It’s nothing new to say the world is going digital. The availability of technology and, moreover, the capability of new technologies is having a profound effect on the way we live our lives. It’s, too, forcing not just individual companies but whole industries to rethink the way they operate – as has been acknowledged at London Technology Week.
The incorporation of digital technologies is fast-becoming the go-to in the way of capturing the younger market, a generation who have been brought up with – and are therefore reliant on – technology. That said, older generations are becoming more tech-fluent as well; in the rise of e-commerce, we’ve seen growing propensity toward technology and technology-enabled living amongst everyone – not just those for whom a technological disposition is almost innate.
Indeed, the world is changing. To fail to recognise the unstoppable force that is technology as a business is to risk falling behind. Technology is no longer the new but the ordinary, the expected and the status quo, thus keeping abreast of new developments is imperative.
At the end of last month, London Technology Week celebrated this incline in tech take-up, inviting home and international tech gurus, businesses and even tech-lovers on the street to learn more about what’s available in the world of today. Holding more than 200 events around London, the festival covered a whole range of topics related to technology including the legalities of branding, exporting, mobile gaming, and augmented and virtual reality.
The position of London at the centre of the digital community and thus also at the heart of innovation was reinstated by the sheer number of home delegates present as well as being overtly stated by international visitors.
In the same vein of internationalism, diversity was highlighted by all as a key driver for innovation and something without which successful technological development simply isn’t possible. New Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan called for greater inclusion amongst businesses, asking larger players to consider investing in or partnering with SMEs in order to facilitate positive advancement.
And diversity will, of course, be important in the coming years. With Britain’s decision to leave the EU comes the challenge of renegotiating the terms by which home and international businesses work together. It was a fact not lost on delegates with Brexit becoming a hot topic of conversation both inside and outside meeting rooms.
That said, more than a third of Europe’s billion-dollar technology start-ups are based in the UK and so if ever there was something worth fighting – by UK businesses and international businesses alike – it is surely the healthy technology market. And with it having been highlighted at London Technology Week that improvement comes not from becoming an island but from collaboration, firms will not be looking to burn bridges any time soon.
