Thousands of attendees from over 41 countries joined the celebrations and discussions as Wales hosted its second annual Tech Week last week.
In exclusive events, the festival saw the announcements of technology initiatives from both the UK and Welsh governments, with the UK government’s new Technology Growth Programme launched by Lord Gerry Grimstone, Minister for Investment at the Department for International Trade, and a new Technology export cluster announced by Welsh First Minister, Mark Drakeford in exclusive events.
Opened by Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford, Wales Tech Week was created to showcase the breadth of Wales’ £8.5bn technology industry on a global stage through more than 80 live virtual events across five days and seven virtual stages, to help support and grow its international profile and presence.
UK and Welsh governments announce tech export initiatives at Wales Tech Week
In keeping with the festival focus on international collaboration and trade, Wales Tech Week saw special announcements from the UK and Welsh government to boost export
In an opening keynote address, Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford emphasised the importance of international trade to Wales and its technology industry as part of the country’s Export Action Plan.
Under the plan, Wales will launch five ‘Export Clusters’ to reinvent current export support and help to drive the growth of Welsh exports. In his opening address at Wales Tech Week, the First Minister confirmed that ‘Technology’ will be one of Wales’ five Export Clusters, boosting support for the Welsh tech industry.
Also at Wales Tech Week, speaking in an exclusive interview with Avril Lewis MBE, managing director of Technology Connected, Lord Grimstone, UK Minister for Investment unveiled new government plans to support the UK’s technology sector through its new Technology Growth Plan (TGP).
The Technology Growth Programme will look to harness the power of DIT’s global network in over 100 countries around the world with officials providing market intelligence and opening doors for tech companies to meet new customers.
The UK and Welsh government announcements came as part of a week packed with exclusive talks, roundtables and events from a range of world-renowned tech and industry leaders, with keynote speakers including:
- Mark Drakeford, First minister of Wales
- Lord Gerry Grimstone, Minister of Investment at the Department of International Trade
- Aled Miles, president and CEO of Sauce Labs and Welsh Government Envoy to the United States
- Steve Hasker, President and CEO of Thomson Reuters
- Gerhard Watzinger, Chairman of the Board of CrowdStrike
- Ciaran Martin CB, Founder and former Director of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre and NATO advisor
- Warren East, CBE, CEO of Rolls Royce
- Dr Andrew Rickman OBE, CEO and Founder of Rockley Photonics
- 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
- Avril Lewis MBE managing director of Technology Connected, founder of Wales Tech Week
Topics covered at Wales Tech Week 2021
With society and businesses faced with unprecedent global challenges, for 2021 Wales Tech Week focused on uniting industries and technologies across a wide range of topics and issues.
Topics and technologies discussed across the Wales Tech Week stages included:
Main stage – Health, Manufacturing, Agritech, Fintech and Public services
CS Connected cluster stage – Showcasing Wales’ international strength in clusters, including Compound Semiconductors, Cyber, Creative and featuring newly created Blockchain and Photonics
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 industry.
The festival also placed a focus success through diversity, business support workshops and showcasing Wales and its innovative tech ecosystem as a great place to do business and invest.
Created by non-profit organisation Technology Connected, which represents and champions the Welsh technology industry, the free-to-attend event was supported by the Welsh Government and its festival partners, Associate Partner Innovate UK, AgriTech Theme partners AberInnovation and Aberystwyth University, Cluster Stage Partner CS Connected, Smart Stage Partner Wynne-Jones IP, Supporting Partners CapVentis, Creo Medical, PwC, Thales UK,the Development Bank of Wales, CSA Catapult and Photonics Connected, Smart Event partners Costain & Smart Energy UK, Global Partner GlobalWelsh and Health Innovation Partner, Life Sciences Hub
Avril Lewis MBE managing director of Wales Tech Week said:
“Following a successful inaugural 2020 event, we were delighted with the global response to this year’s Wales Tech Week, which welcomed over 41 countries in the spirit of collaboration, to explore our innovative, vibrant Welsh technology landscape.
“Wales Tech Week 2021 saw us more than double our international audience, with people from around the world, across sectors and technologies, coming together to discuss key issues and opportunities with our truly stellar line up of speakers and events.
“We would like to extend a warm thank you to everyone who joined us for this year’s Wales Tech Week, including our exceptional speakers and partners who made Wales Tech Week 2021 a truly world-class event.
“We’re already excited to put together plans for Wales Tech Week 2022, but in the meantime, you can watch every event from this year’s festival free, on-demand on the Wales Tech Week website”.
For those who were unable to attend Wales Tech Week 2021 live, all events are available to rewatch, for free, on the Wales Tech Week website until the 23rd July
