Kari Lawler was accepted onto the Entrepreneurs for the Future (e4f) incubator at just 14 years old, where she became the youngest ever start-up and entrepreneur on the Innovation Birmingham campus, providing knowledge and expertise for businesses in the subject of AI.

Kari’s rapid rise within the tech world has been acknowledged with multiple awards, including her winning the coveted UK Space Agency SatelLife challenge ‘18, for her AI proposal. Was the youngest ever nominee and winner at of the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Future Face of Technology & Innovation '18. Plus, most recently in acknowledgement of the work she is doing to help businesses and young people understand AI, was named Barclays Entrepreneur Awards ‘19 “Icon of the Year” winner for the Midlands region.

Additionally, she has become an inspirational and in-demand event speaker, a champion of young entrepreneurship and Generation Z voices, plus has spent the last couple of years building up and running her AI youth initiative, YOUTH4AI. Through which, she has introduced thousands of young minds, many from disadvantaged backgrounds to the topic of AI and Data Ethics.

Plus, she has become an active member of regional politics, championing youth voices and diversity within digital and digital skills policy. She currently sits on the West Midlands Young Combined Authority board in which she has been appointed portfolio co-lead for both digital and skills, and also sits as an official observer for the West Midlands 5G Board.

Bjoern is an outstanding Technology Leader who is used to operating at Board level in the Commercial and Public Sector. He has led, both internally and externally, a number of high profile operational and change teams and is used to leading and driving change within complex environments. He has in-depth technology strategy experience covering enterprise architecture, cloud services and AI – using the knowledge to help businesses maximise their results, improve customer success and satisfaction and drive operational efficiencies.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Bjoern held IT roles at ADP, VAX and Computacenter and brings with him 15 years of experience in technology and innovation.

Sarb Rana is a serial entrepreneur having founded companies spanning a breadth of sectors from FMCG to financial services. His journey began soon after leaving university and was destined for a career in investment banking but decided to become his own boss, a path he has not looked back upon.

He expanded his first retail business to multiple sites across the UK, helped by implementing technology that provided a seamless customer journey. He is currently the founder and CEO of Mooply, a financial technology company that uses AI and big data to match, enrich and speed up application for mortgages when purchasing property at short notice.

As Business Engagement Manager for Science 2 Industry, Paul leads the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Midlands Centre industrial engagement function. STFC is one of the 7 UKRI research councils and also manages the UK’s big science facilities, including the national AI laboratory (Hartree Centre) driving digital innovation and transformation for UK industry. The STFC Midlands Centre is hosted by the University of Birmingham and it provides a gateway for businesses to access STFC facilities with Bridging for Innovators (B4I) funding where appropriate. Paul has an extensive track record of working for, with and through large complex public sector organisations to deliver economic development outcomes for UK plc.