Can we keep up as AI builds itself?
Plus what to look out for next week.
Happy Friday, and welcome to a packed edition.
How does the UK build sovereignty through public spending?
Procurement has never been so topical, with Labour promising to back startups through a "Buy British" approach.
- How does it achieve that?
- What are some of the barriers to startups selling to government?
- How does government avoid lock-in?
- What role can open source play?
These are some of the questions our expert panel, sponsored by Elastic, will be answering on Thursday October 15th in a 45-minute webinar.
We'll be joined by:
- Mike Bracken, founder of the Government Digital Service and Public Digital
- Tanya Filer, founder of StateUp
- Edd Elliott, director of GovTech and procurement at the Startup Coalition
- Grace Carter, Government Affairs Counsel at Elastic
Happening Today 📆
In Manchester: Andy Burnham is speaking at the "Innovation Nation" summit in Manchester today where he is expected to announce a crackdown on "non-compete" clauses in workers' contracts, the FT reports. It is something startups have been campaigning for. The Creative Industries AI Summit is also taking place in the city. Peer Beeban Kidron, mayor Bev Craig and digital minister Ian Murray are among the speakers.
Robot world: The government is also announcing a new network of Robotics Adoption Hubs this morning. Backed by £40m, the hubs in Newcastle, south Wales, Lincoln and Milton Keynes give businesses and public services support to adopt robotics.
And next week: Parliament is back and there is a bumper AI committee session on Tuesday. Chair of the Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee Liam Byrne spent much of conference season inviting AI luminaries to his next evidence session and its paid off. Appearing on Tuesday afternoon before MPs are Geoffrey Irving, lobbyists from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Meta and Anthropic, as well as top government officials Henry de Zoete, Cat Little and Alexandra Jones. That same afternoon, the Lords look at the impact of the Online Safety Act.
On Wednesday, the Irish Government hosts an International AI Summit in Dublin, while IBM brings its "Think" tour to Magazine London. On Thursday, Salesforce is also hosting its "AI World Tour" at the Excel. In Parliament, MPs question ministers at the business department and there is a debate on AI and human rights.
In today's edition:
♻️ Can the UK keep up as AI builds itself?
💰 Google's new office goes way over budget
🇬🇧 UK tech diplomacy makes moves in Germany and Italy
