SaaS (Software as a Service)

**Venue:** Riverbank House, 2 Swan Ln, London EC4R 3AD **Please note:** 1\. 🚨🚨🚨 A valid photo ID is required by building security\. 🚨🚨🚨 2\. This event follows the [NumFOCUS Code of Conduct](https://numfocus.org/code-of-conduct). Please familiarise yourself with it before attending. If your RSVP status says "You're going" you will be able to get in. No need to show your RSVP confirmation when signing in. If you can no longer make it, please unRSVP as soon as possible. **Code of Conduct:** This event follows the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct. Please get in touch with the organisers with any questions or concerns. As always, there will be free food and drinks, generously provided by our host, Man Group. **Main Talks** 1. [Robin Linacre](https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinlinacre/) - **Rapid deduplication and fuzzy matching of large datasets using Splink** This talk introduces Splink, a free and open source Python library for probabilistic record linkage and deduplication at scale. I’ll explain the core ideas behind the approach, show how it can be used in practice, and reflect on the opportunities of building open source tools from within the public sector. Data deduplication is a common data quality challenge: it arises whenever multiple records are collected about the same person, organisation, or entity without a shared unique identifier. This talk will introduce the core ideas behind probabilistic record linkage and show how Splink, a free and open source Python library developed at the UK Ministry of Justice, can be used to link and deduplicate large datasets quickly and accurately. I’ll cover the practical steps involved in training linkage models, using unsupervised learning, improving performance and accuracy, and visualising results and diagnostics. I’ll also touch on what it has been like to build and maintain open source tooling from within the UK public sector, and the opportunities this creates for solving problems at citizen scale. The talk is aimed at people with basic experience working with tabular data in Python, and assumes no prior knowledge of record linkage. 2. [Filip Makraduli](https://www.linkedin.com/in/filipmakraduli/) - **Small Model Inference Infrastructure: Lessons Beyond vLLM** Embedding models are evolving rapidly, from dense-only architectures, to hybrid dense+sparse (BGE-M3), multi-vector late interaction (ColBERT), and vision-language models (ColQwen2, SigLIP). Yet while LLM serving infrastructure is well-established (vLLM, SGLang), small model deployment still relies on inefficient single-model containers or custom-built systems. Production teams face a dilemma: deploy dozens of single-model containers with 5-10% GPU utilization, or invest months building complex multi-model infrastructure. This talk explains some of the key concepts of embedding inference and how it is different to LLM inference. 3. [Ian Ozsvald](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianozsvald/) - **Build your own LLM, Live, with MicroGPT** Andrej Karpathy's MicroGPT is a single file no dependency mini GPT, you can run it live with me. We'll talk about how GPT works, we'll look at the code, we'll reflect on the Torch-based nanoGPT "big brother" and you'll end the talk with stronger intuitions about how our next best token guessing overlords are working. Plus you'll have a mini GPT running on your laptop in 200 lines of Python. \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- **Logistics** * Doors open at **6.30 pm** (get there early as you'll need to sign in with building security). * Talks start at **7:00 pm**, with drinks afterwards from **9:00 pm** at The Banker (EC4). We have reduced capacity for this event, but there will be plenty of people to discuss data science questions with. Please unRSVP in good time if you realise you can't make it. We're limited by building security on the number of attendees, so please free up your place for your fellow community members. If you want me to trim lightning talks down to two or shorten any abstracts, say which ones.

**Welcome to Networx London!** Are you a finance, banking, investment, or fintech professional looking to grow your network? Join an engaging evening for leaders, innovators, and executives across industries. Whether you’re a CEO, founder, investor, or business professional, this is your space to connect, share insights, and spark new opportunities in finance, corporate banking, risk, and investment management. 📍 **Venue: The Sycamore, Holborn** A modern, relaxed venue in central London, just steps from Holborn station. Perfect for after-work networking, drinks, and great conversations. 📅 **Event Schedule** **18:30 – 19:00** \| Welcome & Warm intro **19:00 – 19:30** \| Open Networking **19:30 – 21:30** \| Informal Networking \(no pitches\, no pressure\) 💡 **Why Attend?** Connect with professionals in finance, banking, investment, and fintech in a focused networking setting. Share insights, explore opportunities, and meet people driving innovation across the industry. **Who Should Attend:** CEOs, founders, co-founders, finance and banking professionals, investment managers, fintech professionals, investors, and business leaders looking to expand their network and connect with industry peers and innovators. **🎟 Tickets & Entry:** To avoid the venue getting overcrowded and ensure everyone enjoys an amazing night, we've introduced a small ticket price to keep things running smoothly. **Limited spots!** Register today and hit **Follow** for updates on future weekly events. 📸 **Event Photography** Please note that photos and videos may be taken for promotional purposes. **Instagram** 👉 [@networxldn](http://%5Bhttps//www.instagram.com/networxldn/%5D(https://www.instagram.com/networxldn/) "\[https://www.instagram.com/networxldn/\](https://www.instagram.com/networxldn/)") **WhatsApp**👉[https://chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg](http://%5Bhttps//chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg%5D(https://chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg) "\[https://chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg\](https://chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg)")

This meetup is to reserve a 6x4 table to play whatever you like! An appropriate mat and terrain will be provided on the day. Please make sure you state your game system, opponent(s) name in the meetup question answer when you sign up. **NOTE**: This meet up is for 6 x 4 tables only, if you would prefer a smaller table, please book via our 'Small Tables' meetup. These tables are typically located in our 'bar area'. **Booking Tables - sign up here and include the following in your RSVP Question answer:** 1. **Game System -** Warhammer 40K, Age of Sigmar, Historical's, Kill Team, Necromunda, Etc) 2. **Opponent(s) Name -** State your opponent(s) name(s). Don't have any? find one in our chats! You can then update (EDIT) your RSVP to let us know their name(s). **Cancellations** * If you can't make it, please change your RSVP to 'Not Going' by 'Editing' your RSVP. This helps us manage capacity. **About Us** The LWG have vibrant community of nearly 2,000 active members looking for games in and around London, and generally discussing the hobby in the widest sense. If you'd like to be a part of this thriving community reach out to the event organiser who will add you to the appropriate chat group. We LOVE it when people share their experiences. Please follow us on Instagram and share your pics with us @lwarguild - we do regular WIP Wednesday's and Finished Friday - you may win something!

**Welcome to Networx London – Tax, Law, Governance & Compliance for Startups & Professionals!** Are you a startup founder, CEO, investor, or professional looking to navigate tax, legal, regulatory, and governance challenges? Join an engaging evening for innovators, leaders, and executives across industries. Whether you’re building a startup, managing corporate compliance, or exploring investment opportunities, this is your space to connect, share insights, and explore practical strategies in tax, law, governance, compliance, and risk management. 📍 **Venue: The Sycamore, Holborn** A modern, relaxed venue in central London, just steps from Holborn station. Perfect for after-work networking, drinks, and great conversations. 📅 **Event Schedule** **18:30 – 19:00** \| Welcome & Warm intro **19:00 – 19:30** \| Open Networking **19:30 – 21:30** \| Informal Networking \(no pitches\, no pressure\) 💡 **Why Attend?** Connect with founders, CEOs, investors, and finance or legal professionals in a focused setting. Gain practical insights on tax, law, governance, compliance, and risk. **Who Should Attend:** CEOs, founders, startup leaders, investors, and professionals in legal, compliance, and finance looking to connect and expand their network. **🎟 Tickets & Entry:** To avoid the venue getting overcrowded and ensure everyone enjoys an amazing night, we've introduced a small ticket price to keep things running smoothly. **Limited spots!** Register today and hit **Follow** for updates on future weekly events. 📸 **Event Photography** Please note that photos and videos may be taken for promotional purposes. **WhatsApp**👉[https://chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg](http://%5Bhttps//chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg%5D(https://chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg) "\[https://chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg\](https://chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg)")

**PLEASE MAKE SURE TO BOOK YOUR TICKET IN ADVANCE TO ATTEND THE EVENT. YOU CAN RESERVE YOUR SPOT HERE. [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1986064641807?aff=oddtdtcreator](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1986064641807?aff=oddtdtcreator)** Join us for an exclusive networking event designed to connect **business founders, CTOs, and technical partners** looking to collaborate, innovate, and scale their ventures. Whether you're a startup founder seeking a **technical co-founder**, a CTO looking for **new opportunities**, or a tech expert ready to partner with a growing business, this event provides the perfect setting to build meaningful connections. ### **What to Expect:** **Meet Business Founders & CTOs** – Engage with entrepreneurs, startup leaders, and experienced tech professionals looking to collaborate. **1-Minute Elevator Pitches** – Attendees will have the opportunity to introduce themselves, share what they are working on, and explain what they’re looking for—whether it's a co-founder, a new role, or investment opportunities. **Strategic Partnerships & Hiring Opportunities** – Find the right **technical talent**, **co-founders**, or **business partners** to take your startup to the next level. **SaaS, AI, Web3 & Tech Startups Networking** – Connect with professionals working on cutting-edge solutions in **software development, cloud computing, blockchain, AI, and more**. **Expert Industry Insights** – Learn from seasoned entrepreneurs and technical leaders about the challenges and opportunities in building and scaling successful tech ventures. ### **Who Should Attend?** * **Startup Founders & Entrepreneurs** – Business leaders looking for CTOs, technical partners, or experts to help build and scale their technology. * **CTOs & Technical Leaders** – Technology executives exploring new ventures, partnerships, or advisory opportunities. * **Software Engineers & Developers** – Tech professionals seeking collaboration with startups or potential co-founder roles. * **Investors & VCs** – Individuals and firms interested in connecting with promising **tech startups and technical talent**. * **Product Managers & Tech Strategists** – Professionals working in **SaaS, AI, fintech, Web3, and other tech-driven industries** looking to build connections. ### **Why Attend?** **Expand Your Network** – Meet and connect with industry professionals who can help you grow your startup or career. **Find Your Perfect Co-Founder or Tech Partner** – If you're a founder looking for a CTO or a CTO seeking new opportunities, this event is the perfect match. **Discover New Opportunities** – Whether it’s partnerships, funding, or new roles, this event will help you **unlock potential collaborations**. **Stay Ahead in Tech Innovation** – Learn from industry experts and connect with professionals at the forefront of **technology, AI, and SaaS development**. **Spaces are limited—secure your spot now and take the next step in building the future of tech.** **How our event works:** **You are invited to join the dedicated Whatsapp group for the event and start networking before the actual event.** 7pm - When you arrive your name will be checked off the guest list, the host will direct everyone to the reserved area and explain how the event will work. 7.30pm – Presentations starts, you will be introduced to each other in a nice relaxed environment in the semi private reserved area. 8pm - Elevator Pitch 8.30 - Networking 10 pm - Event ends, all guests are welcome to stay and enjoy chatting with each other. This event will be hosted till 9pm; the key to making the most of speed friending is to follow up with your contacts over time to develop friendships. Dress code is either business or office attire or smart casual, no T-shirts, no trainers. If you have any questions email contact@thebusinessminds.co.uk Ticket for 1 person allows 1 person to enter the venue from 7pm What to join this event and all our future events for **FREE**? Join **The Business Minds Membership** to unlock free entry to all our 290+ yearly networking events, plus exclusive networking opportunities. Learn more: [https://thebusinessminds.co.uk/membership](https://thebusinessminds.co.uk/membership). **Please Note:** **Tickets need to be bought online and are not available at the door!**

**Welcome to Networx London** Founders, investors, and startup-minded professionals—this evening is for you. Ever wondered how startups actually get funded and how the right people connect behind the scenes? Join us for a focused yet relaxed networking evening bringing together **startup founders, angel investors, venture capitalists, and ambitious professionals** across London’s innovation ecosystem. Whether you’re building a startup, investing in early-stage opportunities, or exploring the world of venture capital, this is your space to meet the people shaping the future of business. 📍 **Venue: The Sycamore, Holborn** A modern, relaxed venue in central London, just steps from Holborn station. Perfect for after-work networking, drinks, and great conversations. 📅 **Event Schedule** **18:30 – 19:00** \| Welcome & Warm intro **19:00 – 19:30** \| Open Networking **19:30 – 21:30** \| Informal Networking \(no pitches\, no pressure\) 💡 **Why Attend?** Connect with startup founders, angel investors, venture capitalists, and ambitious professionals in a relaxed networking environment. Discover how real opportunities are created through conversations, collaborations, and connections between founders and investors. **Who Should Attend:** Startup founders, co-founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capital professionals, and startup operators, as well as professionals in finance, tech, and business interested in startups, early-stage investing, and London’s innovation ecosystem. **🎟 Tickets & Entry:** To avoid the venue getting overcrowded and ensure everyone enjoys an amazing night, we've introduced a small ticket price to keep things running smoothly. **Limited spots!** Register today and hit **Follow** for updates on future weekly events. 📸 **Event Photography** Please note that photos and videos may be taken for promotional purposes. **Instagram** 👉 [@networxldn](http://%5Bhttps//www.instagram.com/networxldn/%5D(https://www.instagram.com/networxldn/) "\[https://www.instagram.com/networxldn/\](https://www.instagram.com/networxldn/)") **WhatsApp**👉[https://chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg](http://%5Bhttps//chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg%5D(https://chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg) "\[https://chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg\](https://chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg)")

Once a month, we slow things down. No courts. No rushing. Just good food, easy conversation, and a social that actually feels… social. This is the **Second Serve Supper Club** — a more relaxed, sit-down version of the group. *** ### 📍 Venue (Croydon / easy access) We rotate between: * Cosy restaurants with bookable tables * Private/semi-private dining spaces * Quiet venues where we can actually hear each other (Final location shared after approval) *** ### 🕒 Format (Monthly Saturday) * **6:30 – 7:15pm** → Arrivals + dinner orders * **7:15 – 8:15pm** → Dinner & natural conversation * **8:15 – 9:45pm** → Games + guided social * Wrap up on time — no dragging the night out *** ### 🎲 The Twist (What makes this different) This isn’t just “dinner and hope for the best.” We structure it lightly so it never gets awkward: * Small tables (4–6 people max) * Subtle **table rotations** (optional, not forced) * Simple games that spark conversation, not competition *** ### 💬 Conversation Style No cringe icebreakers. We use light prompts that are easy to answer and easy to build on. *** ### 👥 Who this is for * People who don’t want loud, chaotic nights * People who actually want to talk and connect * People who prefer structure over randomness *** ### ✅ Approval & Attendance * RSVP approval required * Limited seats (kept intentionally small) * Priority goes to consistent attendees 👉 If you RSVP, we expect you there (No-shows affect future approvals) *** ### 💷 Cost * Small organiser fee (covers hosting + setup) * Food/drinks paid individually at venue *** ### The vibe A proper social. Not loud. Not forced. Not endless. Just a good evening, done right.

Welcome to our May event. We're delighted to welcome [Elena Lape](http://linkedin.com/in/elenalape), Founder, Holopin and [Rupam Jha](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rupam-jha-151313a7/), Senior DevOps Engineer, as well as [Areg Hovakimyan](https://www.linkedin.com/in/areg-hovakimyan/), Senior DevOps Engineer. **Elena** takes an affectionate but honest look at the wonderfully chaotic reality of working with AWS, a platform that can do almost anything, but rarely in just one obvious way. **Rupam** answers the question every fast-moving team faces: how do you stay secure, compliant, and audit-ready on AWS without creating bottlenecks for builders? **Areg** provides an overview of Amazon EKS, while highlighting what truly makes a difference in production. A big thank you to our sponsors [Cloudscaler](https://rebrand.ly/cloudscaler), [Rayo](https://rebrand.ly/rayo-cloud) & [The Scale Factory](https://rebrand.ly/scalefactory) **Programme:** 18:00: Arrival, registration 18:15: Talks start 20:00: Networking with food and a drink provided by the generosity of our sponsors. **Talk 1:** ***AWS: An Experience with Elena Lape*** Those of us who care a lot about developer experience would certainly agree: AWS is, undeniably, an experience. This session explores the quirks, overlaps, and “wait, why?” moments that make AWS both impressive and deeply relatable. Expect an affectionate look at the strange reality of using a platform that can do everything except explain itself briefly. **Elena** is founder and Head of Engineering at Holopin, where she leads a platform used by 150,000+ software engineers worldwide. Before Holopin, she worked across several Silicon Valley scaleups building Kubernetes integrations, developer tooling, and cloud infrastructure, and has been building on AWS since 2016. Elena is deeply focused on developer experience. She spent part of her early career at GitHub, remains active in hackathon communities, and today serves on the W3C Advisory Board. **Talk 2:** ***Learn how to turn AWS security and compliance policies into automated, scalable, and auditable practices — without slowing down innovation with Rupam Jha*** Many organisations struggle to enforce security and compliance consistently across AWS environments while scaling their workloads. In this session, I’ll walk through practical strategies to secure AWS accounts, implement automated compliance controls, and simplify audits. Using real-world examples and best practices, attendees will leave with actionable techniques to protect data, streamline operations, and maintain regulatory readiness in the cloud. **Rupam** is a Senior DevOps and Platform Engineer who enjoys building AWS platforms that are scalable, secure, and easy for teams to use. Her focus is on creating cloud-native environments with tools like AWS, Kubernetes, EKS, Terraform, and Vault, helping engineering teams ship faster and more confidently through automation, standardisation, and strong platform foundations. A big part of what she does is reducing complexity for developers by building self-service infrastructure, improving delivery pipelines, and making platforms more reliable, observable, and cost-effective. She cares about security by design and operational excellence, and she believes infrastructure should feel like a product - something dependable, well-designed, and built to help teams move quickly without adding unnecessary risk. **Lightning Talk:** ***EKS in Production: What Actually Changed After Adoption*** **Areg** is a Senior DevOps Engineer and will talk about Amazon EKS. Amazon EKS offers many capabilities to simplify Kubernetes operations, but in practice, not all of them deliver the same value. In this 15 minute talk, Areg will provide a quick overview of key EKS capabilities, highlight 2-3 that truly make a difference in production, and explore common areas where teams tend to overcomplicate their platforms. **Do you have a story to share?** If you are interested in speaking at one of our events, please check out our [call for papers here](https://awsuguk.org/call-for-papers/). We are advocates for greater inclusion & diversity in UK Tech and are especially keen to receive talk submissions from people in underrepresented groups. If you are interested in speaking at a future meetup but would like to discuss what to expect or need assistance, please contact our Inclusion & Diversity Lead Natalie Gray - graynataliej@gmail.com or DM her [@natjgray](https://twitter.com/natjgray) Check out our [website](https://awsuguk.org/) for more information about our community. Remember to follow us [@AWSUserGroupUK](https://twitter.com/AWSUserGroupUK) and on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/aws-ug-uk) for the latest updates, and you can find videos of our past meetups [here.](https://awsuguk.org/our-videos/)

AI is changing how engineering teams work. Faster iteration. More output. Less time spent on the basics. But turning that speed into real delivery isn’t straightforward. At this Future Form session, we’re looking at what it actually takes to move from faster development to shipping real value. Speakers: **Brian Scanlan\, Senior Principal Engineer \| Intercom** Brian will share how they’re increasing engineering throughput using AI inside a large SaaS codebase. What’s improved, where it’s worked best, and the practical challenges that come with scaling it beyond demos. **Luca Lanziani\, Head of DevOps & Platform Engineering \| Nearform** Luca will explore what happens around the code. Because when development speeds up, the constraints shift. Platform, delivery pipelines, team structures. The organisations that benefit are the ones that adapt. Join us for pizza, drinks, and practical insights of where AI can genuinely accelerate delivery, and what needs to change to make that happen. **If you’re working hands-on with AI tools or responsible for how software gets delivered, this session is for you.**

Join us on Wednesday 6th May for our next AI Exchange event, hosted by AWS at their Holborn HQ. Here's what's on the agenda: **[Nova Intelligence](https://www.novaintelligence.com/)** are tackling a problem that doesn't get talked about enough, most AI agents simply weren't built to work with enterprise software like SAP. Their talk discusses how they have solved that, and what it looks like when AI works as well in the enterprise world as it does everywhere else. **[WeBuild-AI](https://www.webuild-ai.com/)** are making the case that bigger isn't always better. Their talk breaks down how small language models, through distillation, fine tuning and low rank adaptation, can deliver the same results as larger models, at a fraction of the cost. **[AWS](https://aws.amazon.com/)** are tackling the question underneath all the others, not how to use AI, but what it's doing to the human mind. Their talk explores how cognition is shifting, which human traits become more valuable as AI takes on complexity, and what genuine human AI partnership actually looks like. As always, doors open at 6:30pm and talks start at 7pm sharp. We have a tight capacity for this event, so please RSVP as soon as you can to secure your space. **Agenda:** **[Marcello Urbani](https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcello-urbani-4730b75/?skipRedirect=true) @ [Nova Intelligence](https://www.novaintelligence.com/)** "**Bringing Agentic AI to the SAP Ecosystem"** Most enterprise software wasn't built with AI agents in mind — and mainstream agents weren't built for enterprise software. SAP is the sharpest example: code lives in the system, not a filesystem, and git-based workflows simply don't apply. Nova closes that gap — an agentic assistant that speaks SAP natively. This talk covers the mismatch problem, how we designed Nova around SAP's environment, and what it looks like when an AI agent finally works as well on SAP as it does on mainstream systems. Bio: Marcello is a software engineer with over two decades in the SAP ecosystem, most of them building DevOps tooling at Basis Technologies. Last year he joined Nova Intelligence to focus on AI applied to SAP systems. An active open source contributor, he is best known for abapfs, a VS Code plugin that enables ABAP development directly in the editor. **[Adel Rahimi](https://www.linkedin.com/in/adelr/) @ [WeBuild-AI](https://www.webuild-ai.com/)** "**Small Language Models: Practical AI for the Real World"** Large language models have dominated the AI conversation, but a quieter revolution is underway. In this talk, we'll explore the rise of small language models and why they matter now more than ever, from reduced infrastructure costs to data sovereignty and the ability to run AI on-premise or at the edge. We'll dive into the techniques that make small models punch above their weight, including distillation, quantisation, fine-tuning and low-rank adaptation. Whether you're navigating regulatory constraints, working with limited compute, or simply looking for a more practical path to production AI, this session will give you the tools to think smaller and smarter. Bio: Adel is a Principal Engineer at Webuild-AI. He has a decade of experience in building and scaling AI and ML solutions at different industries and different company sizes, ranging from series A to unicorns and more recently he was a Sr. AI Engineering Manager at Procter & Gamble. He has also published several research papers in the areas of AI Explainability and NLP and is an advocate of safe and explainable AI. **[Elliott Almeida](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliott-almeida/) @ [AWS](https://aws.amazon.com/)** **"The Cognitive Partnership: How AI is Reshaping Human Intelligence"** This session explores the profound psychological transformation at the intersection of human cognition and artificial intelligence. Moving beyond tactical implementation, we examine how AI is fundamentally altering our cognitive identity and which human psychological profiles naturally thrive in AI collaboration. Drawing on the "Missing Middle" philosophy and the tension between cognitive offloading and scaffolding, we investigate the paradox of augmentation: as AI handles increasingly complex cognitive tasks, what uniquely human capacities become more valuable? We hope to see you there for another great AI filled evening! **Sponsors...** The AI Exchange is brought to you in partnership with[ LinuxRecruit](https://www.linuxrecruit.co.uk/) and[ AWS.](https://aws.amazon.com/) LinuxRecruit is building the next wave of Tech Unicorns in Europe. Whether you're hiring or exploring your next opportunity, [get in touch](https://www.linuxrecruit.co.uk/jobs). The types of roles we have currently are across Founding Engineers, Engineers across Product, Software, AI/ML, Data and Platform Infrastructure/DevOps.

Hello and welcome to our next **GenAI UK x Cloud Native & Open-Source AI** meetup. This event brings together engineers, practitioners, builders, and leaders working across cloud-native platforms, open-source ecosystems, Gen AI, Data and Agentic AI. Our meetups are friendly, welcoming, and community-driven; everyone is welcome, whether you’re experienced or just curious. This session will include practitioner talks, demos, Q&A, and time for networking with like-minded peers. We run bi-monthly in-person meetups in London, bi-monthly online global events, and regional chapters across the UK, North America, and APAC. Food and refreshments will be provided for in-person events where a host venue is supporting. We are delighted to host this event in **London** on the **7th of May** with Netmind AI NetMind XYZ ([https://xyz.netmind.ai/](https://xyz.netmind.ai/)) is NetMind.AI's new agent platform where you can create your agents with just natural language. Agents on NetMind XYZ can now join moltbook. **Speakers and Sessions:** Speaker: Xiangpeng Wan, Product Lead at Netmind.AI Session Title: Enterprise Agentic Application Layer - Leveraging Claude Code Paradigms Description: The March 2026 Claude Code leak exposed the blueprints of enterprise-grade AI agents, revealing advanced paradigms like Multi-Agent Swarms, Context Engineering, and IDE Bridges. While the codebase remains legally untouchable, its architectural concepts are rapidly accelerating open-source infrastructure. This presentation dissects these core mechanics to highlight a critical strategic pivot: stop reinventing frameworks and start building applications. As underlying agent infrastructures become commoditized, the true competitive advantage now lies in integrating domain knowledge and optimizing UX. Join us to learn how to leverage these battle-tested philosophies to dominate the application layer, turning "radioactive code" into actionable product strategies. Speaker: Richárd Kovács, CTO at Harikube Session Title: From Orchestration to Platform: The Missing Puzzles to Unify Polyglot Services on Kubernetes. Description: Imagine a world where Kubernetes itself becomes the unified platform—not just for container orchestration, but for serverless functions, microservices, and the entire API ecosystem. This presentation explores the missing architectural pieces required to make that world a reality. We focus on the architectural puzzles required to unify these layers: serverless functions, specialized Kubernetes Operators, and the powerful Aggregation API layer. By solving these integration puzzles, you can empower development teams to build real Cloud-Native nanoservices, microservices, and REST APIs on the same PaaS, in any language they choose, turning Kubernetes from a simple orchestrator into a powerful, opinionated application platform. **Agenda (GMT /UK ):** * 18:00: Welcome and refreshments * 18:30: Introduction - Ethan Sumner * 18:35: Richárd Kovács * 19:10: Break * 19:20: Frank Contrepois * 19:55: Close and Networking **Get Involved:** We are always keen to hear from: • Speakers — case studies, engineering deep dives, lessons learned, open-source talks • Hosts — organisations able to provide space for future meetups • Sponsors — support with refreshments, marketing, or accessibility If you would like to speak, sponsor, or host a future event, please get in touch with **[Ethan Sumner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethansumner404/)**[ ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethansumner404/)via LinkedIn. You can find our YouTube Channel **[here](https://www.youtube.com/@CommunityStackHQ)[.](https://www.youtube.com/@CommunityStackHQ)** This community forms part of the **[Community Stack ecosystem](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/)**[ ](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/)and follows the Community Stack Code of Conduct to ensure a respectful, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all attendees.

Join us on May 7th from **6:00pm** for a Data Streaming meetup hosted by **[Fresha](https://www.fresha.com/)**! 📍**Venue:** **Fresha** The Tower, 207 Old Street London, EC1V 9NR 7th Floor **PLEASE bring your PHOTO ID and REGISTER with your First and Last Name, Email. Thanks!** **DOORS CLOSE AT 7PM FOR SECURITY.** 🗓 **Agenda:** * 6:00pm – 6:30pm: Food/Drinks and Networking * 6:30pm - 7:00pm: Anton Borisov, Principal Data Engineer, Fresha & Nicoleta Lazar, Sr. Data Engineer, Fresha * 7:00pm - 7:30pm: Olena Kutsenko, Staff Developer Advocate, Confluent * 7:30pm - 8:00pm: Tom Scott, Founder & CEO, Streambased * 8:00pm - 9:00pm: Q&A Networking 💡**Speaker One:** Anton Borisov, Principal Data Engineer, Fresha & Nicoleta Lazar, Sr. Data Engineer, Fresha **Title of Talk:** Apache Fluss: Streaming Storage for Real-Time Analytics **Abstract:** Apache Flink has largely solved streaming computation, but state management remains a bottleneck. Operator state—often backed by RocksDB—is scoped to individual jobs, making it hard to share state across pipelines without re-emitting it through systems like Apache Kafka. This leads to expensive joins and added operational complexity. Apache Fluss (incubating) addresses this by externalizing state into a streaming storage layer backed by S3. Its PrimaryKey tables act as upsertable key-value stores with replicated changelogs, enabling shared state tables accessible from Flink, Spark, or native clients. With Flink 2.1’s Delta Join, both sides of a join can perform lookups against Fluss-managed indexes—eliminating the need for large join state altogether. In this talk, we’ll introduce Fluss, show key use cases like CDC enrichment and bilateral joins, and share lessons from running it in production on EKS —including the trade-offs and rough edges we encountered. 💡**Speaker Two:** Olena Kutsenko, Staff Developer Advocate, Confluent **Title of Talk:** The journey of a record from Kafka topic to analytics table **Abstract:** Modern data platforms increasingly rely on streaming systems like Apache Kafka as the source of truth—but turning event streams into reliable, queryable analytics tables is far from trivial. This talk explores what really has to happen when moving data from a Kafka topic into an Apache Iceberg table. Beyond simple ingestion, we will walk through the essential steps: schema evolution, data normalization, partitioning, exactly-once guarantees, late-arriving events, and table maintenance. Using Confluent Tableflow as one concrete example, we will examine how these challenges can be addressed in practice. Along the way, we will compare alternative approaches—such as Kafka Connect sinks, stream processing pipelines, and custom ingestion frameworks—to highlight trade-offs in correctness, latency, and operational complexity. The goal is not to promote a single solution, but to provide a mental model for designing robust streaming-to-lakehouse pipelines, helping you understand what matters regardless of the tooling you choose. **Bio:** Olena is a Staff Developer Advocate at Confluent and a recognized expert in data streaming and analytics. With two decades of experience in software engineering, she has built mission-critical applications, led high-performing teams, and driven large-scale technology adoption at industry leaders like Nokia, HERE Technologies, AWS, and Aiven. A passionate advocate for real-time data processing and AI-driven applications, Olena empowers developers and organizations to use the power of streaming data. She is an AWS Community Builder, a dedicated mentor, and a volunteer instructor at a nonprofit tech school, helping to shape the next generation of engineers. As an international speaker and thought leader, Olena regularly presents at top global conferences, sharing deep technical insights and hands-on expertise. Whether through her talks, workshops, or content, she is committed to making complex technologies accessible and inspiring innovation in the developer community. 💡**Speaker Three:** Tom Scott, Founder & CEO, Streambased **Title of Talk:** *Infinite Kafka? Rethinking Retention with Iceberg* **Abstract:** Apache Kafka is designed for high-throughput, low-latency event streaming, not cost-efficient long-term storage. Yet we constantly see cases like event sourcing, audit/compliance, and large-scale reprocessing forcing that pattern onto it. As retention increases, costs grow linearly to support edge cases, one-time runs, and “checkbox” use cases. Can Iceberg help here? In this talk, Tom explores a hybrid architecture that separates hot and cold data while preserving Kafka’s log semantics. Using a combination of Kafka and Apache Iceberg, he demonstrates how to extend Kafka into low-cost object storage, enabling effectively unlimited retention without sacrificing performance or access patterns. The result is a unified log that supports both real-time processing and long-term replay, removing the traditional trade-off between cost and capability in Kafka-based systems. **Bio:** Long-time enthusiast of Kafka and all things data integration, Tom has more than 15 years of experience in innovative and efficient ways to store, query, and move data. Tom is currently CEO at Streambased, a company focused on unifying operational and analytical data estates into a single, consistent, and efficient data layer. \*\*\* If you are interested in hosting/speaking at a meetup, please email community@confluent.io

**Love your exclusive vibrant Saturday evening in style, in this iconic rooftop with stunning views of London's skyline. MIngle & PARTY! BOOK VIA THE LINK: [https://fatso.ma/fqzvt](https://fatso.ma/fqzvt) or [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vibrant-social-in-style-iconic-rooftop-views-mix-mingle-dj-set-tickets-1988601397311?aff=oddtdtcreator ](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vibrant-social-in-style-iconic-rooftop-views-mix-mingle-dj-set-tickets-1988601397311?aff=oddtdtcreator)*MUST BOOK IN ADVANCE & RSVP PLEASE - NO CASH PAYMENTS - NO WALK INS.*** *If any issues at all, kindly message ELENI, thanks!* **Socialise, enjoy conversations, mix & mingle, party the night away as the DJ uplifts our mood.** *Seize the opportunity to realise your new year's resolutions, by introducing new people into your life.* **Connect with like minded people for those who dare to enjoy the little pleasures in life!** *Making the most of the last Saturday evening of January, that may be dimmed perhaps as miserable and blue... Life is meant to be fun every day, rain or shine!* **Bring your stylish self out, form connections with shiny happy people, perhaps find someone that can make your heart sing or simply go out & about in this fantastic rooftop in central London, enjoying handcrafted cocktails and mocktails with a truly photogenic background.** **Why not, trust in perfect synchronicities of the right people at the right time and place getting together.** *Catch up potentially with who you may have met in previous events and of course expand your social circle with all attendees.* **Present yourself with the best smile on your face, set the vibe and see it reflected back to you!** **As the night goes by, the music gets louder, it's time to DANCE!** The most famous party anthems will get us on our feet for sure! *Have fun taking photos at the the photo booth, make memories with your new acquaintances.* **This is a hosted event where you can bring your FRIENDLY and SOCIAL self out, be introduced** **to like minded** **people of various** **backgrounds** **and see what** **can potentially happen next!** **HOW TO FIND :** **-Come to the SEA CONTAINERS HOTEL and take the lift to the 12th KNOT ROOFTOP** ***\*\*\*\*Once upstairs YOU MUST ASK FOR ELENI'S BOOKING!\*\*\*\**** **AT THE VENUE HOST & you will be shown to our semi private sitting & standing area.** ***Please arrive at or about 20:00 and be in the flow of the introductions.*** **ELENI is hosting this event, making sure all guests are welcomed, introduced to each other and included throughout the evening, in our semi-private, with access to the terrace.** The 12th Knot, the ultimate rooftop destination in London with DJ sets, panoramic city views, and handcrafted cocktails that elevate your experience. Whether you’re into afrobeats, house music, or a lover of good vibes, 12th Knot is the place to be. With unbeatable skyline views and a vibrant atmosphere, there's no better London rooftop bar to celebrate your weekend. ***Dress code: Smart or Smart casual for a 5\* venue in central London. No sports like or too casual outfit will be permitted.*** ***The venue reserves the right admission. In case you get declined because of dress code or any other reason as per the venue's guidelines, this ticket is non refundable.*** Refunds only in case of the event being cancelled

Customer identity resolution becomes increasingly complex as organizations scale across multiple systems, regions, and data formats. Traditional rule-based approaches often fail to keep up with data variability, require constant manual tuning, and struggle with real-time processing needs. This session presents a practical approach to building a scalable identity resolution pipeline using AWS services and modern AI techniques. The architecture combines data ingestion through Amazon S3 and AWS Glue, transformation pipelines using Spark on EMR, and machine learning models deployed via SageMaker for entity matching and standardization. Graph-based relationship modeling is implemented using Amazon Neptune to improve resolution accuracy by incorporating household and shared attribute context. We will walk through how machine learning models can be used for name and address normalization, how intelligent blocking strategies improve matching efficiency, and how feedback loops can be introduced to continuously improve accuracy. The session also highlights how serverless components such as AWS Lambda can be used for orchestration and real-time processing. **SPEAKER BIO** Mosaic Syed is a Senior Data Engineering and Cloud Solutions Architect with over 20 years of experience designing and delivering scalable, secure, and high-performance data solutions across global enterprise environments. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mosaic-basha-syed-92300856 **CALL FOR SPEAKERS** Learn more: [https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/](https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/) **THANK YOU** *VEEAM* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Veeam*, please visit their website: [https://www.veeam.com/](https://www.veeam.com/) **DIRECTIONS** 8800 Lyra Dr #450 · Columbus, OH go to 4th floor. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com

We will show how to build custom agents with Microsoft Agent Framework. Attendees will learn how to build and custom host agents when Microsoft Foundry is not a viable option.

WQC has weekly Thursday night social nights at the Westerville Java Central. Come and grab a coffee and connect with the community: low stakes, chill environment, and tasty drinks. No registration is required; come as you are.

Practical AI for Power BI Developers A year ago, “agentic AI” was mostly hype for Power BI teams. Today, it deserves your undivided attention. For Power BI pros, there is now a real opportunity to reduce repetitive development work, accelerate delivery, and help developers do more, but only when strong DataOps practices are in place to make AI workflows effective. This session is a no-nonsense introduction to effective AI patterns for Power BI and Fabric development. Along the way, we will make sense of the growing pile of terminology, including skills, plugins, hooks, and MCP. You will see examples of how modern AI tooling can help with development tasks across Power BI and Fabric, along with the prerequisites, guardrails, and DataOps principles needed to use it responsibly. Whether you're burned out on AI hype or already using Copilot CLI daily, this session will show you the foundations that are finally making AI-assisted development genuinely useful.

Our monthly PHP meetup. A virtual shindig courtesy of Zoom. Check back here for the details around 6:15 pm

**Improving Office in Franklinton** Physical location: Improving Office 330 Rush Alley Suite #150 Columbus, OH 43215 Schedule: 6:00 p.m.: Socialize, eat, and drink. Improving will be providing pizza and beverages. 6:30 to 8:00 pm. Main meeting and presentation(s). Topic: This month John Lairson will share a notebook describing the Alpaca (Paper) Trading API and discuss different algorithms for evaluating stock trades. We meet on the last Monday of each Month. Presentations are given by members and friends of this group. If you would like to do a presentation (small or large) on a python topic, please contact Central OH Python at centralohpython@gmail.com

Columbus Code & Coffee is an inclusive, informal co-working session. People of all skill levels attend, and we love it that way. Many people (optionally) bring projects to work on, and many other people (optionally) socialize the entire time. It's entirely up to you! **What to Expect at the Intro Circle** \~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~ Near the beginning of the event (1:30 pm), we do a standup: * Organizer announcements, updates, and logistics Round 1 - (7 secs max): * Your name * What you're working on * What you can help others with Round 2: * Community events you wanna plug. If none, that's cool too. Round 3: * Job opportunities you're hiring for OR announce that you are looking for one. If none, that's cool. After the introduction circle, everything is self-organized! Feel free to work alone, pair up, attend one of our workshops/presentations, or mingle!