“How can Parliament and the tech community work together to increase social and economic prosperity across the UK?”. This was the not so little question we were at the House of Commons for this week.

It was an honour for the DevelopHer Board, Associates and Guests to be invited to the Houses of Parliament for the PICTFOR Parliamentary Welcome Reception and Briefing Note. Technology leaders, MPs and Lords from across Parliament were present to hear from key speakers and discuss how tech can make a difference.

There were three key messages from the speakers:

1. The UK is seeing a boom in the use of online learning – from the workforce to those past retirement – and it is having a profound positive impact on mental health
2. With only 1 in 5 employees completing online learning at the recommendation of their employers, it is time for employers to recognise and reward this behaviour
3. The UK Government is invested in building the UK’s position as the biggest digital economy in the G7.

We know that continuous personal development is key for our community to build and progress their careers, and Chief Executive Polly MacKenzie from Demos shared results from their new report “The Learning Curve” which created some amazing talking points to bolster the DevelopHer view and drive home the message that more investment in the development of women in the workplace will create a positive impact across the board.

With DevelopHer representing the needs of women working in technology, digital and entrepreneurship, we grasped the opportunity to talk about the not only the difficulties women face in the tech industry, but the opportunities that greater representation and inclusion could bring.

We look forward to continuing these discussions, and finding more ways to elevate not only our community but the broader group of women in technology in the UK.

Big thanks to

• Sponsors
  • Google –  
  • The Internet Association 
• Speakers
  • Matt Warnham MP, Minister for Digital Infrastructure
  • Daniel Dyball, UK Executive Director, The Internet Association
  • Ronan Harris, Vice President & MD, Google UK
  • Polly Mackenzie, Chief Executive, Demos
• Hosting
  • Darren Jones MP

And a huge thanks to Izzi Combes for the pictures and for Casey Calista and Jo Dalton at Lodestone Communications for managing the Pictfor event and supporting DevelopHer.