As CEO of Tech Nation and former CEO of Tech City, Gerard Grech is one of the UK’s leading futurists. He has been advising the UK government on tech and digital policies for over ten years, and over 30% of all UK tech unicorns ever created have come through one of the growth programs he runs.
Having founded Tech Nation the top technology accelerator in Europe, in 2018, Gerard works with many of the world’s most iconic tech companies. His work involves predicting and actualising the next wave of tech and digital trends. Monzo, Revolut and Deliveroo, for instance, are just a few of the companies that Tech Nation’s growth programs have led to unicorn status. As well as nurturing 30% of all UK tech unicorns, Tech Nation has incubated 44% of the UK’s tech decacorns: companies worth over $10 billion.
Prior to Tech Nation, Gerard spent four years as CEO of Tech City, the government-back organisation focused on accelerating the growth of the UK’s tech sector. During this time, he supported over 40,000 fast-growth digital tech companies around the country and worked both with number 10 and the UK’s top digital entrepreneurs to determine policies that would fuel growth and define digital life, addressing, for instance, issues such as privacy and roaming.
Since the birth of Tech City, the UK’s tech industry has grown to become the fourth-largest recipient in the world of global tech investment, with its ecosystem now being valued at just under $1 trillion. This is over seventeen times its value ten years ago.
Gerard has not only helped shape a multitude of revolutionary tech and digital products, but he has also helped shape the entire ecosystem they sit within. He is uniquely poised to discuss how this ecosystem will continue to evolve and what the future of tech, entrepreneurship, and digital society will look like.
Beyond fuelling entrepreneurship and economic growth, Gerard has worked to solve many of society’s most pressing issues, including climate change, through tech innovation. Tech Nation’s Net Zero Programme, for instance, nurtures companies whose products will reduce greenhouse gas emissions: a particularly essential task given that 40% of emission reductions rely on technologies not yet commercially deployed.
In his talks, Gerard reflects on how we can ensure that technology, AI, and digital resources are deployed for the greater good, and how to create policies and environments that fuel innovation and social and economic prosperity.
Before leading Tech City, Gerard had worked in finance, marketing, and the music industry. His roles have included Global Director of App and Content Distribution at Nokia, Global Director of Marketing at Blackberry, Executive at NGP Venture Capital Investments, and Head of Music and Video at Orange.
Topics:
- Future tech and entrepreneurship: What lies Ahead
- Secrets of the Unicorns
- Welcome to the next decade; the Entrepreneurial Age
- Future Growth: How smart policies can power up societies and nations?
