After an exciting year for PICTFOR, which featured events on pressing topics ranging from online misogyny to digital markets regulation, on Wednesday 29 November PICTFOR celebrated and reflected on 2023 at its Annual Dinner in the House of Lords.
Our 2023 Annual Dinner brought together parliamentarians, senior industry representatives from our membership and beyond to celebrate the continued collaboration between Parliament and the tech industry throughout the past year. We also looked ahead to the coming year, as we move towards a General Election and further into a new era of digital regulation, growth, and innovation, bringing with it new opportunities and challenges for both legislators and industry.
The dinner focused on responsible technology for an inclusive future. After introductory remarks from Lord McNally and Dame Caroline Dinenage, Baroness Barran, Minister for the School System and Student Finance, shared her insights on the importance of incorporating responsible technology in the curriculum, both to enhance the learning experience for pupils and to ensure they are equipped with the necessary skills to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the digital economy. Cait O’Riordan, Vice President of Product Management at Google, then spoke about Google’s work using new technologies to find innovative ways to build skills. Julia Adamson MBE, Managing Director, Education and Public Benefit at BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT followed, and spoke about BCS’s successes in driving an uptake of computing education in schools. Catherine McKinnell MP, Shadow Minister for Schools, then spoke on the value of ongoing collaboration between industry and policymakers to ensure the UK’s digital skills remain competitive across all age groups and Labour’s plans to support the use of EdTech in schools.
PICTFOR would like to thank the event’s co-sponsors Google and BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, as well as our Ministerial and Shadow Ministerial speakers and our event host and PICTFOR Treasurer, Lord McNally, and PICTFOR Chair Dame Caroline Dinenage MP.
During the dinner we heard from the following speakers:
- Baroness Barran MBE, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the School System and Student Finance
- Catherine McKinnell MP, Shadow Minister for Schools
- Cait O’Riordan, Vice President, Product Management, Google
- Julia Adamson MBE, Managing Director, Education and Public Benefit, BCS
- Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, PICTFOR Chair
- The Rt Hon Lord McNally, PICTFOR Treasurer