With over 50,000 people from around the world descending on London Tech Week, Prime Minister Theresa May launched the five day event in celebration of the city’s blooming technology sector.
Celebrating the sixth year promoting innovation in technology, London was awash with (slightly damp from the downpour) leaders in the tech, transport and education industries including Jack Dorsey of Twitter and Square fame, Lindsay Herbert of IBM and Alex Cruz of British Airways.
Across hundreds of events this week, diversity and inclusion was the topic of choice and has finally been given the voice it so deserves. Politicians and international speakers alike spoke of how only 14.6% of UK tech leaders are women, while a staggering 70.5% were lacking any BAME members whatsoever.
In light of this being a simple blog post, I present to you some of the more interesting facts of the event in which to dazzle your friends and colleagues:
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UK technology companies lead ahead of their European counterparts with an impressive $5bn (£3.9bn) in venture capital during the first six months of 2019.
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£153m of government funding, plus an impressive £205m pledge buy the industry, will be used to invest in quantum computing technologies.
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1,000 government funded scholarships are being opened up for people from all walks of life and backgrounds.
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The UK is seen as a leader in the fintech space, thanks to its unicorn population continuing to grow.
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London Tech week is even more international as Ambassadors from various countries are creating full scale events to woo British companies to partner with their own.
