London Tech Week: A Review
A Slightly Delayed Review of London Tech Week
London Tech Week ran from the 10th of June to the 14th of June, and was an exhibition of the latest technology innovations, tech companies from many different countries, and a jam-packed schedule of speakers. Held in Kensington, at the Olympia, there were a range of stalls dedicated to promoting businesses from every corner of the globe and from every industry. Tech giants like Canva, Samsung, and Unilever were out in force, primarily offering promotions and previews of their tech, alongside speakers from corporate, entrepreneurship, and tech backgrounds. The basic ticket was free, with paid versions offering extra perks like access to special events and other benefits. The paid tickets were incredibly expensive, however, and would likely only be accessible to those with a corporate sponsor.
The week’s itinerary was accessible through the London Tech Week app, which updated live, and honestly very accessible and usable, which is often a rarity for these types of things.
The week had two main features: the speaker’s stages, and the exhibitions. The headline exhibitors were Dubai, whose exhibition focused on spotlighting various tech companies from Dubai, and on promoting career opportunities in tech in the city; and IBM, who were focused on both recruiting and pitching their products. Other relevant exhibitors included Unilever, CGI, AstraZeneca, fetch.ai, and Innovate UK. There were also exhibits from other countries – South Africa, Ukraine, Hong Kong, and others. Further, there were also some non-tech companies in attendance – Tesco, a few legal firms, and others whose presence didn’t seem hugely relevant to the purpose of the conference, and whom seemed to treat it like a recruitment drive. Further, the massive sponsorship by Dubai felt inappropriate considering the massive human rights abuses.
The layout was also cramped and disorganised – the booths weren’t laid out in a logical way, and the organisers had chosen to put the booths as close together as they would to make the venue seem busier. There was also very little seating for the amount of attendees. Most of the exhibitors were mostly interested in advertising their products than exhibiting their tech. There were some good exhibits – there were some good robotics exhibits on show and the AI crowd was out in full force, but on the whole the exhibit felt more like a careers fair than a tech exhibition. Further, I felt there was something of an overemphasis on AI in general and large language models specifically. Considering the representation of medtech organisations, it would have been nice to have seen greater discussion of current advances in medtech, as well as discussion on it other areas like machine learning. However, most of the tech community is fixated on large language models at the moment, so I will cut London Tech Week some slack in this respect.
The speakers were probably the best part of the week. The speakers came from a orange of backgrounds – from tech, to business, to corporate, to entrepreneurship. Steve Blank, author of the classic entrepreneurship book ‘Four Steps to Epiphany’, was a keynote speaker. His talk was particularly interesting, specifically on his books and key takeaways. Jennifer Clamp’s talk on the different roles founders have to occupy throughout their entrepreneurial journey; and John Amaechi’s talk on driving organisational change in tech was also a great one. The pitch stage was also excellent with a very high quality of pitches – it’s always nice to see entrepreneurs getting their start; as well as there being some very interesting and innovative ideas. Tech Week did a good job in regards to putting entrepreneurs and potential investors together – there was a large investor presence at the conference. On the third day, the main stage was also opened to anyone who wished to present, which was a nice touch and resulted in some interesting and thought-provoking presentations.
Lastly, I have to admit that I enjoyed the mobile massage chairs and the robot dog was nice to see (basic, I know, but you can’t beat a crowd pleaser like that).
Lead.Dev London
Lead.Dev London was a tech leadership conference taking place the same week as London Tech Week, so whilst not affiliated, and whilst not strictly a tech conference, it seemed pertinent to include it here. One of our team members was able to secure an invitation to the exclusive event, and fond the experience extremely worthwhile. Primarily aimed at those working in tech and tech leadership, the day consisted of an informal networking meet-up (with canapés), three talks, and another hour of networking. The talks focused on overcoming challenges, given by a head of engineering and primarily focusing on their personal experiences, and the best way to schedule your day on respect of those challenges. There was also a talk given by the host company, but that largely functioned as a sales pitch for the brand. All in all, it was a valuable networking experience with other tech professionals as well as being educationally valuable.