London Technology Week 2016 to Showcase Capital's Booming Tech Sector

LONDON, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Leading figures join ambassador programme to support week 

Festival of technology to take place across the capital from June 20-26^th 

London Technology Week 2016 will welcome tens of thousands global technology professionals and consumers to the capital, with hundreds of events set to take place across the city from 20-26^th June. 

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Leading figures from the world of technology have signed up to support Europe's largest technology festival. This year's ambassadors include Eileen Burbidge MBE HM Treasury Fintech Envoy, Kathryn Parsons Co-Founder of Decoded, Rohan Silva Co-Founder of Second Home, Martha Lane Fox CBE Founder of Lastminute.com and Beatie Wolfe Singer Songwriter and music tech entrepreneur, to name a few.

The new group of ambassadors will help to promote the success of the capital's booming technology sector through a series of live events, which will attract entrepreneurs, policy makers, investors and developers to the city.

In its third successive year, London Technology Week 2016 will host hundreds of events highlighting the city's position as Europe's leading technology hub. The programme of events will be based on five content streams which include: Business, Growth, Talent & Inclusion, Innovation and After Hours.

This year's event is set to be bigger than ever with a varied event programme which will see showcases from some of London's hottest start-ups to presentations from some of the largest global technology companies based in London. Headline events include UnGagged - SEO & Digital Marketing Conference, Stack Overflow's Tech Talent: Developing Our Future and Equinix's Innovation Through Interconnection - Creating Competitive Advantage in the Digital Economy.

London Technology Week is organised by UBM EMEA, in association with London & Partners - the Mayor's official promotional organisation for London, ExCeL London and Tech London Advocates. Tech City UK, UKTI and techUK have also joined the steering group as strategic partners. 

London hosted its first London Technology Week in 2014 and last year's festival attracted over 200 events and 43,000 attendees from around the world. Since the launch, London's technology sector has grown from strength to strength, with latest figures from London & Partners showing that London's digital businesses attracted record levels of venture capital investment in 2015, securing around 62% of the $3.6bn raised by UK firms in 2015^[1].

Gordon Innes, CEO of London & Partners said: "London has emerged as Europe's fastest growing technology hub. The city is now a hotbed for innovation and is home to some of the world's best tech talent. With a world-class series of events and speakers, London Technology Week provides a perfect platform for us to showcase why London is leading destination for technology businesses looking to start, grow and scale. This year promises to be bigger than ever and we look forward to opening our doors to tens of thousands of leading technology professionals from across the world." 

James Layfield, Founder & CEO of Central Working and London Technology Week Ambassador added: "London outshines New York, San Francisco or Berlin as the global city of choice for tech entrepreneurs aiming to grow their business, and every year London Technology Week reminds us why. It's a fantastic opportunity to showcase some of the best ideas coming out of this city and also provides us with the chance to look to the future and discuss how we can support our digital entrepreneurs as they continue to thrive, innovate and attract world-leading tech talent."

Kevin Pearce, Event Director, UBM EMEA said: "We're excited to showcase once again the tech and events expertise that is so prevalent here in London. The programme of events for this summer's London Technology Week is growing fast and it's already shaping up to be another inspiring week for everyone involved."

Notes to editors 

^[1] Data sourced from CB Insights

London Technology Week 2016 Ambassadors include:

• Michael Acton Smith OBE, founder, Mind Candy
• Dame Helen Alexander, Chairman, UBM
• Omid Ashtari, General Manager, Citymapper
• James Layfield, Founder & CEO of Central Working
• Jo Bertram, Regional General Manager, UK Ireland & Nordics, UBER
• Eileen Burbidge MBE, HM Treasury Fintech Envoy & Partner, Passion Capital
• Dan Cobley, CEO, Brightbridge Ventures
• Stuart Cochran, Chief Technology Officer, Huddle
• Sherry Coutu, NED, Angel Investor and on the board of LSE
• Samir Desai, CEO and co-founder, Funding Circle
• Gordon Innes, Chief Executive Officer, London & Partners
• Martha Lane Fox, Co-founder, lastminute.com
• Kathryn Parsons, Co-CEO and Co-founder, Decoded
• Jacqueline de Rojas, Deputy President, VP & General Manager, Northern Europe, Citrix
• Russ Shaw, Founder, Tech London Advocates, Non-executive Director and Investor
• Joel Spolsky, Co-founder and CEO, Stack Exchange
• Michel van der Bel, Managing Director, Microsoft UK
• Lord Wei of Shoreditch
• Sarah Wood, Co-founder and Co-CEO, Unruly
• Beatie Wolfe, Singer & songwriter
• Russell Poole, Managing Director, Equinix UK
• Dr Jo Twist, CEO, Ukie
• Melissa Di Donato, AVP of Wave Analytics, EMEA, salesforce.com
• Geoff Mulgan, CEO, Nesta
• Lawrence Wintermeyer, CEO, Innovate Finance
• Claire Cockerton, CEO and Chairwoman of ENTIQ
• Gerard Grech, CEO, Tech City UK
• Damien Trevatt, Founder at Ungagged.com, SEO.io & DotCom Consultancy Ltd
• Steve Hatch, Managing Director, UK & Ireland, Facebook
• Manish Madhvani, Co-founder & Managing Partner of GP Bullhound
• Rohan Silva, Co-founder of Second Home
• Sarah Luxford, Co-founder TLA Women in Tech
• Phil Cox, Head of EMEA & President, UK, Silicon Valley Bank
• Dr John Hughes, Chairman of JUST EAT plc and Spectris plc
• Gavin Poole, CEO, Here East

About UBM EMEA 

UBM EMEA (http://ubmemea.com/) connects people and creates opportunities for companies across five continents to develop new business, meet customers, launch new products, promote brands and expand markets. Operating in more than 23 countries, UBM EMEA organises many of the world's largest, most important live events, awards and community sites in a wide variety of industries. Its technology events include Technology for Marketing, eCommerce Expo, Black Hat Europe and London Technology Week.

About London & Partners 

London & Partners is the official promotional company for London. We promote London and attract businesses, events, congresses, students and visitors to the capital. Our aims are to build London's international reputation and to attract investment and visitor spend, which create jobs and growth.

London & Partners is a not-for-profit public private partnership, funded by the Mayor of London and our network of commercial partners.

For more information visit http://www.londonandpartners.com     

About Tech London Advocates 

Tech London Advocates is a private sector led coalition of over 500 expert individuals from the tech sector and broader community who have committed to championing London's potential as a world-class hub for tech and digital businesses. Founded by Russ Shaw in 2013, it strives to support London's tech start-ups and high-growth businesses in finding new investment, new talent and continued success.

For more information about Tech London Advocates, visit http://techlondonadvocates.org.uk/

About London Technology Week 

London Technology Week is a festival of events, taking place across the city and representing the entire technology ecosystem.

No other festival of live events brings together as many domestic and international tech specialists and enthusiasts to London for such a variety of networking, social, learning and business opportunities.

Since its launch in 2014 London Technology Week has included more than 400 events and has welcomed delegations from around the world.

For more information about London Technology Week, visit:

http://londontechnologyweek.co.uk/

For more information on how to host an event at London Technology Week 2016, visit: http://londontechnologyweek.co.uk/how-to-host-an-event/

SOURCE London Technology Week