Software Engineering Events in Birmingham

Innovation, Investment & Inclusive Growth

As part of Birmingham Tech Week 2026, join us for an afternoon exploring opportunities at the intersection of African and UK tech ecosystems. Africa is home to some of the world’s most dynamic and vibrant tech ecosystems, offering groundbreaking opportunities to collaborate with entrepreneurs and innovators in fast-growing markets.

This event is for founders, investors, businesses, ecosystem leaders and enthusiasts to explore how stronger connections between regional ecosystems can create pathways for innovation, investment, and inclusive economic development.

What we’ll discuss

• How African founders and innovators are building globally scaling businesses
• Opportunities for UK-Africa innovation and commercial collaboration
• Investment, finance and support for businesses looking to grow internationally
• How regional ecosystems can build stronger connections, partnerships and pathways for growth
• The role of businesses, institutions and ecosystem leaders in enabling inclusive growth.

Kindly hosted in partnership with Lloyds; this event is being lead and organised by Tech West England Advocates in collaboration withi Tech Ghana Advocates and Tech Nigeria Advocates - bringing together networks from across the Global Tech Advocates community.

So whether you’re already working across African markets or simply Africa Curious, come and explore where new connections could lead.

Speakers and agenda will be announced soon.

About Tech West England Advocates

Tech West England Advocates is a not-for-profit organisation founded by Richard Lowe, Managing Director, Hewlett Rand. We are one of forty-eight Global Tech Advocates communities, forming an inclusive network of tens of thousands of tech entrepreneurs, investors, and experts worldwide. We support startups, scaleups, and established tech companies, helping them connect across international tech ecosystems. As a community, we showcase the best tech innovations from West England, fostering growth and global expansion while strengthening connections with the wider UK and Global Tech Advocates networks.Our work relies on the generosity of our partners and community. If you are interested in sponsoring or partnering with us, please contact: contact@techwestenglandadvocates.co.uk

BrumAI October 2026 - hosted by UCB, sponsored by Griffiths Waite
OCTOBER 2026 - in-person event hosted by University College Birmingham
We're back! 🎉 This time we're kindly hosted by University College Birmingham at their Moss House campus, with thanks to Griffiths Waite for sponsoring the evening.
It's an opportunity to connect with entrepreneurs, researchers, people in academia, students, engineers, AI enthusiasts, and curious individuals. So bring your friends and co-workers!
Limited space.
⚠️ PLEASE ANSWER THE RSVP QUESTION WITH YOUR FIRST AND LAST NAME. Reception checks everyone in by name, so we can only admit people on the list.
⏰ ARRIVAL FROM 17:30, TALKS START AT 18:00. Please don't arrive before 17:30, as we'll still be setting up the room.

EVENT OVERVIEW
This session will include:
- Talk by Peet Denny, founder of BrumAI
- Interactive session led by Dr Anandhi Vivek Dhukaram, co-organiser at BrumAI
- Free food, drinks and networking

AGENDA
17:30 - Arrival and check-in (please don't arrive before 17:30)
17:50 - Welcome and intros, with a few words from Griffiths Waite
18:00 - Talk by Peet Denny
Peet is building a regulated fintech with a team of AI agents across Claude, Grok and GPT, wired into Cursor and Linear and running on a harness he built himself. He'll walk through that harness: how it's put together, what went well, and what he got wrong building it. Useful for anyone shipping real products with agents, or thinking about it.
18:30 - Food and comfort break 🍕🥤 (please help yourself to food, then bring it back to your seat for the next session)
18:45 - Interactive session led by Dr Anandhi Vivek Dhukaram
19:25 - Close. Please be out of the building by 7:30 pm.

SPEAKER BIOS
PEET DENNY
Peet started BrumAI in 2017, before handing it over to the team who run it today. After a stint in venture capital, he’s back to being a founder. He’s now building Tekka, a regulated fintech that helps people recover unclaimed higher-rate pension tax relief, with a team of AI agents doing much of the work.
https://tekka.uk — recovering unclaimed higher-rate pension tax relief
www.linkedin.com/in/peet-denny
Email me at peet@tekka.uk

DR ANANDHI VIVEK DHUKARAM
As a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in research, technology, and global business, with a PhD in cognitive systems engineering, Dr Anandhi specialises in driving human-centric responsible AI cultures across industries.
Throughout her career, she has witnessed firsthand the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) when harnessed responsibly. Her mission is to bridge the gap between AI technology and organisational readiness, ensuring businesses of all sizes can seize the opportunities and leverage AI effectively.
Through tailored AI literacy programs and as an EU AI Act compliance strategist, she aims to equip teams with the critical thinking and technical proficiency necessary to navigate the regulatory complexities of AI confidently.
Personal page: https://anandhiv.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anandhi-vivek-dhukaram
Founder of Esdha: www.esdha.com

CAPACITY
In-person spaces are restricted, please only book if you can attend!
Only attend if you have a confirmed RSVP and you are not on the waiting list.
Please let the organisers know or cancel on Meetup if you can no longer attend, so someone on the waiting list can take your place.

SPONSORED BY
Many thanks to Griffiths Waite for sponsoring this event.
Griffiths Waite is a Birmingham technology consultancy that builds custom AI products for large enterprises, taking them from AI roadmap through to production-ready products. They have over 30 years of experience delivering bespoke enterprise software.
Website: https://www.griffiths-waite.co.uk/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/griffiths-waite/
Please feel free to connect with the Griffiths Waite team:
Manni Basi, Lead Engineer
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mannibasi/
Pooja Joshi, Marketing Manager
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pooja-joshi-25172583

HOSTED BY
We are very grateful to University College Birmingham for hosting us.
📍 Moss House, 3 Holland Street, Birmingham, B3 1QH
Moss House sits at the junction of George Street and Holland Street, about a 10 minute walk from Birmingham city centre. Please give your first and last name at reception when you arrive, and you'll be given a UCB visitor lanyard to wear during the event.
Please feel free to connect with our host:
Jeba Ali, University College Birmingham
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeba-ali/

We organise friendly informal networking events for people in Tech to share ideas, learn from each other, and make new connections.

Who are the events for?
People working in tech who want to connect with others in the Birmingham tech community, including:

• Software engineers
• Product managers
• Data / AI professionals
• Startup founders & operators

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🍕 Action Required: get 20% off food & drinks 🍹

To attend, please become a member at OkGather for only £2.99 p/m (only takes 1 minute to join) and you will also get 20% off food & drinks at the gathering (show your OkGather profile at the bar). This small membership fee means we can keep running the gatherings, cover our costs and help more people meet new people! 🥳

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You’ll meet people who are:

• Working in software engineering, product, data, AI, or startups
• Building projects, products, or growing their careers in tech

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Why should you join?

• Learn from others working in tech
• Expand your network to help your career
• It could lead to collaborations or new opportunities
• It’s a lot of fun!

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✨ How it works
1. Get your ticket

2. Become a member at OkGather to attend:

https://okgather.com/theme/birmingham-tech-network-btn?src=btn&platform=eventbrite&placement=event_description_how_works

Arrive at the venue:

• Grab a drink, find the group, and settle in
• Ask the bar staff for the "Birmingham Tech Network" table booking
• Expect a friendly, welcoming group and a great atmosphere 👋

Have better conversations

• You’ll be surrounded by people interested in tech and building things
• Discussions are naturally more engaging and relevant 🤝

Build connections + opportunities

• Meet people you can stay in touch with
• Learn from others in the space
• Potentially collaborate on projects or opportunities ⚡

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📍 Location
We host events at relaxed venues in central Birmingham:

• Easy to get to locations
• Pubs or bars with a good atmosphere
• Spaces that are ideal for conversation 🍻

Spots are limited to keep the group high quality.

If you work in tech and want to meet others in your space, you’ll get a lot from this 👋

.NET Conf 2026

Join us to view a session from .NET Conf 2026 the launch of .NET 11 and latest MAUI - we'll decide which session and whether live or recorded closer to the date when we have the full session details.

It will be about .NET / C# / MAUI.

Followed by a discussion about the changes that are happening.

Agenda:
18:30 Arrive, Network and Food.
18:45 Introductions and catch-up.
19:00 Session and discussions
20:30 Close and head off to pub (The Good Intent?) for some more talking.