridge Tech Week, which will bring together entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers and technology leaders from across the global innovation ecosystem for a week of debate, challenge and practical insight.
Speakers include:
- BenevolentAI founder, executive director and chair Kenneth Mulvany;
- Leading AI/AGI author Calum Chace;
- Quantum pioneer Sir Peter Knight;
- Cambridge LiFi pioneer Professor Harald Haas;
- Entrepreneur and investor Sherry Coutu CBE;
- The Metaverse Institute CEO Dr Christina Yan Zhang;
- CMR Robotics co-founder and CMO Mark Slack;
- Balderton general partner and technology entrepreneur Suranga Chandratillake; and
- Industrial Technology Investment Corporation (ITIC) president Karen Yu.
Showcase Cambridge
The week opens with Showcase Cambridge, putting Cambridge’s technology ecosystem under the microscope while examining its place in the global innovation race.
Delivering the keynote will be Phil O’Donovan FREng, co-founder of Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR), who was central to building one of Cambridge’s most successful semiconductor companies and one of the defining technology success stories to emerge from the region.
Tuesday’s Visionary Tech Day moves firmly into the technologies and infrastructure likely to define the coming decade.
In the headline discussion, ‘How Deep Tech Changes the World’ – chaired by Suhair Khan, founder of Fractal brain & @open-ended – Lucy Yu, CEO of the Centre for Net Zero (Octopus Energy Group), will lead a global conversation on how AI, compute, connectivity and infrastructure will reshape economies and societies.
Cambridge LiFi pioneer Professor Harald Haas
Also appearing on Tuesday is Professor Harald Haas, who pioneered LiFi – using light rather than radio waves to transmit data.
He popularised the technology through his famous 2011 TED Talk, taking his technology story far beyond academia.
Now Van Eck Professor of Engineering at the University of Cambridge, Professor Haas will take part in the ‘Building the Next Deep Tech Platforms (2026–2030)’ discussion chaired by Dame Hayaatun Sillem DBE, former CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The session will explore what it takes to turn breakthrough research into platforms capable of changing industries.
Keynotes for Visionary Tech Day include Tim Fowler, chief commercial officer at Cambridge Consultants, who will explore ‘The Innovation Psyche’, while the closing keynote will come from Kenneth Mulvany, founder, executive director and chair of BenevolentAI, one of the UK’s best-known AI platforms for drug discovery.
Mulvany will explore ‘Intelligence as Infrastructure’.
Startup to Scaleup Day
Wednesday’s Startup to Scaleup Day will tackle one of the UK’s most persistent innovation problems: why can Britain produce extraordinary science and promising technology companies but struggle to create the next generation of global technology giants?
Suranga Chandratillake, general partner at Balderton Capital, brings an unusually relevant perspective. He isn’t just an investor talking about scale – he founded and built Cambridge-based global technology company blinkx, taking it through international expansion and a London listing before moving into venture capital.
The UK’s ability to turn innovation into growth will also be examined by Tom Adeyoola, executive chair of Innovate UK.
A technology entrepreneur himself, Adeyoola founded fashion-tech company Metail before joining Innovate UK as it seeks to strengthen the country’s ability to turn cutting-edge innovation into businesses capable of competing globally.
Another highlight on Wednesday will be a fireside chat with Conscium co-founder and globally renowned author Calum Chace.
Innovation Alley
Across Tuesday and Wednesday, Innovation Alley will once again provide a diverse showcase of innovative technology companies.
His Majesty’s Government Communications Centre (HMGCC) is the Innovation Alley headline sponsor on Startup to Scaleup Day, while Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a Gold Sponsor and Innovation Alley Zone sponsor.
Simon Fabri, CEO of HMGCC, said: “This will be HMGCC’s first time at Cambridge Tech Week, and we are thrilled to be taking part. The city of Cambridge has long been associated with so much amazing tech innovation, within both industry and academia. I think this will be an event rich in technological discovery. I look forward to meeting many incredible innovators and exploring how they could work with HMGCC in the future, using the best technology to keep the UK safe.”
On Thursday, Tech Deep Dives Day splits into two specialist programmes examining technologies with potentially enormous consequences for society: Med Tech & Health Tech and Quantum & AI – both sectors where the Cambridge ecosystem has considerable strengths.
The Med Tech & Health Tech programme, sponsored by technology and product development consultancy TTP PLC, opens with a keynote from Professor Shafi Ahmed, consultant surgeon and senior partner at Purpose Tech Capital.
It will be followed by a session exploring how health tech innovation operates within the realities of large-scale, complex healthcare systems.
The parallel Quantum & AI programme will question whether two of the most hyped technologies of recent years are now ready to deliver meaningful industrial value.
Sir Peter Knight, chair of the Strategic Advisory Board of the UK National Quantum Technology Programme, brings considerable authority to the discussion, with sessions examining the challenges driving adoption, the journey from proof of concept to deployment and how AI and quantum can be developed responsibly.
Thursday also sees the return of the provocative Big Tech Debate, this time discussing ‘Dual Use Tech: Redrawing the Line Between Civilian and Defence Innovation’.
It will ask whether the traditional distinction between civilian and military technology is becoming impossible to maintain as advances in AI, drones and quantum increasingly emerge from commercial companies.
The debate concludes with the event’s Gala Drinks Reception, co-sponsored by NatWest and Coutts.
Alongside the main programme, Cambridge Tech Week will feature a growing programme of fringe events, including ‘Austria x Cambridge: A Global Deep Tech Exchange’, sponsored by Advantage Austria UK.
Roundtables will cover subjects including AI in Life Sciences, Trusted and Sovereign AI, European Deep Tech Collaboration, Gen AI & The Workforce, Manufacturing, IP, Defence and Security, Quantum and Genomics, and AI & Robotics.
New speakers and further programme announcements will follow in the coming weeks.
In-person and virtual tickets for Cambridge Tech Week 2026 are available now, with the Virtual Pass providing access to live streams of Visionary Tech Day, Startup to Scaleup, Tech Deep Dives and The Big Tech Debate.