Accelerate Sustainability goals with data and AI on the cloud (a roundtable sponsored by AWS)
12.30pm – 3.30pm18 November 2024
techUK, 10 St Bride Street, London, EC4A 4AD
techUK and AWS are hosting a roundtable discussion to explore sustainability best practices and guidance as more organisations continue to scale their modern data and AI platforms on the cloud.
The adoption of generative AI is rapidly expanding, reaching an ever-growing number of departments and users across UK government. With the increasing complexity and scale of generative AI models, it is crucial to work towards minimizing their environmental impact. This involves a continuous effort focused on energy reduction and efficiency by achieving the maximum benefit from the resources provisioned and minimizing the total resources required.
Advancements in Generative AI adoption have raised concerns about environmental impacts. As the new Government further develops its approach to AI, it is vital that all AI development adopts sustainability best practices on the cloud, ensuring that the UK can realise the potential of these ground-breaking technologies with minimal or no impact on environment.
This roundtable aims to foster a dialogue among industry leaders, policymakers, and experts, enabling them to share insights, best practices, and strategies for harnessing the power of modern data applications efficiently. And execute AI models at scale, reducing the carbon footprint.
Attendees at this event will have the opportunity to shape industry thinking on how we can confidently innovate with cutting-edge generative AI and data technologies while prioritizing environment.
Spaces are limited, so please express your interest in a space at this event by registering. Please note: submitting your interest does not guarantee attendance. If you are approved to attend, you will receive a confirmation email with the joining details.
Ishmael Burdeau
Lead Business Sustainability Architect, DWP Digital
Austin joined techUK’s Central Government team in March 2024 to launch a workstream within Education and EdTech.
With a career spanning technology, policy, media, events and comms, Austin has worked with technology communities, as well as policy leaders and practitioners in Education, Central and Local Government and the NHS.
Cutting his teeth working for Skills Matter, London’s developer community hub, Austin then moved to GovNet Communications where he launched Blockchain Live and the Cyber Security and Data Protection Summit. For the last 3 years he has worked with leaders in Education across the state and independent schools sectors, from primary up to higher education, with a strong research interest in technology and education management.
Margot joined techUK in September 2022 as the Head of Events and Sponsorship, running the event programme for our flagship events, such as the techUK Annual Dinner, Defence Ethics Summit, Building the Smarter State etc
Prior to this role, Margot managed events and external affairs for the Centre for Policy Studies, a political think tank in Westminster and also worked at the D Group, a London-based business membership organisation, where she was responsible for the events programme, account management and business strategy.
She holds a BA in Technical Translation in English, French and Spanish from Paris 7 - Denis Diderot and a MA in International Relations from the London Metropolitan University.
Outside of work, she enjoys travelling, going to concerts and snowboarding.
Lead Business Sustainability Architect, DWP Digital
Ishmael is the Lead Sustainability Business Architect for DWP. He enjoys working on the intersections of global heating, environmental damage and digital services. Although his background is as a software developer and technical architect, he prefers to take a systems thinking approach, especially with a topic as important as climate change and the environment.
As a Senior Solutions Architect, Alejandra advises central government customers on how to leverage cloud technologies to deliver strategic initiatives. Her main passions are helping organisations adopt AI/ML services including Generative AI and secure data sharing. Prior to joining AWS, Alejandra was an Enterprise Architect in the Financial Services Industry specialising in cloud.
Austin joined techUK’s Central Government team in March 2024 to launch a workstream within Education and EdTech.
With a career spanning technology, policy, media, events and comms, Austin has worked with technology communities, as well as policy leaders and practitioners in Education, Central and Local Government and the NHS.
Cutting his teeth working for Skills Matter, London’s developer community hub, Austin then moved to GovNet Communications where he launched Blockchain Live and the Cyber Security and Data Protection Summit. For the last 3 years he has worked with leaders in Education across the state and independent schools sectors, from primary up to higher education, with a strong research interest in technology and education management.
Software Engineer, Incubator for Artificial Intelligence
Rachael is a software engineer at the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence, a team of empowered technical experts at the heart of government. Their mission is to harness the opportunity of AI to improve lives, drive growth, and deliver better public services.
An organiser of the UK Cross-Government Software Engineering community and chair of their Green Software Working Group, Rachael is enthusiastic about bringing technologists together to share best practice. She is particularly interested in turning green software engineering principles into practical advice for working engineers.
Deepak leads AWS analytics for UKI public sector and is responsible for growth and business adoption of Generative AI, advanced analytics and data services. Being part of the AWS generative AI core team, Deepak is supporting customers in embracing AI to unlock incremental value and drive operational efficiencies.
Head of Artificial Intelligence Digital, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Ethan is Head of Artificial Intelligence at the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra). He is responsible for accelerating secure, scalable, and sustainable AI adoption across the department and delivering on the technology outcomes to support Defra’s Digital and Data Transformation Strategy 2030.
With a background in applied AI techniques and an MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience, Ethan is driven to ensure the department is set up for success when leveraging AI-enabled tools, technologies, and platforms to realise strategic benefits aligned to its missions.
Hilary Tam leads sustainability for AWS in EMEA, helping customers build sustainable, circular, and resilient businesses. With over a decade of experience in cross-industry sustainability transformation, she previously led global sustainability strategy at Arm. As a former World Economic Forum fellow and Greenpeace climate & energy campaigner, Hilary has facilitated public-private partnerships to advance the United Nations Global Goals and brings a multi-stakeholder approach to innovation. She holds an M.Sc. in Sustainability & Management and a B.A. in Political Science & Environmental Policy.
Senior Policy Advisor, Climate & Energy, Tony Blair Institute
Devorah supports leaders as they harness today’s technological revolution to reduce carbon emissions and tackle the consequences of the climate crisis.
Through her work at the intersection of climate and AI, Devorah helps governments manage the impacts of climate change and leverage the opportunities of the clean-energy transition. Her work has focused on topics that include how to ensure the climate and AI revolutions become mutually reinforcing, unlocking transformative economic and environmental gains; how to leverage capital markets to drive increased finance into climate adaptation; and the policies, financing and technologies needed to prepare and respond to climate shocks.
Prior to joining TBI, Devorah led the humanitarian innovation team at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and worked as a policy advisor to Gayle Smith, former administrator for USAID and CEO of the ONE Campaign.