CW Technology & Engineering Conference 2026

Following its landmark 10th anniversary in 2025, the CW Technology and Engineering Conference (CWTEC) continues as a key fixture in the UK tech calendar. Each year, the conference brings together 250+ senior engineers, technologists, academics, and business leaders to tackle the most pressing technology challenges shaping our economic future.

In July 2026, CWTEC turns its focus to the semiconductor and photonics technologies shaping the next decade of connectivity and compute.

As the semiconductor industry accelerates into an era defined by AI, electrification, and advanced connectivity, the engineering challenges are becoming more complex than ever. Miniaturisation is no longer the sole driver of technological advances. Speed, heat, bandwidth, and, most importantly, energy efficiency, are driving us to think and innovate differently.

CWTEC 2026 will explore how the UK's semiconductor and photonics landscape is evolving to meet these challenges. At the conference, we will take a deeper technical look at the semiconductor and photonics technologies that are shaping today's AI boom, and we will look to the future, to the technologies that will shape the next decade.

• Where are we now, in design, manufacturing, materials and systems integration?
• And what must evolve to meet future demands in connectivity, energy efficiency, quantum, sensing and high-performance compute?
• What new bottlenecks are emerging?
• And critically, where can the UK carve out distinctive global leadership?

The UK is internationally recognised in semiconductors and photonics and has strategically important strengths. As traditional scaling slows and system-level innovation becomes the differentiator, the UK's capabilities matter more than ever.

How do we capitalise on this unique opportunity? And where should the UK take a lead?

Bringing together engineers, technologists, and industry leaders, the event will provide technically rigorous insight, forward-looking debate, and practical perspectives on what comes next.

If you're working at the frontier of semiconductor and photonics innovation in the UK, this is where the next chapter gets shaped.

Take a look back at previous CWTECs below.