OpenUK’s State of Open: The UK in 2024 Report Launch Day

This is the 4th annual celebration of the UK’s open source software data and will include the output of OpenUK’s annual survey on open source software in the UK, bringing data on open source use, contribution and utilisation of open source software that no other country in the world has available to you as part of London Data Week.

We are delighted to share our first speakers: economist and journalist Will Hutton author of “This Time No Mistakes”, Google DeepMind Professor of ML Professor Neil Lawrence, author of “The Atomic Human”, AI Advisory Board members Professor Elena Simperl and Sonia Cooper who will join us alongside OpenUK’s CEO and Chief Policy Officer, Amanda Brock and Chief Research Officer Dr Jennifer Barth. Watch this space for more announcements on our speaker roster - an event not to be missed for anyone interested in learning more about open source in the UK.

Time: 12.00 - 5.30 PM

Location: Great Hall of Kings, Strand Campus, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS

Attendance at this event is subject to the following OpenUK policies:-

• Code of Respect
• Privacy Policy
• Competition Policy
• Sustainability Policy

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Our Speakers

Prof Neil Lawrence
DeepMind Professor, Machine Learning, University of Cambridge

Neil Lawrence is the inaugural DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge where he leads the University’s flagship mission on AI, AI@Cam. He has been working on machine learning models for over 20 years. He recently returned to academia after three years as Director of Machine Learning at Amazon. His main interest is the interaction of machine learning with the physical world. This interest was triggered by deploying machine learning in the African context, where ‘end-to-end’ solutions are normally required. This has inspired new research directions at the interface of machine learning and systems research, this work is funded by a Senior AI Fellowship from the Alan Turing Institute. Neil is also a visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield and the co-host of Talking Machines. He is the author of the forthcoming book The Atomic Human (release date 30th May 2024)

Will Hutton
Economist and Journalist, Author of “This Time No Mistakes”

Will Hutton is a British journalist and author. He currently writes a regular column for the Observer, is the president of the Academy of Social Sciences, hosts its We Society podcast and is co-chair of the Purposeful Company. He was formerly economics editor of the Guardian, editor-in-chief of the Observer and Principal of Hertford College Oxford. Hutton’s books include the bestselling The State We’re In, How Good We Can Be, The World We’re In and The Writing on the Wall.

Professor Elena Simperl
Professor of Computer, King’s College London

Elena Simperl is a Professor of Computer at King’s College London and the Director of Research for the Open Data Institute (ODI). She is a Fellow of the British Computer Society and the Royal Society of Arts, and a Hans Fischer Senior Fellow. Elena’s work is at the intersection between AI and social computing. She features in the top 100 most influential scholars in knowledge engineering of the last decade and in the Women in AI 2000 ranking. She is the president of the Semantic Web Sciences Association.

Sonia Cooper
Assistant General Counsel, Microsoft

Sonia is the Assistant General Counsel, Open Innovation Team at Microsoft and Vice President of the IP Federation. Sonia has over 25 years of experience advising on IP and innovation in the tech sector, specialising in AI and IP. A Chartered and European Patent Attorney, Sonia worked extensively with Microsoft Research in Cambridge and now leads IP policy in the Open Innovation Team at Microsoft. Sonia is Vice President and Immediate Past President of IP Federation and Chairs the federation’s Data and Copyright Committee. Sonia is the Data Policy lead for Open UK and is a passionate advocate for open data.