UK International Investment Summit - Who’s Coming - Latest

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Winning team: Gareth Southgate has become the latest star name to join the investment summit
Ex-England manager Gareth Southgate and ex-Google boss Eric Schmidt among headliners at investment summit to take place on 14 October

UPDATED: Ex-England soccer team manager Gareth Southgate is the latest star name to join the Labour government's first UK International Investment Summit.

Other headliners include former Google boss Eric Schmidt, Universal Music chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge and Amanda Blanc, CEO of insurance giant Aviva. 

Schmidt, who was Google’s chief executive from 2001 to 2011, is expected to play a prominent role at the summit in central London on 14 October, where he will be on stage in conversation with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Dame Emma Walmsley, chief executive of pharma giant GSK, will be moderating the session between Starmer and Schmidt.

Sponsorship for the UK International Investment Summit comes from three leading banks — HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds — as well as investment giant M&G, Octopus and the data centre business TSL.

Which CEOs will be attending?

  • Larry Fink, CEO of US investment firm BlackRock
  • David Ricks, CEO of US pharma giant Eli Lilly
  • Alex Kendall, CEO of UK driverless car company Wayve
  • Greg Jackson, CEO of UK energy firm Octopus Energy
  • Shemara Wikramanayake, CEO of Australia infrastructure giant Macquarie

Elon Musk not invited

Starmer on stage with Schmidt echoes his predecessor Rishi Sunak interviewing Elon Musk, the boss of X, Tesla and SpaceX, at his AI Summit a year ago. 

Musk has not been invited to the UK International Investment Summit, following an unseemly spat on X with Starmer online during last August’s riots across England. 

Apart from retweeting right-wing conspiracy theories, Musk declared that the UK was unsafe to travel to and faced imposition of martial law. 

Labour hopes the event will be a boost for investment in the UK two weeks before the Budget on 30 October.

Commenting on Labour’s investment summit, Schmidt said: “When the UK hosted the first global summit on AI safety, the country displayed its commitment to being a leader in responsible innovation. Now, it has the opportunity to go even further and articulate a vision for the future where the UK is a hub for world-class talent.

“I’m looking forward to discussing with the prime minister how we can drive even greater investment in research and education to ensure the UK stays at the forefront of these technological breakthroughs.”

Barclays’ chief executive, CS Venkatakrishnan, added that the summit was an opportunity for the Government to “build further investor confidence based on its priorities for driving UK economic growth. The UK’s stability, skills and history of innovation make it an attractive investment destination.”

The Government said in its own statement: “The event will provide an opportunity for the Government to establish enduring partnerships with businesses to boost investment in the UK and to give investors the certainty and confidence they need to drive growth.”

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