A host of international keynote speakers and events have been unveiled as part of Wales Tech Week 2021, featuring world-leading experts across a range of topics, technologies, and markets.
Announced today, Aled Miles, president and CEO of Sauce Labs and Welsh Government Envoy to the United States, will lead two international keynote interviews featuring Steve Hasker, President and CEO of Thomson Reuters, and Gerhard Watzinger, Chairman of the Board of CrowdStrike.
Miles, a proud Welshman who heads up the global multi-million-dollar tech firm Sauce Labs, will be joined by Hasker and Watzinger as these extraordinary leaders in their fields share insight on a variety of global issues, opportunities and challenges.
Also joining Wales Tech Week as a keynote speaker is Dr Andrew Rickman OBE, CEO and Founder of Rockley Photonics, one of the world’s leading global suppliers of integrated optical chips and modules across multiple markets. Giving a keynote talk on Monday 21st June, Dr Rickman will share his unique learnings, experience and knowledge for his remarkable journey in technology, including become the UK’s first ‘internet billionaire’.
The speakers join Warren East CBE, CEO of Rolls Royce, Ciaran Martin CB Founder and former Director of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre and NATO advisor, Tessa Clarke CEO and founder of the UK’s number one food saving app OLIO, ,Andrew Peters – Managing Director of Siemens Digital Industries, Sally Meecham CEO of the Centre for Digital Public Services in Wales, and Avril Lewis MBE managing director of Technology Connected and Welsh Technology Leadership Council, to complete the keynote speaker line up.
Today’s announcement completes a diverse line-up of world class keynotes speakers across a range of technologies over the five day festival, which aims to both showcase the Welsh technology industry to a world-wide audience, and bring the global tech community together to learn, share and connect around a range of topics and issues.
Featuring seven stages of talks and panel sessions across five days, Wales Tech Week will provide in-depth discussions and meaningful thought leadership across a wide variety of technologies. The topics and stages for Wales Tech Week 2021 are:
Main stage – Health, Manufacturing, Agritech, Fintech, Public services & more
CS Connected cluster stage – Showcasing Wales’ international strength in clusters, including Compound Semiconductors, Cyber, Photonics, Creative & more
The Wynne-Jones IP Smart stage – Covering all aspects of ‘smart’ technology including assisted living, smart info services, smart recovery & more
Green stage – A wide variety of green topics including energy, renewables, EV, and the race to net zero
Plus a smorgasbord of other technologies, topics, showcase events and connection opportunities throughout the week.
Now in its second year, Wales Tech Week is free-to-attend and has been created by non-profit organisation Technology Connected, as a platform to showcase Wales’ innovative technology sector on a global stage.
The festival, which runs from the 21st – 25th June, is made possible through the support of its partners, Associate Partner Innovate UK, AgriTech Theme partners AberInnovation and Aberystwyth University, Cluster Stage Partner CSConnected, Smart Stage Partner Wynne-Jones IP, Supporting Partners CapVentis, PwC, Thales UK & the Development Bank of Wales, and Global Partner GlobalWelsh.
With dozens of events taking place across the festival, attendees are invited to view the full festival line up and secure their free digital pass at here.
Dr Andrew Rickman OBE, founder and CEO of Rockley Photonics commented:
“Until now, the use of technology to diagnose and treat illness has largely been confined to clinical and laboratory settings. We anticipate that the healthcare industry is about to enter a new era where laboratory diagnostics will become available in affordable wearable devices. We believe that having a ‘clinic-on-the-wrist’ that can accurately monitor a wide range of biomarkers will transform healthcare – not just for providing an early warning of potential illness onset, but for maintaining wellness with greater insight into our body’s health state. We are excited to be leading the development of this new technology and our activities in Wales have been instrumental to our success.”
Avril Lewis MBE, managing director of Technology Connected said:
“Following a successful inaugural event we’re delighted to announce a stellar line up of keynote speakers for Wales Tech Week 2021, who bring a wealth of international insight and expertise to the festival.
“Wales Tech Week is really all about bringing the technology industry together in collaboration and showcasing some of the innovative people, business and technologies right here in Wales to a global audience. Despite being a small country, Wales’ ambition and talent far exceeds its size, we hope that Wales Tech Week can help highlight how Wales is a growing tech nation as both a provider, consumer and skills hub.
“We hope people from around the world will once again join us for Wales Tech Week, as we stream every talk live virtually from Wales to world. As part of our mission to make Wales Tech Week as accessible as possible, all events for this year’s event are free-to-attend, thanks to the support of our partners and speakers, with a particular thank you to Aled Miles, who has curated a truly global line up of talks for the event.”
