techUK's 2025 AI Campaign Week (12-16 May) - call for submissions!

#SeizingTheAIOpportunity

techUK’s AI Campaign Week 2025 will bring together a wide range of stakeholders, including thought leaders and industry experts, to shine a spotlight on the UK’s AI ecosystem and explore the next steps needed to fully realise our AI potential. Through a week of dedicated content, we’ll explore how the UK can drive leadership to remain a global leader in AI, as well as critical themes such as AI adoption, assurance, compute and infrastructure and skills development. We'll explore how each of these elements are essential to the growth and deployment of AI at scale. Additionally, we will explore how AI can be a key driver in boosting economic growth and productivity, improving vital public services, and unlocking new opportunities across sectors and industries.

We’re inviting contributions in the form of blogs, video statements, and expert insights to help inform and inspire the debate. Whether you're showcasing real-world case studies, offering policy perspectives, or spotlighting best practices, we want to hear from you!

Please send your submissions to:

Usman Ikhlaq: [email protected]
Harriet Allen: [email protected]

What we’re looking for:

Blogs: 600 to 1000 words
Vlogs: 3 to 6 minutes
Video statements: up to 2 minutes

Please read our contributor guidelines here before submitting

PLEASE NOTE: THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS 7 MAY.

techUK reserves the right to exercise its editorial judgment. Editorial decisions to publish, or not to publish, are made at our discretion.

What can you expect from each day?

Day 1 – UK AI leadership: shaping our AI-future: what does it mean to be a leader in AI?

The UK has a unique opportunity to build on its status as a global leader in developing transformative AI tools and championing responsible AI adoption. As the AI Opportunities Action Plan highlights, the UK is home to the third largest AI sector in the world. This day will explore how the UK can not only maintain but strengthen its leading position by driving cutting-edge research and scientific breakthroughs, while fostering meaningful collaborations between industry and research institutions to accelerate innovation and knowledge sharing. AI has the potential to be a major driver of economic growth and productivity, unlocking new markets, enhancing business efficiency, and enabling innovation across sectors. We’ll discuss how AI can boost productivity, drive economic growth, and establish the UK as a leader in AI development and deployment on the global stage. Furthermore, AI can be leveraged to improve vital public services, from healthcare to education and transportation, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of these services to better serve citizens and tackle societal challenges.

Day 2 – AI adoption: scaling AI for impact: overcoming challenges to seize the AI opportunity

How do we move from pilot to scale? This day will examine the building blocks of successful AI adoption including data readiness, stakeholder alignment, integration challenges and measuring AI return on investment. We’ll spotlight cross-sector success stories and emerging tools that help organisations embed AI into their operations effectively and ethically. This day will also shine a light on transformative, cutting-edge technologies that are redefining AI adoption, including agentic AI, small language models, and industrial AI. We invite submissions that explore the use, impact, and potential of these transformative tools, whether through case studies, technical insights, or thought leadership pieces.

Day 3 – AI assurance: building confidence in AI: operationalising safety, transparency, and accountability

Trust in AI is critical for its widespread adoption and long-term success. This day will focus on assurance mechanisms that promote and practically implement the ethical principles of transparency, safety, and accountability within AI systems. We'll delve into industry best practices such as model testing and validation, auditing, system cards, and red teaming, which help to ensure that AI systems perform as intended and mitigate risks associated with their use. We'll also explore the frameworks and tools for trustworthy AI that organisations are currently adopting to operationalise ethical principles, enabling them to monitor and govern AI systems effectively.

Day 4 – compute and infrastructure: powering progress: the infrastructure and compute foundations for AI growth

To realise the full potential of AI, we must build the digital infrastructure that supports its development and deployment at scale. This day will explore the critical components of AI infrastructure, including high-performance compute power, cloud services, data infrastructure and advanced connectivity, all of which are essential for driving AI growth and innovation across industries. We will examine the role of a broad range of stakeholders in establishing robust, sustainable infrastructure that can support AI at both national and regional levels.

Day 5 – AI skills and talent: building a future ready workforce for the AI revolution

The future of AI relies on developing a skilled, diverse, and inclusive workforce. This day will explore how the UK can build a future-ready talent pool, from primary education through to lifelong learning. We’ll examine strategies for addressing the AI skills gap, including upskilling and reskilling the current workforce to meet the demands of an AI-driven economy. Collaboration between industry and academia will be key to equipping individuals with the necessary technical and non-technical skills. Additionally, we’ll discuss how organisations can create inclusive AI career pathways and foster diverse talent pools, ensuring that AI's benefits are accessible across sectors and regions, driving innovation and economic growth for all.

Usman Ikhlaq

Programme Manager - Artificial Intelligence, techUK

Usman joined techUK in January 2024 as Programme Manager for Artificial Intelligence.

His role is to help techUK members of all sizes and across all sectors to adopt AI at scale. This includes identifying the barriers to adoption, considering solutions and how best to maximise AI's potential.

Prior to joining techUK, Usman worked as a policy, government affairs and public affairs professional in the advertising sector. He has also worked in sales and marketing and FinTech.

Usman is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science (MSc), BPP Law School (GDL and LLB) and Queen Mary University of London (BA).

When he isn’t working, Usman enjoys spending time with his family and friends. He also has a keen interest in running, reading and travelling.

Email:: [email protected]
LinkedIn:: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/usman-ikhlaq,https://uk.linkedin.com/in/usman-ikhlaq

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techUK - Seizing the AI Opportunity

The UK is a global leader in AI innovation, development and adoption. The economic growth and productivity gain that AI can unlock is vast, but to fully harness this transformative opportunity, immediate action is required. techUK and our members are committed to working with the Government to turn the AI Opportunities Action Plan into reality. Our aim is to ensure the UK seizes the opportunities presented by AI technology and continues to be a world leader in AI development.

techUK runs a full calendar of activities including events, reports, and insights to demonstrate some of the most significant AI opportunities for the UK. Our AI Hub is where you will find details of all upcoming activity. We also send a monthly AI newsletter which you can subscribe to here.