Agenda

Artificial Intelligence (and Cyber Security) - Sam Smith, Director of Institute, Socitm
Socitm have developed (through research and collaboration) practical resources to help navigate the complex area that is Artificial Intelligence. Sam will talk through these as well as the challenges, opportunities and risks (including Cyber Security) of these fast moving technologies.

Foundation Model AI in the public sector - Renate Samson, Associate Director (Society, justice & public services), Ada Lovelace Institute
The rapid development of new models of AI – including generative AI such as ChatGPT – creates a wealth of opportunities for the technology’s use in central and local government.  The Ada Lovelace Institute have explored what these uses might be and what considerations need to be given to ensure the opportunities aren’t undermined by the risks.

Serving Society: Innovation, Tech, and Local Government - Sarah Pena, Head of Emerging Technology and Business Improvement, Swindon Council 
We’ll explore leveraging technology to support innovative creative reimagination of services, open-sourcing solutions for wider societal benefit, and the vital principles of being technology agnostic while ensuring interoperability. We'll delve into the strategy of dreaming big, starting small, and moving fast, showcasing how these concepts are redefining the way our communities are served.

Using computer vision to automate traffic surveys - Josh Wahnon, Data Scientist, Hertfordshire County Council 
Hertfordshire has a programme of traffic counting that takes place over the year, with 200 automatic counting sites, 60 manual sites and ad-hoc surveys. Hear how they have devised an innovative way to capture the data which is more accurate, saves time and money. Experiment with your ideas is the key takeaway!

AWS Solutions Incubator for Local Government - Ellen Wilson, EMEA Public Sector Industry Solutions, Amazon Web Services 
In this session, Ellen is going to share practical examples of how you can use OpenSource  solutions to start innovating.

Q&A and discussion - all speakers

OpenActive: Harnessing government data standards to help the private sector to get the nation moving - Lisa Allen, Director of Data and Tech Services, Open Data Institute 
Research has revealed that in 2022, there were around 12 million inactive adults in the UK. One obstacle to increasing nationwide activity levels is the absence of open data concerning sports and physical activities. What responsibilities does the government hold in this context, and how can the private sector contribute? We’ll delve into OpenActive and the pivotal role of data standards play in enabling data sharing from the private sector as part of the solution.  

Data ethics and building trust - Sue Bateman, Chief Data Officer, Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO)
An update about the work of the CDDO – particularly on the data ethics / building trust with the public front.

Using data to deliver better health and care - Ayub Bhayat, Director of Data Services and Deputy Chief Data and Analytics Office, NHS England 
How NHS England is using data to deliver better health and care – particularly around the use of data to increase theatre utilisation / work with patient lists etc and themes around predictive analytics successes.

The Birmingham City Observatory: One Year on - Richard Smith, Head of Insight, Policy and Strategy, Birmingham City Council
The session will reflect on the challenges we faced in developing a new observatory and the lessons we have learned. It will then focus on what next, and what we have learned works best when producing insight to influences decision makers. 

Q&A and discussion - all speakers

Dr Susheel Varma, Head of AI and Data Science, Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) - no longer speaking due to illness

Integrated, standardised, linked data - Nick Chapallaz, Managing Director, GeoPlace 
Government has thousands of different databases – UK wide – but they still don’t talk to each other. Fixing this is fundamental to the delivery of the government’s efficiency programme. Database management is crucial to modern government, and presents a severe limitation when datasets cannot be integrated.  Location data connects people, places, systems, and processes. Including UPRNs from the point of data capture brings surety, enhances interoperability and enables organisations to embrace the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence. Nick will discuss how effective use enables the government to mobilise in times of national crisis, to identify and support households in fuel poverty; to identify social housing that needs reparations; to better understand energy use and consumption.

Spatial data to support local delivery - Tom Smith, Director of Spatial Data Unit and Chief Data Officer, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)

What AI Governance Means to Us - Ade Bamigboye, Chief Technology Officer, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea 
Local government agencies work in collaboration with several agencies to deliver a wide range of services to residents, businesses and visitors. The need for automation as way of "delivering more for less" is becoming more important and increasingly the general assumption is that AI plays a significant role in this. In reality there is much to do to assure a wide range of stakeholders that AI deployments are safe, fair and do enhance service delivery. An AI Governance Framework, that is easily accessible and transparent is key to this. In the session we look at the Governance Framework we have developed to support our AI ambitions. 

Q&A and discussion - all speakers