Great Northern AI Summit Goes Virtual, Goes Global And Invites Online Audience Across The Nation!

Experts from the ever-expanding Artificial Intelligence (AI) industry will converge in the North in October to share insights into how everyone from business leaders to learners can embark on or advance their digital journey.

The motivation for the convergence is the second AI Tech North event, the largest community platform for AI which takes place 12-13 October. Mitigating the impact of COVID-19 and with no clear end in sight, the organisers have decided to run a virtual event with live streaming keynote and technical sessions to online delegates with a total audience based on registrations aiming 4,000 virtual delegates.

The summit has the backing and support of Leeds City Council, as well northern SMEs, and universities. Hailed as “ground-breaking” in its first year, the event is expanding to a two-day virtual summit packed with insights and expert advice designed to demystify the hype and get ideas flowing about how big data technology could help boost business in the aftermath of coronavirus.

In recent months, there has been much written about the role of AI and big data in fighting the pandemic; how it has helped researchers to do a quicker job finding treatments for this current outbreak and how it will be even more effective in the future.

The positive impact AI will have on society is becoming more widely accepted, although many find the technology difficult to understand.

Conference founder and tech entrepreneur Sherin Mathew believes this event provides a future-focused collaborative platform that can help people from all industry sectors and career stages to better understand the opportunities and challenges. It has an important part to play in supporting the Northern Powerhouse strategy and facilitating the growing demand for digital adoption and data needs in the North.

“We’re bringing champions from a diverse range of themes which include SmartCities, HealthTech, Fintech and AI for Good to offer guidance and ideas on how businesses can take advantage of AI as they re-assess and refine their strategies for growth in the light of recent events. The conference will help to create and inspire the confident AI leaders of tomorrow!” says Sherin, a passionate advocate for cloud and AI technologies.

Speakers from Microsoft, IBM, Google, University of Leeds, University of Bradford, the Government’s Office for AI and Department for International Trade, the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), EY and PWC will talk strategy and tech innovation to name a few. SMEs and start-ups will share their journey and the challenges they have overcome as part of their AI success story.

Manchester and Leeds have become the tech hubs of the North with a booming creative and digital industries sector. Across the Northern Powerhouse, adoption of digital strategies including AI and big data analytics is increasing. At the end of last year, Microsoft stated that every business will be an AI business in the next five years. Their report Accelerating Competitive Advantage with AI covered how businesses across the UK are using the technology and showed that 56 per cent of businesses are adopting AI.

Operations Manager for AI Tech North David Young commented “If ever there was a time for community, it’s now, in every aspect of life. The 2020 Summit will bring the AI community in the north alive for its second year. Despite unprecedented odds, we’ve transformed and adapted our format to deliver a fully-fledged virtual AI experience for the north to showcase the talent and innovation it exudes”. AI is here now, making an enormous difference to how humans react with each other, and the planet, which makes shared learning experiences indispensable. Go beyond the AI buzz word and register for the event.

A spokesperson from Leeds City Council said: “We are very pleased to support the AI Tech North 2020 event and the ambition for Leeds to become the AI capital of the North. The first event in 2019 was ground-breaking and inspirational and we look forward to coming together again in 2020 to explore the challenges and opportunities associated with big data and AI.”

The University of Bradford sent a group of students to the first conference in 2019. Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor Zahir Irani (Academic, Innovation and Quality) said: “AI Tech North 2020 is a leading event that is shaping the AI landscape and we are pleased that our researchers and students are playing a significant role in contributing to thought leadership and technical developments to support regional, national and global skills development in the area of AI and data science.”