Date/Time
Date(s) - 11 Feb 2026
7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Location
Rewley House
Categories
Mark Ridley, Ridley Industries
As technology leaders, we sometimes have to ask ourselves “what if the worst happened”, rather than “what would we like to happen”. In that spirit, we set ourselves the challenge to ask: “What if access to US tech was suddenly cut off? Could European businesses still function in a world without American technology?”
The previously close relationship between Europe and the US is more tense now than it has been for decades. If economic or political strains led to tariffs or export restrictions, how exposed are European companies to their dependence on American technology?
The simple answer: very. Almost every organisation relies on technologies built by teams with US HQs. These geopolitical shifts raise important questions about vendor dependency, resilience, and technology risk mitigation. In this talk, we explore whether a viable non-US workplace technology stack exists and how it compares in usability, cost, and integration with existing workflows.
Bio:
Mark has spent over two decades helping technology teams build better products. An experienced CTO/CIO, Mark has held the role at Believe Music, the Financial Times, Liberis, Dynamo Mortgages, AVADO and reed.co.uk.
In his early career, Mark was the technical co-founder of reed.co.uk, helping build the UK’s leading careers website, with over 350 employees and millions of people a year to find work. Mark is the co-founder of Seeto, a mentor with Octopus Ventures, an advisor to Noba Capital, board member at The Local (a leading European news business) and co-host of the Teamcraft podcast. Today, Mark runs a CTO consultancy focused on helping teams succeed with technology.
Add to calendar: iCal
