Trailblazing Tech 2026 Agenda    

08.15 - 09.00: Arrival for registration, networking, refreshments and light pastries

09.00 – 09.05: Welcome 
  • Sam Booth - pro-manchester
  • Nicola McCormick - pro-manchester
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09.05 – 09.15: Keynote - Greater Manchester: Powering the UK's Next Innovation Economy
  • Karim Bahou / Head of Innovation - SISTER

09.20 – 09.50: Panel - Funding in Action: Manchester Success Stories
Hosted by NatWest, a focus on real case studies and Manchester success stories. This session will bring together founders and innovators who have successfully secured and utilised funding, sharing honest insights into how investment has shaped their growth. With a strong emphasis on practical value, the discussion will explore how businesses are leveraging technology, automation, and AI, while also showcasing the strength of the local support network.
09.55 – 10.15: Keynote - Unlocking Future Growth: Innovation, Investment and Greater Manchester’s Next Chapter
Greater Manchester is on the cusp of a new phase of growth, driven by collaboration across industry and emerging development zones such as Atom Valley. This session will provide a grounded view of what future growth looks like in practice, and how Greater Manchester is positioning itself as a hub for innovation and long-term prosperity.  
10.20 – 10.50: Panel - Building Trustworthy Data: Where Technology Meets Accountability
As organisations scale their use of advanced data platforms, the real challenge is no longer capability, it’s control. In sectors such as Fintech and other regulated industries, outputs must be consistent, compliant and contextual. Data platforms may provide the capability, but they do not automatically provide the frameworks, controls or contextual understanding required to ensure accuracy, traceability and trust.
We’ll discuss how teams are operating responsibly: embedding guardrails, aligning with regulation, and ensuring outputs are grounded in real business context. Expect a practical look at how organisations are moving from experimentation to scalable, but where human expertise, not just technology, underpins performance.
Bringing together perspectives from Fintech, Healthtech, this session will focus on how context is critical. 


10.50 – 11.15: Coffee Break 
 
11.15 - 11.45: Panel - The Future of Tech – Emerging Innovators
Discover the next wave of innovation as a series of trailblazing tech businesses take to the stage in quick-fire, five-minute slots. Run by Bruntwood Sci Tech, this session will spotlight emerging companies pushing boundaries across sectors. From cutting-edge platforms to disruptive solutions, each speaker will share how their technology is solving real-world challenges and creating new opportunities for growth. Fast-paced and insight-led, this is your chance to see what’s coming next in the region!  
11.50 – 11.55: Keynote - Beyond the Rulebook: Why Secure AI Beats Internal Policy
As AI becomes embedded in everyday workflows, many organisations default to internal policies to manage its use- lists of dos and don'ts designed to keep sensitive data safe. But policy alone creates friction, uncertainty, and a culture of hesitation. We'll explore why building a secure AI environment is a far more effective approach than relying on rules that employees must remember to follow. Drawing on our work at Moterra, we'll look at how enabling teams to use AI within an integrated, trusted and secure framework removes the anxiety around what can and can't be shared, giving employees the freedom to work smarter and faster.  
12.00 – 12.15: Keynote - Human Augmentation over Human Automation
Too many AI conversations start with replacing people. The smarter conversation is how we make people more capable. The future of engineering isn’t human versus machine, it’s humans enhanced by machines. The organisations that lead in AI won’t just automate tasks faster; they’ll empower their people to think bigger, move quicker, and innovate at a level that wasn’t possible before
12.20 – 12.35: Keynote - AI Literacy for Business Leaders
Many senior leaders often don’t understand AI but won’t admit it! Let’s cut through the complexity and focus practical insight rather than technical detail. This should equip leaders with the knowledge and confidence to ask the right questions, make informed decisions, and lead their organisations forward.  
12.40 – 12.55: Keynote - Why should technology and specifically AI, matter to me as a small business?
For many small businesses, AI can feel overwhelming, irrelevant or out of reach. This session will challenge that perception. Focusing on real, accessible applications, it will demonstrate how AI and technology can support everyday business functions. From saving time and reducing costs to improving customer experience and enabling growth. 
13.00 – 13.30: Panel - Unlocking Growth: Understanding the Greater Manchester Funding Landscape
Greater Manchester is entering a new era of devolved investment, with significant funding being channelled into innovation, business growth, skills, regeneration and emerging technologies. For founders, scale-ups and established businesses alike, navigating the funding landscape can be challenging, with opportunities ranging from grants and innovation funding through to venture capital, angel investment, debt finance and public sector support.
This session will demystify the different funding routes available to businesses across the region and explore how organisations can access the right type of finance at the right stage of growth.
​​13.30 – 14.15: Lunch  
 
14.15 – 14.35: Keynote / Fireside chat – How to fail with AI
In a world where AI is the hottest of topics and boards are demanding to see AI powered innovation in every corner of the company, Martin and Liz will set out the foolproof ways to waste time, money and energy by making loads of noise and not achieving anything with AI. If you want your own AI innovation efforts to succeed come along and learn what NOT to do!   
14.40 – 15.10: Panel - How I used Technology to Transform the business and achieve scale
As businesses look to scale, technology is playing a critical role in enabling growth. This panel will bring together organisations that have successfully used technology and automation to transform their operations and accelerate growth. How businesses can work smarter, not harder. Using technology to enhance capability, empower teams and unlock new opportunities, rather than simply replacing roles. Focusing on what sustainable, tech-enabled growth really looks like.  
15.15 - 15.35: Fireside with award winning podcaster 'We Built this City: Manchester, and Reg Rix, Founder and CEO of Car Finance 247
​Built in Manchester: From Startup to Scale-Up
From teenage entrepreneur to founder of one of the UK’s leading digital car finance platforms, this fireside chat will explore the journey of building a business with purpose, ambition and a willingness to challenge the status quo. 
Together with his brother Louis, Reg founded Car Finance 247 with a simple mission: to make car finance straightforward and put consumers in the driving seat.
Drawing on family roots in the motor industry and an early passion for technology, he first launched NetCars2000 at just 17 years old, creating one of the UK’s first online used car classified businesses, which was subsequently acquired by RAC.
Today, Car Finance 247 is the UK’s leading digital car finance platform, processing more than 100,000 consumer applications every month, partnering with over 4,000 independent dealerships and 20-plus lenders, and originating over £600 million in motor finance annually. Based at its Manchester headquarters, the company employs some 500 people and continues to grow at pace.
In this inspiring conversation, we’ll discuss what it takes to spot opportunities early, scale a high-growth technology business, build a thriving workplace culture, and stay true to a mission-driven approach to entrepreneurship. Expect practical insights, personal reflections and lessons from a remarkable business journey.    
15.40 - 15.45: Close

15.45 - 17.00: Networking

17.00 - 19.00 Venture Cafe!
Continue the conversation after Pro Manchester’s Tech Trailblazers event at Venture Café Manchester’s Thursday Gathering: Liveable Cities: Critiquing the Urban Renaissance. Bringing together voices from across innovation, tech, urbanism and the built environment, the evening will explore what makes cities truly liveable  - alongside the high-energy networking and cross-sector connections that Thursday Gatherings are known for.
Register HERE 

​*Topics & timings subject to change*
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Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a business leader, or a trailblazer, TT26 offers fantastic opportunities to connect, learn, and lead. 

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