The government will host hundreds of international businesses on Monday at its inaugural business summit, in the hope of encouraging investment in the UK that will underpin its growth strategy.
The all-day event at London’s Guildhall, topped off by an evening reception at St Paul’s Cathedral hosted by King Charles, will include the prime minister “in conversation” with the former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, “moderated” by Emma Walmsley, the chief executive of pharmaceutical firm GSK.
Keir Starmer and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will address the summit, which will be livestreamed on the social networking site LinkedIn.
Other panels will involve the chief investment officer of Google owner Alphabet, the chair of investment firm BlackRock and Amanda Blanc, the boss of insurance group Aviva.
Attenders will get a chance to chat to cabinet ministers and the first ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as regional mayors such as London’s Sadiq Khan.
Concerns about Labour’s plans for the NHS may be raised by a session on “unlocking the UK’s health data assets to deliver innovation” involving Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, and Pushmeet Kohli, the head of research at Google’s DeepMind AI division, as well as David Ricks, the chair of US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly.
Greg Jackson, the chief executive of Octopus Energy, and Shemara Wikramanayake, the managing director of Australia’s Macquarie Group, a former owner of Thames Water, will join a panel on decarbonising the National Grid.
The former England football manager and keen Labour supporter Gareth Southgate will join actor and director Adjoa Andoh, Lucian Grainge, the chief executive of Universal Music Group, the company behind artists including Lady Gaga and Lana Del Rey, and an executive from Netflix on a panel exploring investment opportunities in the UK’s creative scene.
