This edition lands as Hampshire moves into its most concentrated AI calendar of the year. Three flagship events fall in a single week at the end of March — Hampshire AI's Microsoft session, the AI Arts Festival, and Solent FutureScape — followed a day later by the South Coast Technology Leaders AI Playbook workshop. Between now and mid-April there are six confirmed in-person events across Southampton, Basingstoke, Winchester, and Hedge End. The Hampshire AI meetup (Spectrum IT) has one upcoming event confirmed on Eventbrite; the Microsoft AI Adoption talk on 24 March is that event, and tickets are limited. The Spärck AI Scholarship deadline of 15 April is now six weeks away — relevant for students and supervisors.
Top Picks
Sun 22 Mar — Theatre Royal Winchester & The Arc.
Winchester AI Arts Festival 2026
Full-day festival of AI and creative practice: installations, performances, comedy, jazz, and an evening panel featuring Dame Wendy Hall.
Tue 24 Mar — Axis Conference Centre
Southampton Hampshire AI: Lessons from Microsoft on AI Adoption
A rare regional opportunity to hear directly from a Microsoft speaker on what enterprise-scale AI adoption looks like in practice, followed by networking.
Tue 24 Mar — King's Conference Centre, Hedge End
Solent FutureScape 2026
The region's first large-scale AI conference: keynotes, panels, exhibitors, live demos, and Titan the Robot.
Wed 15 Apr — Highfield Campus, Southampton
New Technology, AI and Equality: Problems and Solutions
One-day academic workshop on algorithmic bias, AI governance, and inclusive system design, open to scholars and practitioners.
Full Event Listings (Feb-Mar 2026)
Date & Time | Event (Host) | Venue / City | Type | Cost | RSVP / Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thu 19 Mar, 9:00 | SPARK — Hampshire CreaTech Networking | Hampshire Creatives' Advice Hub / Anvil Arts | Networking | Free | |
Sun 22 Mar, 11:00-22:00 | AI@Southampton AI Arts Festival (University of Southampton) | Theatre Royal Winchester & The Arc, Winchester | Festival | Free (day) / Ticketed (evening) | |
Tue 24 Mar, 9:00-15:00 | Solent FutureScape (Solent Growth Partnership) | King's Conference Centre, Southampton | Expo & Conference | TBC | |
Tue 24 Mar, 18:00-20:00 | Hampshire AI: Lessons from Microsoft on AI Adoption (Hampshire AI / Spectrum IT) | Axis Conference Centre, Southampton | Meetup | Free | |
Thu 9 April, 17:30 | Stop Chasing AI: Start Solving Problems | South Coast Technology Leaders / Barclays Eagle Lab, Clockwise | Workshop / Meetup | Free | |
Wed 15 Apr, 9:00-17:00 | New Technology, AI and Equality: Problems and Solutions | Univ. of Southampton / Highfield Campus | Academic Workshop | Free |
📰 Hampshire AI in the News
Southampton becomes UK's first university to embed AI literacy for every undergraduate
Published 24 February, this is a direct signal to employers, schools, and policymakers across the region: AI fluency is now a baseline expectation for all Southampton graduates, covering ethics, creativity, and discipline-specific applications from year one.
Royal visit marks opening of SMART Centre
Hampshire Chamber of Commerce published coverage on 4th March of the SMART Centre opening at Southampton Solent University — a £15m+ facility home to the South Coast Institute of Technology training students in robotics, digital skills, and applied engineering. Partners include IBM, QinetiQ, and the Royal Navy.
UN creates new scientific AI advisory panel
Dozens of researchers from around the world are now part of a scientific group that will analyse the impacts of artificial intelligence. Observers have compared the group, called the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence and convened by the United Nations, to the influential Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which informs governments about the latest climate-change science. For more than 35 years, the IPCC has amassed evidence showing that current global warming is caused mostly by human activity.
Citations & Sources
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