Birmingham Tech Week will bring industry leaders, researchers, investors and young innovators together from 19th to 23rd October to explore how advances in AI can help create businesses, jobs and wider opportunities across the West Midlands.
The programme draws on questions and topics raised by the region’s tech community through ongoing conversations with TechWM, giving speakers and visitors the chance to challenge assumptions and identify practical next steps.
Held under the theme ‘Fast Forward’ and hosted at multiple venues across Birmingham, this year’s programme spans more than 30 events and is expected to attract thousands of attendees, including international delegates from China, India, South Korea and other nations.
The opening day, 19th October, will also feature announcements about the future of the West Midlands’ technology sector, with further details to be revealed at the event.
Cisco, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group, Goldman Sachs, Arup and WM5G are among Birmingham Tech Week’s sponsors, alongside West Midlands universities and other organisations investing in the region’s technology community.
Frontiers Day will explore what happens when technology meets creativity, from work already taking shape in the region to ideas from the next generation. Through talks and live demonstrations, experts in EdTech, games, culture and sport will examine how AI is changing learning, why gaming skills matter to defence, and how to hold people’s attention without losing their trust. The CreaTech Expo will showcase regional work funded by CreaTech Frontiers, with opportunities to meet the people developing and funding it and hear about upcoming WMX opportunities.
Questions about who gets to participate will run through Tech For All, with sessions on inclusive AI, accessibility and digital exclusion. Future Leaders will put 16 to 24-year-olds at the centre of discussions about skills, careers and the effect technology could have on their lives.
Speakers across the week include Kellie Kwarteng, founder of the ElevateHER podcast; Dr Mhairi Aitken, co-founder and director of Our AI Collective; Emmy-nominated producer Eloise Singer; storyteller Isaac Harvey MBE; and Birmingham-based young innovator Lara Jeetley.
Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, will also be one of the speakers. At last year’s Birmingham Tech Week, he launched the West Midlands Artificial Intelligence Missions (WM AIM), setting out plans for AI across work, learning, living and growth. This year’s discussions will consider what it takes to put ambitions like those into practice.
Andy Hague, CEO of TechWM and Birmingham Tech Week, said: “The West Midlands is a region where disruption takes place. Birmingham Tech Week celebrates that, but it is also a forum for asking the right questions to bring forth the best solutions. Anyone who has used AI knows the output is only as good as the prompt: ask something vague and you tend to get a generic answer.
“We need to be just as specific about the challenges facing our region. What problems are we solving? Whose experience are we missing? And how will we know whether an idea works? Progress depends on hearing from people with different views and experiences.”
For more information, visit birminghamtechweek.com.