CW International Conference 2026

The CSP industry stands at a pivotal moment. On one side lies the AI infrastructure opportunity: can telcos move beyond their role as connectivity providers and step into the arena of powering the AI economy? Is there an opportunity not just delivering bandwidth, but offering the compute, sovereign edge capabilities, and tools that underpin AI services? Yet the question looms large: can telcos truly reposition themselves as platforms for AI infrastructure? Or will hyper-scalers and niche providers seize the advantage, leaving telcos as mere feeders into someone else’s ecosystem?

On the other side lies the path to autonomous networks. Automation promises efficiency, speed, reduced human error and improved customer service, but the journey is fraught with complexity. Is the goal of a fully autonomous network real? Is it an essential enabler to generate valuable services, like GPU-as-a-service or inference-as-a-service?

Together, these debates highlight a common tension: ambition versus risk. Telcos must decide whether they can evolve into AI infrastructure providers while simultaneously navigating the uncertain terrain of automation. The panel will explore whether these twin transformations represent a golden opportunity for telcos to redefine their role in the digital economy, or whether they risk being sidelined, outpaced, or trapped by legacy and external competition.

The convergence of AI, automation, and advanced robotics is fundamentally transforming manufacturing into an intelligent, self-optimising capability. This shift towards cognitive production leverages data, machine learning, and autonomous systems to accelerate decision-making, eliminate inefficiency, and achieve precision at scale.

In the physical domain, this intelligence is driving rapid deployment of robotic systems and autonomous production cells, ensuring consistent quality and continuous throughput. This evolution is leading to the concept of dark factories (or lights-out manufacturing), which are fully automated facilities operating 24/7 without human presence.

While connectivity underpins autonomous production, dark factories require a broader portfolio of services to function effectively. Real-time data processing, edge and cloud platforms, AI orchestration, cybersecurity, digital twins, and secure integration with logistics and supply chains are all essential components of autonomous manufacturing operations. For telcos, this shift presents a significant opportunity to move beyond connectivity and play a central role in delivering the platforms and managed services that enable the next generation of industrial production.

The symbiosis of connectivity and artificial intelligence transforms defence infrastructure from a passive utility into a decisive operational asset. This is about cognitive dominance: harnessing machine learning and data science to accelerate decision-making and fortify network resilience. As the timeline for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) shortens, understanding its profound implications for defence has shifted from a theoretical exercise to an urgent strategic imperative.

In the physical domain, this intelligence translates directly into capacity and effectiveness. Armed forces are rapidly deploying uncrewed, autonomous capabilities to prosecute targets at speed and generate overwhelming force. However, this reliance on autonomy opens a new front in the war for the spectrum: a contested environment defined by Electronic Warfare (EW) and Electronic Countermeasures (ECM).

This session showcases cutting-edge start-ups and early innovations developing breakthrough technologies with the potential to transform industries and society. Founders and technical leaders will present what they are building today: the products, platforms, and systems emerging from frontier science and engineering, and the real-world problems these innovations are designed to solve.

Through concrete examples and live innovation stories the session explores how novel technologies are being translated into practical, scalable solutions, and what makes these approaches genuinely distinctive. Designed to inspire, it highlights the role of start-up creativity and technical ambition in turning emerging ideas into impactful technologies for the connected world.

Gone are the days of 'smart city' theory. It's time to talk about what actually works.

How do we use digital connectivity to deliver better public services and fuel real economic growth? This session brings the entire value chain to the stage: from telcos and regional authorities to the public sector leaders on the frontline.

Forget the jargon, this is about practical problem-solving. Hear real-world case studies on solving tough connectivity challenges and see how these solutions are transforming communities. We’ll also look ahead, exploring the powerful impact AI will have on our public spaces over the next decade.

Finance is moving from a collection of digital services into an autonomous operating system, one that senses risk, makes decisions, and acts in real time. Connectivity is no longer just infrastructure. It is becoming the control layer of modern finance, enabling trust, resilience, and accountability at machine speed. As financial services embed themselves into everyday digital and physical interactions, payments, credit, and identity cease to be discrete processes and instead operate as continuous, context-aware flows shaped by real-time data and policy.

As AI becomes embedded across financial workflows, from fraud prevention and identity to liquidity and market operations, the boundary between data movement and decision-making begins to disappear. Institutions increasingly rely on intelligent systems to interpret intent, manage risk, and optimize outcomes across edge, cloud, and physical environments. This shift forces a rethinking of governance, regulatory oversight, and systemic stability in markets operating at unprecedented speed and scale. The FinTech session at CWIC 2026 brings together leaders shaping the networks, intelligence, and trust frameworks required to operate, regulate, and compete in this new financial era.

The technology landscape is evolving faster than the talent pipeline that supports it, and nowhere is this more visible than in connectivity and advanced communications technologies. As AI, agentic systems, and emerging fields such as quantum capture the imagination of the next generation, the disciplines of core network, infrastructure, and connectivity risk losing young talent to more visible career options grabbing the headlines. 

This session explores how the CW ecosystem can compete for and inspire our next generation of young talent. It examines what really drives talent choices today, from pay and flexibility to purpose, diversity, and societal impact, and how careers in connectivity, networks and digital infrastructure can offer compelling answers. The discussion will consider how shifting skillsets, new productivity models, and changing ways of working are reshaping the future workforce across the UK’s digital economy. The panel will look at how to build clearer pathways into ACT careers, unlock regional growth, and ensure inclusion and equal access to opportunity.

The idea of a quantum internet has moved from science fiction into serious research agendas. By harnessing quantum mechanics, it promises a future of secure communications, distributed quantum computing, and entirely new applications we can barely imagine today. If the ambition is achieved, the quantum internet will not be just another 'G' upgrade. Rather, it represents a paradigm shift in how information is secured, shared, and processed. For telcos, policymakers, and innovators, the stakes are enormous: miss this wave and risk irrelevance; seize it and help shape the backbone of the next digital era. 

• Is the quantum internet a genuine revolution, or just another overhyped research project chasing funding?
• If quantum communications are “un-hackable”, who decides who gets access? Governments, telcos, or hyper-scalers?
• Should telcos lead the quantum backbone, or are they destined to be sidelined again by hyper-scalers?
• Will the race for quantum leadership drive further geopolitical tensions?