With that, the second edition of Civo Navigate Local has come to an end. While we were excited to head back to London, where we hosted the first Navigate Europe event, we were even more excited to host this event in the Civo Tech Junction, our very own event space based in the heart of London.
Before we dive into everything that happened during the event, we want to express our gratitude to everyone involved, from our sponsors (Percona, Red Badger, and Northflank), speakers, attendees, and, most importantly, the Civo team. If you want a quick glimpse into everything that we got up to during the event, check out our wrap-up video 👇
Throughout the day, we welcomed 15 incredible speakers who touched upon topics such as Wasm, AI, the future of tech, and sustainability. Within this lineup, we heard from speakers such as Lucy Rigby MP (UK Labour MP for Northampton North), Sue Daley (Director of Technology & Innovation at techUK), Kate Obiidykhata (Solutions Marketing Manager at Percona), and Hannah Foxwell (Founder of AI for the rest of us).
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Every year, we continue to see more and more interest emerging around Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) - this year it was no different. After a quick introduction from the CEO of Civo, Mark Boost, we jumped straight into a panel discussion from Lucy Rigby MP (UK Labour MP for Northampton North), Sue Daley (Director of Technology & Innovation at techUK), William Dunning (Supervising Associate at Simmons & Simmon), and Sandy Jayaraj (CSO Yellow Sub AI), on the complex interplay between AI governance, data protection, and ethical AI practices. The panelists were able to have a range of discussions with a focus on AI adoption, risk management, and accountability.
Shortly after, we got the chance to hear from Josh Mesout (Chief Innovation Officer at Civo), Oliver Pinson-Roxburgh (CEO of Defense.com), Hannah Foxwell (Founder of AI for the rest of us), and Matt Barker (VP & Global Head at Venafi) in a panel talk on the future of AI. Through this panel, they highlighted the latest developments and trends in these areas and explored the opportunities and challenges presented by AI and other emerging technologies.
Stuart Harris, Founder of Red Badger, took a different approach during his session whereby he focused on the question: has WebAssembly been lost in the AI hype? This allowed Stuart to cover how WebAssembly can reduce energy consumption and optimize resource utilization, with a focus on driving a more sustainable computing future.
Senior Platform Engineer at Konstruct, Simon Emms, followed up with another session on how, while the tech industry is at a crisis point, AI won’t fix it. The talk highlights that the tech industry is facing a crisis due to a reluctance to train junior engineers, rigid adherence to Agile practices, and flawed recruitment processes, with AI being seen as a potential solution, but this is not always the case.
Sustainability in the tech industry
We were joined by Mark Bjornsgaard (Founder and CEO of Deep Green) in the afternoon for a session on how demands for sustainability and advancements in software are driving a transformation in cloud computing. He discussed emerging technologies that promise faster, more efficient, and eco-friendly solutions, highlighting how this "rapid, unscheduled distribution of compute" will revolutionize the industry.
This coincided with the talk given by Dinesh Majrekar (CTO at Civo), who spent time looking at Civo’s focus on the future of tech and the vision for redefining cloud computing through a blend of innovation and sustainability.
Community and Sponsor Highlights
Once again, we want to say a massive thank you to our sponsors, Percona, Red Badger, and Northflank, who made this event possible. Over the upcoming weeks, we will update our website with more event information, but in the meantime, follow us on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram to keep up with these announcements.
Upcoming Civo Navigate Events
We’re excited to announce that we will be coming to San Francisco, California, on February 10th and 11th for the third edition of Civo Navigate North America. This event follows our previous North American events, Navigate North America 2023 and Navigate North America 2024.
Through this next event, we hope to offer a place for professionals to connect, collaborate, and learn from a lineup of 50 industry-leading speakers focused on navigating and succeeding within the cloud native landscape.
📅 February 10th and 11th, 2025
📌 Convene 100 Stockton, San Francisco, California, United States
Don't miss this opportunity to be part of the Civo Navigate experience in Berlin, Germany. Keep an eye out for more information here.
