Tech Events by The DataKirk

The evening close of the Scottish Ethnic Minority Talent Summit & Festival, in the same Gorgie Suite as the day summit but booked separately. Drinks reception from the summit's close, then the SEMTSF Awards ceremony with live music, dance and performance, running to 22:00. Ten award categories are judged on evidence rather than intent, with a 60-point minimum bar out of 100. Categories include Digital Skills & Workforce, Ethnic Minority Startup and Corporate Inclusion. The 2025 winners included ScotlandIS, Skyscanner, The Data Lab and the Scottish National Investment Bank. Dress is black tie or traditional dress. Standard tickets £150, students £35, tables of ten £1,500.

with Linda Scott (Chair, SEMTSF 2026, West Lothian Chamber of Commerce)

A full day on how Scotland's workforce absorbs AI and economic shift, and on who gets a say in it. Keynotes, panels and roundtables run 08:30 to 16:00 in the Gorgie Suite at Tynecastle Park, in a room built for 500-plus. This is the Edinburgh finale of a week that has already run in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Fife, and the day the organisers call the national convergence point for policy, finance and tech. The DataKirk runs it and Linda Scott chairs. The 2026 programme across the four editions lists 118 speakers, among them Simita Kumar MSP and Tom Arthur MSP. Standard tickets £100, students £30. The evening Awards and Festival at the same venue is booked separately. Why go: ministers, tech employers and the people shut out of tech careers in one session on talent and AI is not a room Edinburgh gets often. Best for anyone who hires, sets policy or carries a diversity brief in tech or finance.

The DataKirk's AI For All Carnival is a community celebration making data and AI accessible to everyone — hands-on demos, talks and family-friendly activities designed to demystify AI and broaden participation across Edinburgh's data community. A welcoming day for anyone curious about how AI is shaping work and society, no technical background required.