The Annual GovTech Show and Exhibition 2025: Public Sector Innovation and Transformation
Salford Community Stadium, Greater Manchester 22 October 2025, 9:00am - 4:00pm
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8:30am
Registration
9:40am
Chair's Welcome Address
Kate Lindley, Director and co-founder, Change Network
9:50am
Opening Keynote: A Strategic Vision for Local Government Digital Transformation
- Explore the national outlook for local government digital transformation and the key enablers of success
Owen Pritchard, Head of Cyber, Digital and Technology, Local Government Association
10:10am
Levelling Up Through Digital Inclusion: Empowering Communities with Innovation
- How Leeds City Council is embedding digital equity into city-wide services and strategy
- Upcoming digital inclusion initiatives and connectivity plans supporting inclusive growth
Andrew Byrom, Chief Digital and Information Officer, Leeds City Council
10:30am
Shaping the Future of Software Development: The Silicon Shoring Approach
Generative AI is redefining how software is conceived, developed, and delivered. Born within the Reply network of 200+ specialized companies, the “Silicon Shoring” model brings together technology, business know-how, and intelligent automation to redefine innovation.
This session explores how AI and autonomous agents are transforming the Software Development Lifecycle—enabling rapid prototyping, accelerating delivery, and reshaping the roles within modern development teams. Discover how “Silicon Shoring” brings human creativity and AI collaboration together to redefine what’s possible in software delivery.
- Reply’s AI-driven model: combining technology, business, and innovation
- Accelerating development: Rapid prototyping generative and Enterprise solutions
- New roles and processes: hybrid team roles and AI-augmented workflows
- Business impact: faster delivery, cost reduction, and improved quality
Alessandro Bertelli, Manager, Reply
10:50am
Questions and Answers Panel
11:00am
Break and Networking
11:30am
Every breach leaves a blueprint, but are we learning from it?
- The surge of ransomware and social engineering attacks seen across retail, automotive manufacturing and most recently aviation in 2025 has highlighted how quickly threat actors adapt to exploit human and process weaknesses. While these campaigns have so far focused on private industry, the lessons are directly relevant to public sector departments seeking to strengthen resilience and meet the updated CAF 4.0 objectives.
Callum Mitchell, SOC Technical Lead, e2e-assure
11:50am
Delivering Better Public Services Through Shared Innovation
- Discuss how LOTI is enabling London’s boroughs to collaborate on digital transformation projects that drive real impact
- Explore the policies, partnerships, and people needed to unlock the full potential of local government innovation
Eddie Copeland, Director, London Office of Technology and Innovation
12:10pm
Rethinking Recruitment in Local Government Digital Services
- Tackling the Digital Skills Shortage at a Local Level
- The Role of Culture and Leadership in Shaping Public Sector Tech Careers
Alison Lincoln, Vice President of Socitm, and ICT Senior Manager of Projects and Customers, Blackpool Council
12:30pm
Questions and Answers Panel
- Questions and answers
12:40pm
Lunch and Networking
1:40pm
Championing Ethics and Inclusion in Emerging Technologies
- Explore how government and technology leaders can prioritise inclusion, ethics, and accountability in the AI age
- Understand the real-world impact of data breaches, algorithmic bias, and deepfakes on marginalised groups, and what local and national governments can do to protect citizens and rebuild trust.
- Discuss practical ways to involve underrepresented voices in tech policy, innovation, and skills development
Mandy Sanghera OBE, Global Ambassador for Ethics in AI and Technology
2:00pm
Building the Foundations for Data-Driven Public Services
- How DWP Digital is building scalable, secure, and interoperable data platforms to replace legacy systems and enable digital transformation at scale
- Using data to improve service delivery, ensure reliability, and support critical areas
- Developing skills, fostering collaboration, and embedding ethical and inclusive data practices across teams and departments
Jacqui Leggetter, Head of Data Platforms & Operations, Deputy Director, Department for Work and Pensions
2:20pm
Driving Digital Service Innovation Through Modern Tech Leadership
- Explore how modern technology leadership becomes a catalyst for service-level innovation
- Outline leadership behaviours that shift IT from a cost centre to an engine of value, showing how to translate strategic goals into rapid, low-risk delivery cycles]
- Understand why rigorous process modelling is a critical lever for sustainable change. By mapping end-to-end journeys, councils expose waste, clarify ownership, and design a target operating model that technology can truly underpin
- Tackle the reality of modernising legacy estates - mapping technical debt and adopting cloud-ready architectures - before addressing the people dimension: developing multidisciplinary digital capability inside the council, embedding lean governance, and creating a culture where experimentation is rewarded and failure becomes a route to learning
- Questions and answers
Ade Bamigboye, Chief Technology Officer, Kensington and Chelsea Council
2:40pm
Questions and Answers Panel
2:50pm
Break and Networking
3:20pm
Policies and Practices for Inclusive Digital Cultures
- Explore the policy frameworks and institutional practices necessary to build truly inclusive digital environments across the public sector
- Examine the structural, social, and cultural barriers to digital participation, and how government bodies can design digital services and strategies that are equitable, accessible, and resilient
- Questions and answers
Professor Simeon Yates, Professor of Digital Culture, University of Liverpool
3:40pm
Embedding Service Design and Digital Thinking Across Local Government
- How to build service design capability within local government teams
- Creating inclusive and accessible digital services through iterative design
- Practical lessons from digital transformation initiatives across North Yorkshire
- Overcoming legacy challenges to embed a culture of innovation
- Questions and answers
Anne-Louise Arkle, Head of Service Design and Digital Adoption, North Yorkshire Council
4:00pm
Chair's Closing Summary
Kate Lindley, Director and co-founder, Change Network
4:05pm
Close
*programme subject to change without notice