Monty Barlow - CEO, Cambridge Consultants

Monty Barlow leads the machine learning capability at Cambridge Consultants, with a particular focus on the practical application of artificial intelligence to industrial problems. Throughout his career he has sought challenges which require high performance computation and algorithms to solve, in diverse domains such as telecommunications, security, transport and healthcare. In 2014, he founded a research lab within Cambridge Consultants to develop and industrialise deep learning technology for client programmes.

Claus Bendtsen - Head of Computational Biology, AstraZeneca

Claus Bendtsen (AstraZeneca)

Andrew Blake - Chairman, Samsung AI Research Centre

Andrew Blake is a pioneer in the development of the theory and algorithms that make it possible for computers to behave as seeing machines. He is especially interested in segmentation as optimization, in visual tracking as probabilistic inference, and in real-time, 3D vision – see his principal publications on these topics. Some of the main themes of his work are captured in books including "Visual Reconstruction" with A.Zisserman (1987, MIT press), "Active Vision" with A. Yuille (1992, MIT Press), "Active Contours" with M. Isard (1998, Springer-Verlag) and "Markov Random Fields for Vision and Image Processing" with C. Rother and P. Kohli (2011, MIT Press).

He trained in mathematics and electrical engineering in Cambridge UK and at MIT, and studied for a doctorate in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh. He was an academic for 18 years, in Edinburgh and Oxford, ultimately as Professor of Information Engineering at Oxford University. He joined Microsoft in 1999 to found the Computer Vision group in Cambridge, before becoming Director of Microsoft’s Cambridge Laboratory in 2010 and a Microsoft Distinguished Scientist.

Currently he is a consultant in Artificial Intelligence. In particular he is Chairman of Samsung’s AI Research Centre SAIC in Cambridge UK. He is consultant and Scientific Advisor to the FiveAI autonomous driving company, and serves as an advisor to Siemens.

In 2010, he was elected to the council of the Royal Society and was appointed to the board of the EPSRC in 2012. He was Director at The Alan Turing Institute 2015-8. He has been Honorary Professor of Machine Intelligence at the University of Cambridge since 2007 and is a Fellow of Clare Hall. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering since 1998 and Fellow of the Royal Society since 2005.

He twice won the prize of the European Conference on Computer Vision, with R. Cipolla in 1992 and with M. Isard in 1996, and was awarded the IEEE David Marr Prize (jointly with K. Toyama) in 2001. The Royal Academy of Engineering awarded him their Silver Medal in 2006, and in 2007 he received the Institution of Engineering and Technology Mountbatten Medal (previously awarded to computer pioneers Maurice Wilkes and Tim Berners-Lee, amongst others.) He was named a Distinguished Researcher in Computer Vision by the IEEE in 2009. In 2011, with colleagues at Microsoft Research, he received the Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Gold Medal for the machine learning at the heart of the Microsoft Kinect 3D camera.

Exactly 80 years after Einstein, in 2014, he gave the Gibbs lecture at the Joint Mathematics Meetings (see transcript) – the 6^th British scientist to do so in 90 years. The BCS awarded him its Lovelace Medal and prize lecture in 2017. He holds honorary doctorates at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Sheffield.

Stan Boland - CEO, Five AI

Stan Boland (Five AI)

Vishal Chatrath - Co-Founder, CEO, Prowler.io

Vishal is CEO and co-founder of PROWLER.io, a Cambridge-based AI company whose mission is to enable leaders and organisations to make better business decisions by optimising resources. PROWLER.io’s decision-making engine, VUKU, can process data in real time, adapt to uncertainty, act on sparse information and learn from experience. The company’s goal is to ensure that business is powered by people; empowered by AI.

Vishal's experience spans fundamental research, manufacturing, operations, R&D, product management, corporate strategy and business development. Vishal was previously Head of Automotive at Nokia, Founder of Chleon Automotive and Chief Business Officer of VocalIQ, which was acquired by Apple in 2015.

Pilar Manchon - Director, Amazon

Owen McCormack - CEO, Hoxton Analytics

Ingmar Posner

Ian Simmons - Vice President Business Development, Magna International

Ian Simmons has served as Vice President Business Development, Corporate Engineering and R&D since 2012. Simmons is responsible for identifying and developing new business opportunities with start-ups, universities, venture capital companies and entrepreneurs. As a result of his work in the last 12-15 months, Magna has entered into partnerships with more than 15 companies and invested over $90 million.

Simmons joined Magna in 2003 as Executive Director Sales and Program Management for Magna Steyr North America. In 2008 he was promoted to General Manager, Magna Steyr North America and in 2010 this role was expanded to President of Magna Steyr North America.

Simmons, who has worked in the automotive industry for more than 35 years, began his career in 1976 with student training at the Ford Motor Company in the U.K. Upon leaving Ford in 1982 he undertook engineering assignments in Europe with Volkswagen and DAF Trucks.

In 1990 Simmons held the position of Manager of Business Development for Hawtal Whiting Plc. in the U.K., where he was responsible for sales activities throughout Europe. In 1993 he accepted a transfer to the company’s U.S. operation to become Vice President of Sales. In 1995 Simmons became Vice President of Operations for the Hawtal Whiting technical center in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

Simmons returned to the U.K. in 1997 as Director of Business Development for TWR Ltd. supporting TWR Group sales and operational tasks for the technical services division. He subsequently returned to the U.S. in 1999 and joined Porsche Engineering Services as Head of Sales in 2000. Simmons holds dual U.S. / U.K. citizenship.

Simmons has been a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers for over 20 years.

Chris Turner - Director, Turner-Bilton Consulting

Chris Turner is an independent consultant based in Cambridge UK offering coaching, mentoring, short-term and pro-bono consulting, due diligence and decision support services for start-ups, scale-ups and larger technology companies.  He also acts as a non-executive director.  Chris has over 40 years’ experience in communications, computing, software and semiconductors gained in executive, management, business development and engineering roles at Arm, Cambridge Consultants, Virata Corporation, Olivetti Research, Acorn Computers and Philips.  His last position at Arm was Director of Emerging Technology & Strategy for the Embedded & Automotive line of business.  Before that Chris managed the Cortex-R real-time CPU product line and led development of Arm’s functional safety capability.  Chris is a Chartered Engineer, registered European Engineer (Eur Ing) and Fellow of the IET.

Darendra Appanah - Senior Test Engineer, Cambridge Consultants

Darendra is part of the Systems Engineering & Test department, where he applies his expertise in Digital Security Testing to various technologies, including Machine Learning and AI. He has a background in Software Test Automation of wireless communications protocols, such as satellite communications and LTE. He enjoys defining and developing testing strategies for cybersecurity challenges and ensuring the quality and reliability of innovative solutions.

Maria Axente - Head of AI Public Policy & Ethics, PwC UK

Maria is a globally recognised, award-winning AI ethics public policy expert, a member of various Advisory Boards - UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on AI (APPG AI), NATO EDT & SKEMA AI Institute, and Chair of techUK Data and AI leadership committee. In her current role as Head of AI Public Policy and Ethics, she aligns PwC's AI strategies with ethical considerations and regulatory trends, fostering collaboration with external stakeholders and leading PwC's responses to public policy consultations and initiatives. Maria's commitment to responsible AI has made her a recognised thought leader and influencer in the field. Maria is a passionate advocate for children's rights in the age of AI, serving as a member of the Advisory Board for UNICEF #AI4Children and World Economic Forum Generation AI programmes. She also serves as an Intellectual Forum Senior Research Associate at the University of Cambridge researching human-centric AI and the intersection between tech policy and ethics.

Phil Claridge - Founder, Mandrel Systems

Phil Claridge is a ‘virtual CTO’ for hire within Mandrel Systems covering end-to-end systems. Currently having fun and helping others with large-scale AI systems integration, country-wide large scale big-data processing, hands-on IoT technology (from sensor hardware design, through LoRa integration to back end systems), and advanced city information modelling. Supporting companies with M&A ‘exit readiness’, due-diligence and on advisory boards. Past roles include: CTO, Chief Architect, Labs Director, and Technical Evangelist for Geneva/Convergys (telco), Arieso/Viavi (geolocation), and Madge (networking). Phil’s early career was in electronics, and still finds it irresistible to swap from Powerpoint to a soldering iron and a compiler to produce proof-of-concepts when required.

Parminder Lally - Partner, Appleyard Lees IP LLP

Parminder is a patent attorney based in Appleyard Lees’ Cambridge office, and helps companies to protect their technological innovations. She has built a substantial reputation working with high-growth start-ups, spin-outs and SMEs in Cambridge, and has in-house experience. She specialises in writing and prosecuting patent applications for computer-implemented inventions. Her work includes patenting AI-based technologies, including new machine learning frameworks and applications of machine learning in image classification, human-computer interactions and text-to-speech. Parminder also writes her own AI blog on LinkedIn, and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys’ Computer Technology Committee.

Simon Thompson - Head of AI, ML & Data Science, GFT Financial Ltd

Simon leads a team that develops AI and ML solutions for large financial institutions. Before joining GFT he was the Principal Investigator for BT’s AI program. Before that he was the Head of Practice for Big Data and Customer Experience at BT and BT’s lead for collaborations with MIT, and the first industry fellow at the Alan Turing Institute. Simon is interested in practical application of AI technology and the practice and process of AI and ML projects. His book “Managing Machine Learning Projects” was published by Manning Books in 2023.

Peter Whale - CEO, UKTIN, Founder & CEO, Vision Formers

Peter is Founder & CEO of Vision Formers, the specialist consultancy that supports and mentors leaders of visionary technology businesses get product to market and turn ideas into reality.

Vision Formers works with start-ups and scale-ups, providing significant expertise in accelerating business growth through a focus on developing a robust product strategy, growing and coaching product and development teams, and providing operational excellence. Peter has a long track record of conceiving, developing and marketing successful technology-based solutions, deployed at scale, globally. Innovative products Peter has brought to market in digital, cloud, AI, consumer electronics and telecommunications have been used by countless millions of people on a daily basis globally, badged by the world’s leading digital and technology brands.

Peter also works with Digital Catapult as Programme Manager for UKTIN, working with partners and stakeholders to deliver UKTIN’s mission to transform the UK telecoms innovation ecosystem, capitalising on the country’s strengths in technology, academia, and entrepreneurialism, while positioning it for growth as new opportunities emerge in the industry.

Peter is a board member of CW (Cambridge Wireless), a Fellow of the IET, a Chartered Engineer, and a member of the Association of Business Mentors.