Tech Events at Aerospace Bristol, Bristol

with Adam Rutherford (Scientist, writer and broadcaster, AICPA & CIMA flagship event)

The AICPA & CIMA South West England and South Wales annual flagship event, five hours at Aerospace Bristol on what AI is doing to the finance profession and to everything around it. Adam Rutherford, geneticist, broadcaster and writer, headlines. The published scope is two-layered: what AI means generally, then its specific effect on finance - how insight gets generated, how decisions get made, where value is created, and what finance professionals need to learn to stay useful. It runs 16:30 to 21:30, so an evening programme rather than a conference day. Paid ticket, refunds up to seven days before. Held in the museum's event space at Patchway, which is a drive or a bus from the centre. Why go: the one Bristol room this autumn where the AI conversation is aimed squarely at accountants and finance leaders rather than engineers. Best for finance, audit and FP&A people, and anyone selling into them.

A quarterly, attendee-shaped user group for people actually rolling out Microsoft 365 Copilot, run as the Kascade Copilot User Group at Aerospace Bristol. There is no fixed agenda: you submit and vote on topics when you register and the day is built from that. Recurring themes include new Copilot features and live demos, AI agents and automation across M365, prompting that works, adoption and engagement, governance and shadow AI, and Microsoft Purview. It runs 10:00 to 15:00 and draws IT leaders, M365 administrators, Copilot champions and business sponsors. The organisers state plainly that there are no sales presentations or product pitches. Listed on Eventbrite under Megan Warren. Why go: the Bristol room for the unglamorous side of Copilot - governance, adoption, whether anyone is actually using it - rather than the launch-day demo. Best for IT and M365 admins mid-rollout, and whoever has to answer for the adoption numbers.

with Sir Iain Gray (Speaker, Royal Aeronautical Society)

The Royal Aeronautical Society's Bristol Branch marks the unveiling of an AIAA Historic Aerospace Sites plaque for the Filton site and airfield, recognised for its role in aircraft design and manufacture since 1910. Refreshments and the Heritage Museum from 17:30, plaque unveiling at 18:00, then a talk by Sir Iain Gray on Filton's history in the John James Theatre from 18:30. Concorde opens at 19:10. Free.