We had a hard-hitting evening of famous speakers in the GovTech space. We were hosted by Max Kalis ex-Lloyds Banking Group who likes to keep things moving! Ian Dowson who already advises the government had some beautifully intoxicating things to say about their design lead website!
Govtech is gaining momentum as it is passing from an emergent state and is poised to go global, it could be in a similar position to FinTech 5 years ago, according to a report cited by Ian and published on Digit – GovTech: An Emergent Sector Revolutionising Public Services. Global government spending on technology is one of the largest ICT segments and is estimated to be a market worth at least $450 billion, with the US worth over $100 billion. Please find his blog here: https://digit.fyi/govtech-bigger-fintech
We were at Cocoon Networks which is an Innovation hub brining UK and Chinese start-ups together. Realities centre was hosting us – John Holder who leads the first punch let us try out some of the latest VR from Google Maps. John took the view that VR and AR can also be an effective tool for introducing residents to their full stack of infrastructure – from building to gas-line levels. VR can be particularly useful for training employees in dangerous jobs or governance and day to day efficiency studies. For cities and towns, this could include training for occupations including firemen, police, and maintenance personnel. Operational cost saving analysis, risk variables, complex data, visualisation and life and limb threatening situation analysis can all be disrupted by using VR and AR.
Chris Farthing, Managing Director of Advice Cloud also has great insight in to, and experience in, how to get projects proposal noticed in Government circles through various portals and help from his team at G-Cloud, which is a Public Sector procurement specialist. You can find him on www.linkedin.com/in/chrisfarthing/.
Our very own Mike Wort, who is a life science and senior City professional, having graduated in microbiology and lectured to science undergraduates in both the UK and Nigeria, made an in-depth, clear and insightful presentation explaining life within the NHS and how it could be improved with more innovation.
Mike is a seasoned financial services practitioner. He is an expert at taking an audience through a story and has managed more than 20 IPOs raising well in excess of £300 million. Previously Mike held the position of Managing Director at De Facto Communications, the Bell Pottinger Group’s healthcare offering and most recently retired from Walbrook, the UK’s most successful PR/IR agency focusing on SME’s in the Life Sciences sector. www.linkedin.com/in/mike-wort-10119332/
Andrew Hudson, who leads Change Director, (which has been recognised by Gartner as a Cool Vendor) was our final guest speaker. He summarised some brilliant projects he had worked on for governments across the globe including New York City transport’s adoption of some UK public transport strategies. He is currently developing a community of practice around measurement to help people recognise the importance of measurement as a tool to help motivate people and set achievable performance improvement. www.linkedin.com/in/andrewhudson1/ keep up with his fight for Productivity!
The night unfolded with networking at a separate venue with good proportion of our guests staying around until and possibly beyond closing time! ACF are looking forward to hosting a Proptech event in the coming months, so stay tuned to our blog.
Zee West is ACF’s Business Development Officer