Canva, Microsoft, NatWest and FreeAgent have been confirmed as speakers at the fifth Accelerating AI Conference, which returns to Unity Place in Milton Keynes on Tuesday 13th October 2026.
Taking place as part of MK Tech Week, the free conference will bring together national technology and business organisations alongside regional specialists to help SME leaders understand how artificial intelligence is changing everyday business operations.
Around 300 delegates are expected to attend from Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and the wider South Midlands. The programme will cover creative work, workplace productivity, finance, investment, marketing, software development, automation and cybersecurity.
For Qoob, which co-founded and organises the conference, the confirmed line-up marks a significant step in the event’s growth.
A practical AI programme for SME leaders
Each confirmed organisation will approach AI adoption from a different area of business.
Canva will explore the role of AI in creative work and how the technology is changing the way organisations produce content. More than 400 designs are now created on Canva every second globally, giving the company a substantial view of how AI-assisted tools are being used at scale.
Microsoft will focus on the changing workplace, including the practical effect of AI on productivity and how employees carry out everyday tasks.
FreeAgent will bring a finance and accounting perspective to the programme, while NatWest will address funding and investment. Together, their contributions will help business owners consider the commercial and financial implications of adopting AI, rather than viewing it solely as a technology decision.
Qoob will cover AI in marketing, drawing on its experience of introducing the technology throughout its own operations. Dragon Information Systems will contribute expertise in information technology and software development, while Fliweel.tech will examine automation and the redesign of business processes.
The South East Cyber Resilience Centre will also join the programme to discuss cybersecurity risks and the support available to smaller businesses as their use of AI becomes more widespread.
The conference will address the broader questions that accompany adoption, including security, regulation and ethics. Its central purpose, however, is to give SME leaders practical examples they can apply within their own organisations.
Moving beyond early experimentation
The programme has been shaped by evidence that many SMEs remain near the beginning of their AI adoption journey.
Research published in the conference white paper, From Curiosity to Capability: The State of AI Adoption Among SMEs Across the South Midlands, found that 63 per cent of pre-event survey respondents were either exploring AI or conducting early experiments. Live polling at the June conference placed approximately three quarters of the room at a similar stage.
Matthew Rigby-White, founder of Qoob and co-organiser of the Accelerating AI Conference, said the October event would help leaders understand the difference between occasional use of an AI tool and meaningful adoption across a business.
“A lot of businesses have a free ChatGPT account, use it occasionally and believe they have AI covered,” Matthew said.
“That is very different from looking at how work happens across an organisation and rebuilding those processes around what the technology can now do.
“Business leaders need to understand that AI adoption is a management and cultural challenge as much as it is a technology decision. Giving employees access to a tool without training, governance or a clear purpose is not transformation.”
A growing regional conference
The October event will be the fifth Accelerating AI Conference. More than 400 people attended the first three conferences, reflecting the growing demand among local business leaders for useful, commercially grounded guidance on AI.
The conference is organised by Matthew Rigby-White of Qoob, Andy Paul of Fliweel.tech and Lionel Naidoo of Dragon Information Systems. Steve Lloyd of Exhibition Mastery is assisting with its delivery.
Other organisations supporting or participating in the event include the South Midlands Growth Hub, the University of Bedfordshire, the Federation of Small Businesses, Milton Keynes City Council, Silverstone Technology Cluster, Exhibition Mastery and Business MK.
The organisers have built the programme around the operational questions facing SME leaders now. These include where AI can make a measurable difference, how businesses should prepare their teams, what safeguards are needed and how adoption can move beyond disconnected experiments.
With Canva, Microsoft, NatWest and FreeAgent now confirmed, delegates will hear perspectives from organisations working across some of the business functions where AI is already having the greatest effect.
Register for the Accelerating AI Conference
The fifth Accelerating AI Conference takes place at Unity Place in Milton Keynes on Tuesday 13 October 2026 as part of MK Tech Week.
Attendance is free, but registration is required.