About this Event
The centrepiece of MKTW 2026 is a flagship conference at Unity Place Auditorium, bringing together technology leaders, innovators, founders, and policy-makers from across the UK for a day of high-level conversation, debate, and connection at the heart of the Oxford–Cambridge Growth Corridor.
This is not a regional networking event with a conference badge. It is a national gathering built around one of the most urgent questions facing business and government today: who owns, controls, and benefits from the technology being built right now?
Theme: Sovereign Technology
As AI becomes infrastructure, the question of data sovereignty, technology resilience, and who holds the keys to critical systems has moved from the edges of policy debate to the centre of board agendas. Organisations across every sector, from financial services to manufacturing, are asking the same question: where does our data go, and can we trust the systems we depend on?
The conference will explore what sovereign technology means in practice, why it matters for UK competitiveness, and what opportunities it creates for businesses willing to act.
Sessions will span sovereign AI and data, advanced manufacturing and deep tech, the role of the Oxford–Cambridge Growth Corridor in building resilient technology capability, and the entrepreneurship ecosystem growing within it.
Sessions Include
- Sovereign AI
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Connected Autonomous Vehicles & Robotics
- Oxford–Cambridge Growth Corridor & Supercluster
- More to be announced very soon...
The Lineup So Far
- Our host: Zoe Kleinman – Tech Editor at The BBC
- Simon Fabri – CEO at HMGCC
- Dr Laura Bishop – AI and Cyber Security Digital Sector Lead, BSI
- Chris Allsopp – Co-founder of N:SYM and Origami Labs
- Connected Places Catapult
- Dame Dawn Childs – CEO at nLighten
- Ian Pulford – CEO at Smart City Consultancy
- Matt Allen – Executive Director at Oxford-Cambridge Supercluster
- More to be announced very soon...
Lunch and refreshments
Lunch and refreshments are included in your conference ticket.
Drinks and networking
17:30–19:00
Join us at Unity Place after the conference for drinks and informal networking. Continue the day’s conversations and connect with speakers and fellow attendees.
Event venue & nearby stays
Unity Place, 200 Grafton Gate, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.