Digital Health Champion honoured as an Asian Tech Pioneer
Digital Health Champion, Professor Sam Shah, and Net Zero advocate, Lucy Yu, were honoured as Asian Tech Pioneers by equality charity Diversity UK on 22 November 2024 at a Winter Drinks Reception hosted by Futurum Financial Advice in London. The event marked the 10th anniversary of the Asians in Tech initiative, championing entrepreneurs in the sector. The Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech list and Asian Tech Pioneers Awards celebrate the contribution made by British Asians to this country’s tech sector and marked its decade-long impact by publishing the Asians in Tech Impact Report earlier this year.
Sam Shah had led a number of initiatives across the NHS, including the flagship project to digitise urgent care. He had two main portfolios in the NHS spanning digital development of the health ecosystem and some national technology programmes. He has supported the development and adoption of a number of technology projects in England but has also worked with digital health start-ups from across the world. Sam is one of the inaugural members of the NHS Digital Academy. He has also previously been clinical lead supporting the delivery of the NHS England urgent and emergency care programme as well as chair of the clinical reference group for 111 Online. Sam now works in digital health across the College of Medicine and Dentistry with Ulster University and is visiting faculty at UCL and UCLan. He works clinically in primary care and is an NHS Consultant at Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.
Lucy Yu, CEO of Octopus Energy’s Centre for Net Zero was recognised with her award earlier in the evening. She has nearly 20 years’ experience building tech ventures and developing tech policy and regulation for governments around the world. She has led operations, commercial, policy and research functions for several high-growth, globally-renowned tech start-ups including two unicorns. Lucy was one of Top 5 Leaders in GreenTech for the Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech 2021. She has previously spoken at Diversity Tech Summit 2022 and was named an Asian Tech Pioneer at the Top 100 Asian Stars in UK tech 2024 list launch in July this year.
“We are pleased to be recognising two of the most inspirational Asian stars with the Asian Tech Pioneers Awards”, said Lopa Patel MBE, Chair of Diversity UK, who has helmed the initiative since its inception, “The list’s focus this year has been in HealthTech and ImpactTech, so it is not surprising to see this reflected with digital health champion Professor Sam Shah and Net Zero advocate, Lucy Yu being recognised for their work.”
Successes of Asians in Tech & Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech list
The sector has not only grown, making the UK the third largest tech ecosystem in the world and first in Europe, but innovators have focused on the most pressing global challenges; from climate change and health tech to harnessing the power of Generative AI. The theme this year was innovation, particularly ‘scaling for impact’ (financial, environmental, human & social capital).
The findings of the research commissioned from an independent Cambridge Venture Project (CVP) team showed the Asians in Tech initiative inspires, empowers, connects founders; helping them get funding and support.
The CVP team also focussed their research on the healthtech and life sciences sector, finding that nominees in the sector demonstrated two important positive economic indicators. Firstly, the number of years before a healthtech start-up receives their first funding has been reducing, and secondly, healthtech start-ups have been hiring employees in addition to the original founders.
Women have also held their own in the Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech list, accounting for 48% of shortlisted nominees in 2024. The representation of women has risen from 21% in 2015 up to a peak of 52% in 2021 and is at 48% in 2024, despite the fact that nearly 23% were new nominees in 2024.
About the Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech List
The aim of the Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech list is to showcase the wealth of talent on the British digital scene; from startup founders, creatives, social entrepreneurs, technologists, venture capital and angel investors to the policy makers and game changers. The key objective is to address the perceived lack of diversity in the tech sector by highlighting the business models, innovation, funding and support networks being created by these Asian digital entrepreneurs. Shortlisted nominees not only gain considerable media attention, they also make valuable connections to help fund or scale their business; are part of a network of innovators; can pitch their ventures at Tech Showcases; are recognised in industry publications and go on to win other competitions and awards.
Sponsors on the Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech 2024 list include business support network Barclays Eagle Labs; one of the UK’s leading independent suppliers of steel storage containers, Bell Container Ltd, global law firm Eversheds Sutherland and financial planning advisory, Futurum Financial Advice who also sponsored the Asian Tech Pioneers Winter Drinks Reception 2024.
