Page 4 - Winter 2026

Industry News
HIGHLIGHTS
OF BETT 2026
EdTech Innovation Hub Magazine (January -
March 2026) and The Youth Empowerment Magazine
(January 2026) both featured previews
of BettUK 2026, an event which this year celebrated
its 40th year.
EdTech Innovation Hub describes the event as ‘an
unmissable celebration of progress, purpose and
possibility’, highlighting the role of Tech User Labs, now
on the show floor following overwhelming demand
last year that saw some sessions oversubscribed by
over 400 per cent. Also included is the ‘refreshed and
expanded’ Women in EdTech initiative, in particular
the Women in EdTech Mentoring Circles, which were
launched last year and now provide a supportive
space for women to meet peers, share experiences
and form meaningful connections. Elsewhere in the
publication Neil Almond, a UK-based teacher and
educator, ETIH Innovation Awards judge and author of
Teacher Prompts, examines where AI can genuinely
reduce teacher workload and where its limits remain.
The Youth Empowerment Magazine, powered by
Excellence Online Academy, was launched at
BettUK 2026 and aims to highlight the achievements
and aspirations of students, teachers and young
entrepreneurs who are reshaping the future of
education and innovation. The magazine describes
Bett 2026 as ‘the global epicentre of education and
innovation’.
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Presentations at the event included:
• Systems Thinking for AI Integration to empower
Educators
• Beyond Chatbots: Sparking Curiosity and Agency
with AI for Tomorrow’s Kids.
• Keeping Students safe in the Age of AI: How you
can protect, detect and empower.
• Pupils in the Digital World: A collaborative
Approach.
• How Schools are elevating Campus Connectivity
with Integrated Networking.
• Reclaiming Critical Thinking in the Age of AI.
• Learning Everywhere: The Digitally enabled
Evolution of Higher Education.
There was a notable emphasis this year on esports
with this topic featuring in both the Live Classroom
Theatre and the Higher Education Theatre.
In the former the subject was Esports in Education:
Driving Leadership Skills and Tech Innovation,
moderated by Kalam Neale, Head of Education for
the British Esports Federation, and with contributors
including the RNN Group and Ethan Cartwright, Esports
Teacher at North Notts College.
In the latter presentation the subject had the heading
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‘Building the Talent Pipeline: The Esports Opportunities • Citic Telecom CPC: (AI Excellence Award).
for Higher Education’, which was moderated by Tom
• ECL: (Technology Project of the Year).
Dore, Vice-president of the British Esports Federation,
who was joined by Professor Andy Miah, Chair of • Carrier: (Security of Tech Award).
Science Communication and Future Media at the
• Atnorth: (Green Data Centre of the Year).
MediaCity Immersive Technologies Innovation Hub
at the University of Salford, and Rams Singh, Esports • Michael Smith Switchgear: (Environmental
Coordinator at the University of Chichester. Product of the Year).
In this presentation “huge opportunities” were said to • VID Firekill: (Special Contribution to improving
exist for universities and higher education with “lots of Resilience through Innovation).
eyes on the UK”. Organised competitive video gaming
• T5 Data Centres: (Best Data Centre Operator).
currently involves 18,000 students from 110 universities
and the audience was enlightened about Chichester Across the five sub-shows of Tech Show London there
University’s pilot, now in its seventh year, which were just over 300 presentations, which began on
provides students with a taste of esports in different the Mainstage with Louis Theroux, who spoke about
areas, leading to transferrable skills. Meanwhile at the ‘Where Technology meets Humanity: Power, Behaviour
University of Salford there is “a thriving community and the Systems we build’. His message was that
BSc in Esports Management” with access to high platforms are structures that amplify behaviour at
performance computers enabled. scale and that social media was “maximised for our
engagement, for our attention, for our time”, but “that
The audience learnt that there are currently 71 courses
in esports in the higher education sector and that optimisation model carries consequences”.
the competitive element was very much student-led
with over 2,000 teams playing mostly from halls of
residence, although some further education colleges
have dedicated centralised facilities.
The speakers were keen to point out that “the entire
economy of the entertainment industry is changing”
with the video games industry now worth more on an
annual basis than both film and music combined. The
sector is also innovative, with Starcraft 2 now set up
as a “test for AI” with some of the technology “pushing
the boundaries of capabilities”. In addition, senior
managers in industry are recognising the transferrable
skills element with many of them viewing esports as
“an attractive area for recruitment”.
Tech Show London
He was followed by another well-known broadcaster,
Tech Show London consisted of a collection of Professor Hannah Fry, who spoke about ‘Stories from
exhibitions, namely Data Centre World, Cloud and the Edge of Technology and Science’. This argued
AI Infrastructure, DevOps Live, Cloud and Cyber that “there is nothing inherently good or evil about
Security Expo, and Big Data and AI World. technology, the determining factor is the incentive
structure behind it”. Opening with a study in which
Of the approximately 467 exhibitors the majority (320)
pigeons diagnosed cancer slides with 99 per cent
were located in Data Centre World, where the Data accuracy when their decisions were aggregated, she
Centre Advisory Council was officially launched on
challenged assumptions about what distinguishes
March 4th., providing a forum for its members to work human intelligence. Her message was that “maybe
collaboratively on various initiatives. artificial intelligence is suddenly doing so well not
The centrepiece of the event was undoubtedly the because they’re becoming more human, but maybe
annual Data Centre World Awards, which are now in it’s because the things that we thought made us
their sixth year. Winners this year were: special actually turned out to be pigeon work”.
• Liquid Cooling DCX Systems: (Innovation Product Day 1 established the principle that AI amplifies the
of the Year). systems already in place and that as AI advances,
direction depends on design. Day 2 looked more
• Legrand: (Best Re-use or Recycling of Products,
specifically at applied AI, cyber security and
Energy or Data Centre Infrastructure).
enterprise transformation.
• Vertiv: (Most Successfully delivered Data Centre References: Uffindell, R., ‘Tech Show London Day 1: AI’s Power is
and Best Talent Developer - 2 awards). Clear - its Direction remains open’, Data Centre Review, 4th. March.
DCi Frontiers, The Magazine, Issue 1: Spring 2026, various articles.
• Data Center Efficiency SDEA Navigator: (Special
Data Centre Solutions, Special Edition London 2026, various articles.
Contribution to improving Energy Efficiency). Electrical Engineering, February 2026, p. 34-41
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