Annie Legge

Tech4Good take over the business track with a panel session & workshop

Tech4Good South West is a member network focused on the intentional use of technology to drive positive outcomes for people and planet.

Tech4Good South West amplifies the positive impact of technology across the region by building a vibrant tech-for-good community. Our mission is to address how technology can support society and tackle the unintended consequences of the digital age. We focus on raising awareness, fostering collaboration, and promoting sustainable approaches to technology.

Our key focus areas include leveraging technology for societal benefit, empowering communities, promoting responsible and ethical tech, and driving regional development to address digital inclusion. Through regular events, workshops, and an active member platform, we are building a collaborative environment where people learn from one another and co-create impactful projects. Ultimately, our goal is to position the South West as a leader in the national tech-for-good movement.

Takeover Theme: Responsible Technology - beyond buzzword and towards a concrete business consideration

Responsible technology has outgrown the ‘buzzword’ stage and is becoming a concrete business consideration across sectors and industries. Research conducted by MIT and Thoughtworks in 2023 showed nearly three-quarters of survey respondents either strongly agree (30%) or somewhat agree (43%) that “responsible technology considerations will eventually come to equal business or financial considerations in importance when organisations make decisions about technology use.

The most cited hurdles to adoption of responsible technology are a lack of senior management awareness (52%), organisational resistance to change (46%), and internal competing priorities (46%).

What the research also showed was that the definition of responsible technology varies across organisations and that there is currently no consensus on which responsible practices should take priority in organisations.

Panel Session

Annie is joined by:

Lucy Gower

Lucy is founder and director at Lucidity. She is a facilitator, trainer and coach and specialises in helping leaders with the confidence and tools to build high performing teams that get results.She is bestselling author of The Innovation Workout and How to have confidence at work and co-presenter on the Quiet Leadership Revolution podcast. Lucy is a global speaker on storytelling, creativity and leadership. She believes that whilst technology is an enabler of positive outcomes, it is the ability of people to collaborate that ensures technology leverages the maximum impact. She enjoys working on projects and with organisations with a mission to make a positive impact. Connect with Lucy Gower on LinkedIn, or email lucy@lucidity.org.uk.

Gavin Jones

Gavin is the Head of Innovation of Elixel, a digital product studio based in Plymouth. Over the last decade, Gavin has overseen the delivery of projects for a wide range of organisations including JP Morgan, WPA and Pallex. Alongside the larger corporate projects, Gavin has had the opportunity to work with startups and educators to design platforms which have helped children with specific learning difficulties to sleep better, cancer patients to find nutritional information to help them keep fighting, families to discover nature places to explore, parents to keep their kids safe online and those on mental health journeys to better understand themselves and help young people to start living life independently.

His work expands out of his normal working responsibilities. His passion for driving impact locally has led him to co-found Digital Plymouth in 2015 to bring together a community of digital businesses and professionals, and in 2020 he joined the board of Citizens Advice Plymouth to support their digital transformation journey, helping them to utilise technology to help and support more people.

Yudi Wu

Yudi Wu is a Creative Producer/Practitioner based in Exeter/South West. Being both extremely online and hyper-local, their work focuses on combining creative technology, especially online/virtual spaces, with socially engaged art. Working with organisations such as Maketank and Devon Ukrainian Association, they are currently exploring how grassroots artists and marginalised communities could work together towards local regeneration.

Ed Howard

Ed has worked in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE) for the last 20 years directly supporting social enterprises and charities to develop and grow, deeply understanding the complexity and needs of social sector organisations. For the last 7 years, Ed worked for a major funder, providing grant funding and capacity support for community businesses looking to enhance their digital capabilities. Ed was the co-founder of Tech4Good Bristol, which later became Tech4Good South West. Ed is passionate about closing the digital divide to ensure the communities and organisations that are best placed to meet the challenges that the South West faces have the technology and knowledge to achieve their missions.

Ann Holman

Ann is a highly experienced senior executive and digital transformation specialist. As the Chief Operating Officer at Plymouth Marjon University, she oversees digital/IT, estates, sport, and commercial activity, while also leading business transformation and environmental sustainability initiatives. Her extensive experience includes working on multi-million-pound projects for a diverse range of clients in complex environments. She also serves as a Trustee for Devon Air Ambulance Trust and Devon Community Foundation, demonstrating her commitment to contributing to her community.

The panel is going to discuss:

• What Responsible Technology means to them
• How they see the connection between Responsible Technology and Leadership with impact
• How they translate the concept into responsible practices in their field/organisation