UK prosperity and our standing in the world depend heavily on economic success which, in turn, depends a lot on our success in harnessing digital technology. We are therefore delighted that our House of Commons Business Reception this year will be sponsored by two leading international digital sector companies Workday and Vodafone. The keynote speaker will be Darren Jones MP,  Chief Secretary to the Treasury who was, until recently Chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee. Others speakers will be added.

This year, the topic of artificial intelligence has seized the imagination of the media and stock markets. The transformative potential of the group of hardware and software technologies that are bringing AI services to market is clearly enormous. This fringe meeting is hosted by leading enterprise software company SAP. It will have a panel of industry specialists who can put these developments into the perspective of the use of AI in the existing software and services and give their views on the future use of AI in business. We will also invite a minister with digital responsibilities from the new administration to comment on policy implications and priorities for AI.

Speakers:
Dr Chris Francis, Government Affairs Director for UK & Ireland, SAP
Rod Dowler, Executive Chair, Industry Forum
James Johns, Head of Corporate Affairs, Workday
Other speakers to be confirmed

Since World War II, physics-based innovation has driven major economic developments and increased world prosperity. Sectors such as semiconductors and telecommunications have become major industries in their own right, and have also facilitated dramatic growth in, for example, software, digital services and marketing. A key ingredient in this process has been government funded investment in physics research and development in leading universities and technology-based companies. The last Labour government fully recognised the potential benefits of physics R&D and raised the overall level of science R&D investment as well as introducing R&D tax credits to encourage the industrial development of scientific research. This fringe meeting will explore the continuing economic benefits of investment in physics R&D.