💻Data collection meets reality💻

The All Parliamentary Party Group on Diversity & Inclusion in STEM has spoken: UK science and tech is excellent at collecting diversity data—but terrible at doing anything with it. Their new report, backed by the British Science Association, highlights a disconnect that’s painfully familiar across STEM. Small businesses struggle with resources and privacy, larger organisations churn out reports that rarely lead to action, and employees are left wondering why anyone bothered collecting the data in the first place.

Intersectionality? Often ignored. Marginalisation across careers? Patchy at best. And yes, complex stats are needed to turn raw data into insight—but most organisations aren’t investing in that work. The takeaway: collecting metrics is not a strategy. Without linking data to real interventions and accountability, diversity stats are just décor for annual reports.

Read more: Link

📸Hammersmith & Fulham: Welcome to Minority Report IRL📸

Surprise, surprise—Hammersmith & Fulham Council is plowing over £3m into facial recognition and AI CCTV, even though the borough already boasts more cameras per person than anywhere else in the UK (BBC, 18 Sept 2025). Because what better way to “keep us safe” than having every commuter, dog walker, and unsuspecting human scanned, tracked, and archived 24/7?

The council promises real-time matching against police databases, AI-assisted vehicle tracking, and even drones for good measure. All this, apparently, to fix a “broken criminal justice system” caused by… austerity. Meanwhile, Big Brother Watch warns there’s no framework, no legislation, and no promised safeguards—but hey, why let pesky rules slow down progress?

Residents are split. Some are thrilled by the idea of instant ID’ing anyone doing anything wrong, while others wonder if the cameras will bother with fly-tippers or just watch people live their lives.

If you want to hear more about AI and Ethics and what else is coming down the line check out a few talks we have at BTF on this 

Read more: BBC – Council to introduce facial recognition CCTV

🫱🏾‍🫲🏻Tech talent wars🫱🏾‍🫲🏻

Just when U.S. tech titans thought they’d mastered the art of currying favour with President Trump, the latest executive order reminded them that politics isn’t a loyalty program (NPR, 20 Sept 2025). Trump has slapped a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas, sending companies scrambling and leaving software engineers sweating over deadlines. Amazon, Microsoft, JPMorgan, and others reportedly told employees to get back into the U.S. before midnight to dodge the impact. The fee only applies to new visas, not current holders—but the message is clear: the H-1B pipeline just got a lot more expensive and bureaucratically terrifying💸

The White House frames this as correcting abuses of the H-1B program, claiming that foreign workers were “replacing rather than supplementing” U.S. employees. Critics see it as a blunt instrument threatening America’s competitive edge in tech, potentially driving talent—and innovation—overseas.

Meanwhile, tech billionaires who’ve spent the year playing courtier—attending dinners, donating to Trump’s inaugural fund, promising billions in domestic investment—are left with a high-cost reality check. Charm clearly doesn’t buy immunity.😏

Europe, however, is rubbing its hands. Harry Stebbings, founder of VC firm 20VC, called Trump’s policy a gift for the continent, suggesting the U.K. could fast-track H-1B holders to become a “talent magnet” (Hindustan Times, 18 Sept 2025). Barney Hussey-Yeo, CEO of U.K.-based AI startup Cleo, described it as “an unprecedented opportunity,” claiming over 1,000 elite U.S. tech professionals had reached out since the weekend. His advice? Make the U.K. the default destination for world-class talent🇬🇧

Some U.S. companies are trying to spin this as a recruitment advantage. Shahriar Tajbakhsh, CTO of Metaview, noted on LinkedIn that "$100K is a rounding error compared to the value each member of our team creates," suggesting that for deep-pocketed tech firms, sticker shock isn’t the same as deterrent.😐

Read more:
NPR – Trump’s new $100K fee on H-1B visas
Hindustan Times – U.K. eyes talent magnet opportunity

📉 So what?

This isn’t just a visa tweak. It’s a masterclass in how policy turbulence reshuffles global talent. U.S. companies are forced to reckon with the cost of courting political favor while Europe eyes a talent windfall. For tech leaders, the takeaway is brutal: political charm can’t replace strategy, and $100K per hire is now a very real incentive for your next star engineer to pack their bags for London or Berlin instead of Silicon Valley.

🤖An Italian job🤖

While Brussels dithers and Draghi suggested pausing high-risk AI rules, Italy just got on with it. Yep the Italian Parliament approved a national AI law that doesn’t mess around: it names the regulators, sets sector-specific rules, and adds criminal penalties for things like malicious deepfakes, identity theft, and fraud🇬🇧

Human oversight is mandatory for all AI systems affecting people’s rights or safety, meaning a doctor, teacher, or employer can’t simply let AI make critical decisions without a human checking the outcomes. And when the law says kids under 14 are off-limits, it means AI services, apps, and tools cannot collect or process data from children that young—or let them interact with AI in ways that could affect their safety—without explicit parental consent🇬🇧

Italy is also backing the law with €1 billion in state investment for startups and companies developing AI, cybersecurity, and emerging tech. Translation: sloppy AI won’t just get called out—it could land you in court, while serious innovators get funding.

The irony? Italy ignored the “wait and see” advice and hit the gas. Transparency, traceability, accountability—all enforced. It’s a rare example of turning broad EU principles into real rules that actually matter, not just policy deck filler💁

Read more:
BBC – Italy passes national AI law
LinkedIn – Italian AI law insights

📉 So what?

Companies betting on regulatory delays, beware: non-compliance isn’t a shrug anymore in italy. Italy is hoping to prove you can regulate and fund innovation simultaneously. Nonethlesless lets be honest its not known for being a hot bed of ai innovation so these moves may just make it an island in an EU Blue sea.

But hey the signs are there, any business deploying AI that touches people—especially children, healthcare, or employment—now has no excuse to be careless. The takeaway: if you want AI to be trusted and adopted, you need to do it responsibly or pay the price.

🖥️China and the chips🖥️

Just when Nvidia thought it could coast on its AI chip dominance, China reminded the tech world that monopoly dreams have borders. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has ordered ByteDance, Alibaba, and other top domestic players to halt purchases and testing of Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000D chips (FT, 17 Sept 2025). Apparently, the message is: “We can build our own, thanks very much.”🇨🇳

This isn’t an overnight stunt. Chinese regulators had already nudged companies away from Nvidia’s H20 chip. Now, after confirming that domestic chips can compete, Beijing is doubling down on semiconductor independence, signalling a full-on AI arms race with the U.S. in the background. Huawei, long silent on its chip plans, unveiled its roadmap for the Ascend AI chips and Kunpeng server chips, promising supernodes with thousands of interconnected chips by 2028 (Reuters, 18 Sept 2025)📆

For Nvidia, shares fell ~3%, and CEO Jensen Huang noted that doing business in China is only possible “if the country wants us to be.” Translation: geopolitics trumps product innovation. Analysts warn this could accelerate China’s domestic chip production, potentially weakening Nvidia’s grip on one of the largest AI markets😕

Read more:
Financial Times – China bans tech companies from buying Nvidia’s AI chips
Reuters – Huawei hypes up chip and computing power plans

🧠So what?

This is a two-front wake-up call. U.S. chipmakers now face not just global competition but geopolitical pushback that could reroute AI supply chains. Meanwhile, China signals that it won’t just follow; it intends to lead on homegrown AI infrastructure, challenging the old Silicon Valley narrative of inevitable dominance. For startups, investors, and tech strategists, the takeaway is clear: markets are no longer just about tech excellence—they’re about who controls the chips, literally and figuratively.

✈️I want to fly away✈️

Nothing says “your weekend getaway just got interesting” like a ransomware attack scrambling check-in systems at Europe’s busiest airports. The EU’s cybersecurity agency ENISA reports that criminal gangs are holding airport software hostage, targeting popular systems like Collins Aerospace’s Muse (BBC, 22 Sept 2025). Essentially: pay in bitcoin or hope someone remembers how to use a pen and paper🖊️

Passengers at Heathrow, Berlin, and Brussels quickly discovered that “manual check-in” isn’t just nostalgic—it’s mandatory. Internal memos revealed that more than a thousand computers were corrupted, and efforts to restore operations had to be done in person. Collins Aerospace rebuilt systems, relaunched them… and found the hackers were still lounging inside. Pro tip: don’t turn off your computer, just surrender to chaos🖥️

Ransomware attacks aren’t exactly rare. Organised cybercriminals are raking in hundreds of millions of dollars annually, and aviation has become the latest playground. French aerospace firm Thales reports a 600% increase in attacks in the past year. Marks & Spencer learned this the hard way in April, spending £400m to recover—rumour has it the attackers didn’t even buy some Percy pigs🐖

Read more:
BBC – EU cyber agency says airport software held to ransom by criminals

🧠So what?

Airports are critical infrastructure, and when software gets hijacked, it’s not just inconvenient—it’s a national security and economic risk. Airlines, passengers, and tech providers alike are learning that digital resilience isn’t optional. Manual check-ins might feel retro, but until ransomware gets bored, expect disruptions, delays, and a whole lot of “please remain seated” announcements.

🧠BTF Deep Dive🧠

So this week we have a different BTF deep dive and this one is on about the Great Exodus. "What's that?" you say. Well its the idea that anywhere but the UK is where you want to be,

• Love it or hate it the USA is growing quicker than most places in the west,

• Love it or hate it, The tax rates in Dubai is a lot lower than the UK

• Love it or hate it, Labour is cheaper in Africa than the UK

So why is anyone doing business in the UK? Let's actually have that discussion and work it talk it for ourselves🚶🏿

This panel is soo good we're actually going to run it longer than usual so strap your seats in as we have the following who all have a unique perspective on this topic

Tom Adeyoola - Executive Chair, Innovate UK
Izzy Obeng - Chief Executive Officer, Foundervine
Lamide Elizabeth - Podcaster & CEO, WNB Group
Nnamdi Emelifeonwu - Co-founder, Definely
Moderator: Abi Mohamed - Community Manager, Diversity VC

🧠So what?

Maybe its time to jet off (if you can get on a plane given the story above)

📈 The tools behind the tech📉

📦Product📦

• What's the limit of what can be in a TXT record?

📏Design📏 

• "Your” vs “My” in user interfaces
  
• Rules for creating good-looking user interfaces, from a developer

👩🏿‍💻Code👩🏿‍💻

• React Won by Default – And It's Killing Frontend Innovation

🏢The business behind the tech🏢

• White House Outlines a TikTok Deal
• How tech companies measure the impact of AI on software development
  

Progress in public

Learn about engineering, software, IT and more technical careers in the Civil Service

On the 24th September, we're joining forces with Government Digital and Data for our third webinar on careers in the Civil Service!

This time we're focusing on fantastic opportunities in:

Engineering, including: DevOps Engineers, Test Engineers, and Specialist Infrastructure Engineers;

Developers, including: Software Developers and Frontend Developers;

IT Professionals, including: Network Architects, Technical Architect, Data Architect;

Interaction Designer;

Service Transition Manager.

To help us understand what these roles could look like and how to grow your career in the public sector, we'll be joined by three inspiring individuals:

James Freeland - Senior Data Security Architect, GDS

Alexandra Pop - Senior Data Scientist, GDS

Jaabir Yusuf - Dev Ops Engineer, DWP

This is a great opportunity for anyone considering a career in the civil service to learn more about the job opportunities available, and how to successfully navigate the hiring process!

Check out the key details below: 

Date: 24th September 2025

Time: 12:00 - 13:30

Where: Zoom

If you’re interested in dialling into this webinar, then be sure to get a space using the link below: 

https://lu.ma/progressinpublicthree 

Voices in the shadow

We love what our awesome community partners, GTA Black Women in Tech, are building with The Voices in The Shadow. For too long, Black women have been underrepresented in tech, often left without role models to look up to.

This project changes that, by shining a light on powerful journeys and giving young Black girls the confidence to dream bigger.

This year, their theme is The Journey Within: I Am… a day designed for reflection, inspiration, and connection.

Choose one of five Fireside Chat sessions that speak to your journey:
I Am Reflection: Pause, reflect, and explore your story
I Am Realignment: Pivot with purpose, career, and life alignment
I Am Activation: Step boldly into leadership and action
I Am Affirmation: Speak life into your journey
I Am Self-Love: Celebrate joy, boundaries, and self-worth

The day closes with a Connection Hour, drinks, music, laughter, and the kind of conversations that spark real connection.

Key details below:
Date: Thursday, 2nd October
Time: 10:00 - 17:00
Location: Menier Lounger, 1st floor, 53 Southwark St, London SE1 1RU
 
As a bonus, Colorintech community members get 10% off tickets, and receive a complimentary copy of The Connection Journal. This is part of Volume 5 of The Voices in the Shadow series, this 12-week journal guides you through Reflection, Realignment, and Activation to help you connect with yourself, build balance, and achieve your goals without burnout.

Get your ticket using the link below:
https://lnkd.in/eAKjRR_K

The promo code should be automatically applied, but just in case it's:
'ColorInTech10'

Don’t miss this chance to celebrate, learn, and connect with inspiring Black women in tech!

Ai for the rest of us

We're super excited to be a community partner for the next AI for the rest of us's annual conference on the 15th & 16th October 2025! 
AI for the rest of us is an AI learning experience like no other, it's a two day conference filled with: Inspiring Keynotes; Real World Stories; Navigating Change; AI Explainers; Technical / Developer Track; and Hands on Workshops
Interested? Check out the key details below:
 Date: 15th - 16th October
 Time: 9:00 - 17:30 BST
 Location: London Museum Spaces
 Tickets: https://luma.com/AIfortherestofus25?coupon=COLORINTECH20

The link also includes an exclusive 20% off discount just for the Colorintech community! In case it doesn't come through, the discount code is: 'COLORINTECH20'

😃What we are consuming😃

🧑🏾‍⚖️Uber back in court

📜GTA history course

📽️Rambo rolling back the years

💸Tide has become a unicorn

🚘Waymo in London?

🍏Apple and no cable's

💻Databricks is doing an AI accelerator

🚙Ev's and Paradise?

😅 Why aren't you a good fit

💵Nvidia invests $100 billion in OpenAI