British Consulate-General in San Francisco

Aaand breathe… It’s been an incredible few weeks of activity at the British Consulate-General in San Francisco as we drive forward 🇬🇧 interests in the USA’s Pacific Northwest. What’s driving us is simple: create jobs, unlock investment, and develop research collaboration. Ultimately, we use the links we establish here to make everyone at home better off. Here's a quick roundup: ✅ Hosted Peter Kyle Secretary of State Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. He was in San Francisco and Seattle to build connections with the major players in tech and put forward the UK government’s plans for tech innovation and regulation ✅ Helped Imperial College London launch their first global hub in 🇺🇸, right here in San Francisco. With their flag now firmly planted in California, I’m so excited to see what R&D projects emerge. Watch this space! ✅ Celebrated 40 years of Virgin Atlantic, a very British success story in aviation ✈️ . We brought together a cast of hundreds, linking up local business leaders and VCs with British firms and startups. With thanks to Sec. Toks Omishakin for joining me in leading the toasts for a company that literally flies 🇬🇧 flag around the world! ✅ Brought a delegation of climate tech startups to Verge24.com, the world’s biggest climate tech conference. Thanks also to British founders and innovators from 1000 Black Voices Innovate UK & Imperial College London ✅ Enjoyed our annual GBx gala. Hundreds of senior UK tech leaders based in Silicon Valley gathered in the city to raise a glass to Brits in the Bay. Every year I continue to be amazed by the impact Brits are making in the tech industry - and our membership continues to expand. Right, how long to Thanksgiving again…? British Embassy Washington Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Department for Business and Trade Niall Mackenzie CBE William Cutler Tim Roper Cole Harry Deidre Moore Dr Elizabeth Shaw Bryony Worthington Amber Atherton Mark Charkin Georgia Roden Hannah Davelman Deidre Moore Ben Winter Janette Ebbers Janet Coyle CBE

The GBx gala convenes industry leaders across tech, business, and innovation to reflect on the UK’s past year in innovation and look towards the future of technology. Fittingly, the gala coincided with the first anniversary of the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park – and since November 2023, the UK’s tech ecosystem has only grown stronger.    With more tech unicorns than France and Germany combined, the UK is currently the world’s third largest tech economy, valued at over $1 trillion and rising. Through a combination of world-class talent, agile regulation and a focus on global expansion, the UK’s economy is uniquely positioned to support unicorn growth.      Not only is British innovation pushing the boundaries of tech industry, but companies are also coming from around the world to leverage our stability and world-class talent pool in building their own revolutionary technology. Recently, the International Investment Summit saw foreign companies committing over £63Bn of private investment around, creating over 38K new jobs in the UK. It also saw four major US-based tech firms announce the UK will be the home for their data infrastructure, worth a total of £6.3 billion. In January to July 2024, investment into the UK AI sector was greater than the entirety of 2023      Fantastic to celebrate these remarkable milestones with GBX, a partner organization that helps to represent the best of British from the West Coast. We look forward to what the next year will bring for the future of #technology and #innovation -- in the UK and beyond.    GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland Campaign Imperial Global USA Department for Business and Trade Imperial College London Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati NFX Generation Investment Management Intrinsic Goldman Sachs Odgers Berndtson Merrill Lynch Silicon Valley Internship Programme Taylor Wessing Uncork Capital

Great opportunity for anyone interested in working for the UK Department for Business and Trade - especially those with a background in financial or professional services! Join an impactful team and contribute to shaping the future of business and trade in the UK. #UKDepartment #Business #Trade #Opportunity

A big shout-out to colleagues in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and those working across the British network in the US for supporting Professor Thomson’s campaign.   The UK is one of CERN’s founding members and has significantly contributed to its scientific innovations through leadership in major experiments like ATLAS, (the general-purpose particle physics experiment at the Large Hadron Collider), the development of advanced particle detectors, and in the provision of key infrastructure. UK researchers have played pivotal roles in groundbreaking discoveries, including the Higgs boson, and they continue to drive advancements in particle physics and technology.   We look forward to Mark Thomson’s leadership at CERN and all the brilliant discoveries that will follow!   #CERN #Leadership #ScienceExcellence #Physics #Innovation #InternationalCollaboration

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The UK’s story on R&D, science, and innovation is an international one – now more than ever, with Imperial College London setting up its first US hub here in the Bay Area. Imperial College London already works closely with leading universities in California to advance research on a range of issues, including climate change and AI, and we are excited to support Imperial’s presence here as they create new opportunities for international collaboration. Thanks to Wendy Tan White MBE Tan-White and her team at Intrinsic for hosting the launch and a big California welcome to Imperial President Hugh Brady and his delegation of academics and founders, including their new Bay Area mainstay: Cole Harry, Programme Director for Imperial Global USA. Wonderful to celebrate one of the world’s top universities this week! Tammy Sandhu MBE Imperial Global USA Wendy Tan White MBE Intrinsic Department for Science, Innovation and Technology Hannah Davelman Photos by Laura Kudritzki/Imperial Global USA   #innovation #tech #research

How can AI help us to better understand the scale of the climate and nature crises, and create efficiencies to accelerate the necessary technologies for decarbonisation? How can we harness AI to help us halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050?   This week we hosted seven innovative British climate tech startups operating in the intersection of AI and Climate through #VERGE24, organized by Trellis Group, to answer these questions. Meet the delegation below: 🚧 AI FOR INDUSTRIAL DECARBONISATION - Josh Vernon, Carbon Re: decarbonising cement and steel with AI - Isaac Squires, Polaron: AI driven material design for green industries ⚡ AI FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY - Peter Clutton-Brock, Yottar: using a digital twin of the energy system to help renewable energy developers get connected to the grid 🌲 AI FOR BIODIVERSITY - Daniel White, Gentian: protecting nature with AI powered, high-res mapping tools - Rafi Cohen, Verna: software to help people manage land in the best way for the environment 🏡 AI FOR BUILDING DECARBONISATION - Peter Davies, Verv: revolutionising heating and cooling through HVAC efficiencies - Lucy Lyons, Kestrix: the Google maps of heat loss – unlocking energy retrofits of existing buildings at scale   Thank you to everyone who supported this mission this week from Sacramento to SF to San Jose: Jay Hansen, Wyatt Lundy, Nuin-Tara Key, Cassie Gilson Sloane Viola, Kristy Henrich Klein, Laura Kirkland, Penny Harwood, Tyrone Jue 🌎, Emily Abraham, Bryony Worthington, Maria Onorato, Geraldine Durand-Green, Matthew Hamman, Ari Wigder, Georgia Roden and many more 👏 #AI #tech #innovation #climate

This week we celebrated 30 years of connections between San Francisco and London – both on and off a Virgin Atlantic plane. We raised a glass to a 40-year relationship between Virgin Atlantic and the US, and, more broadly, to British innovation and its impact on the world 🛫   The UK is putting growth and innovation at the heart of its agenda. Last month’s International Investment Summit saw foreign companies committing over £63Bn of private investment and the creation of over 38K new jobs in the UK. And, with the UK’s tech economy valued at over $1 trillion and rising, it follows the United States and China as the third largest tech economy in the world.   The UK is also the first major economy to halve its emissions, having cut them by 50% between 1990 and 2022, while also growing its economy by almost 80 percent.     Virgin Atlantic is reflecting that focus on growth, sustainability, and emerging tech, using AI to enhance flight safety as well as unify, manage, and activate customer data for highly personalized experiences. And last year, Virgin Atlantic’s Flight 100 flew from London to New York completely powered by sustainable aviation fuels – the first of its kind. Their movement towards sustainable aviation fuel reflects the UK’s commitment to achieving netzero by 2050 – and in fact, Flight 100 and was achieved with UK government support.  Fantastic to celebrate these milestones. We look forward to the next 30 years of trans-Atlantic connections!   Tammy Sandhu MBE Adam Wilson Tom Harrison British American Business Council Northern California, 1000 Black Voices Imperial College London Toks Omishakin California Department of Transportation GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland Campaign, Department for Business and Trade UK Business and Trade - North America Tim Roper Deidre Moore Dr Elizabeth Shaw   📷 Jim Watkins

Just wrapped up a fantastic 4-day visit from the UK’s 🇬🇧 Secretary of State for Department for Science, Innovation and Technology Peter Kyle MP. This was his first official visit to the US 🇺🇸 where he met with tech companies, AI labs and investors in Seattle and San Francisco. From Apple to Anthropic - you name them, he met them! In classic San Francisco style, we also made time for a Waymo ride, an ice cream and a very special briefing from my 7-year old! The Secretary of State was here with a strong pro-growth, pro-innovation message, strengthening the UK’s partnerships with the tech industry and promoting investment into the UK. Investment is key to the growth of science and technology in the UK. The recent International Investment Summit saw four major US-based tech firms announce the UK will be the home for their data infrastructure, worth a total of £6.3 billion. AI investment is also growing: in January to July 2024, investment into the UK AI sector was greater than the entirety of 2023. British Consulate-General in San Francisco British Embassy Washington Amazon Amazon Web Services (AWS) Susan D. Pointer Robin Twyman William Cutler Microsoft Allen Institute Rui Costa Helen Protheroe Meta Google OpenAI Anna Makanju NVIDIA Y Combinator Matthew Caron Reid Hoffman Joe White MBE

Mary Ryan, Imperial’s Vice Provost for Research and Enterprise, will be online this Friday afternoon 4-5pm BST/8-9am PDT to respond to any questions you may have on our new San Francisco hub ahead of her travelling to the launch later this month 🇺🇸 Mary is leading our Imperial Futures project which will showcase Imperial's expertise, enhance interdisciplinary research and train the next generation of research leaders. The ambition is to establish four Schools of Convergence Science that help tackle global challenges in sustainability, resilience, artificial & human Intelligence, and health. Leave your questions for Mary in the comments below ⬇️