Sovereign AI: how to build Enterprise AI Systems with Privacy at the Core
About the event:
Another AI tool blocked by legal or compliance?
You're not alone. Everyone wants AI. Everyone wants compliance. Almost no one knows how to ship both. Let's fix that. 🙌
Join us for an event dedicated to the infrastructure, tooling, and principles behind building Sovereign AI systems - featuring NVIDIA, SIMPLITO, PICCASO and CIVO.
As enterprise AI scales, so do the stakes around data sovereignty, compliance, and trust. This event brings together the builders, operators, and privacy leaders shaping what responsible AI looks like in practice.
Part 1: Demos & Presentations
Meet the speakers:
🟣 Ross Verrall
Enterprise Services, EMEA - NVIDIA
Pioneering Accelerated Computing
Ross leads NVIDIA's Enterprise Services business across EMEA. Since joining NVIDIA in 2018, he has worked at the frontline of the explosive growth in enterprise AI, advising customers and partners on how to leverage NVIDIA's full-stack approach to accelerated computing - bridging the technical and commercial considerations that come with deploying cutting-edge AI at scale.
His work focuses on helping organizations build AI strategies that are both ambitious and operationally sound, including the infrastructure choices that underpin sovereign and enterprise-grade AI. Ross is also part of NVIDIA EMEA's "Women in Technology" and "Inspire365" leadership teams, championing community and mentorship across the industry.
🟣 Mirek Manelski
Chief Operating Officer & Board Member - SIMPLITO
A look at DeepFellow: a framework for deploying private AI locally and building dedicated agents, with full data control, privacy and auditability.
Mirek looks for meaning in technology - not in buzzwords, but in how it shows up in everyday use. A cheerful nihilist by temperament and a sceptic by design, he brings over ten years of experience designing digital tools, from therapeutic games and mental health apps to privacy-first software.
At SIMPLITO, he leads the operational vision behind DeepFellow, helping shape products built on the principle that privacy and sovereignty shouldn't be afterthoughts, but the foundations of every trustworthy AI system.When he's not designing systems that question systems, he's raising reptiles, reading obscure philosophy, or playing music no one asked for - but many enjoy.
🟣 Josh Mesout
Co-Founder of relaxAI and the Chief Innovation Officer at Civo
A look at relaxAI
At Civo, Josh focuses on exploring emerging technologies and driving innovation across the company’s cloud platform. His work includes identifying opportunities in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud-native infrastructure.
Before joining Civo, Josh led enterprise machine learning platform initiatives at AstraZeneca, supporting hundreds of machine learning projects across multiple research and business teams. His background spans data science platforms, cloud engineering, and technology innovation programs.
Part 2: Building Sovereign AI That Actually Works
Panel Discussion + Q&A (90 min)
A 90-minute conversation bringing three essential perspectives on AI security into the same room: compliance, implementation, and infrastructure. Because sovereign, privacy-first AI isn't built by any one of these alone — it's built where they meet.
Our panelists will dig into:
What sovereign AI means in practice, not just in principle
How privacy, compliance, and performance can coexist — and where they still clash
The evolving regulatory landscape and what it demands from technical teams
Practical patterns for responsible AI deployment in enterprise environments
Expect candid answers, a few productive disagreements, and takeaways you can bring back to your team the next morning.
Meet the Moderator:
🟣 Rob Price
Futurise Podcast Host
Rob is co-founder of Futuria, a UK and US-based AgenticAI platform, and host of the Futurise podcast, now in its third season. In March 2026, he was named in the Top 25 Computing AI Leadership Index in the UK.
He is also co-founder of the global Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR) movement, co-author of the International CDR Manifesto and the IEEE 2024 white paper on CDR, and a named expert in the UN's Global Action Plan for a Sustainable Planet in the Digital Age - bringing years of perspective on what responsible, sovereign AI looks like in practice.
Meet the Panelists:
🟣 Janine McKelvey
Advisory Board Member at Piccaso
Janine is an accomplished leader with deep expertise at the intersection of data and regulation. Most recently General Counsel for BT Group's award-winning Data, AI & Security function — and BT Group's Data Protection and Ethics Officer — she managed risk and enabled responsible innovation across 180 countries.
Her career spans highly regulated, global environments, including SVP of Legal & Business Affairs at Warner Bros., and private practice at Pinsents (UK) and Bowmans (South Africa). She has spent years leading multidisciplinary teams of data lawyers, compliance, governance, and assurance professionals navigating existing and emerging digital laws.
Janine is co-founder of Women in Law & Data (WiLD), a PICCASO advisory board member, and vice chair of Chance for Childhood.
🟣 Kasia Toczko
Head of Comms at SIMPLITO
Kasia is a communicator and strategist working at the intersection of technology, policy, and society. With 18 years of experience across PR and UX - and a background in arts and humanities - she helps organizations translate complex technical ideas into the language of extreme clarity.
Her work at SIMPLITO centers on advocating for an open-source mindset, a zero-hype approach to AI, smarter policy supporting sovereign technologies, and an end to privacy nihilism. She brings a sharp, principled perspective to conversations about how AI should — and shouldn't — be built. Kasia is also a Tech & AI Ethics Expert at the Institute for Digital Citizenship Foundation, working to raise awareness around digital hygiene and humane technology.
🟣 Simon Hansford
Chief Commercial Officer at Civo
At Civo, Simon leads the company’s global commercial strategy, including sales, marketing, and go-to-market initiatives. His work focuses on expanding customer relationships and driving growth across the cloud platform.
Simon has extensive experience founding and scaling technology businesses across cloud, SaaS, and managed IT services. He has worked closely with boards, investors, and leadership teams to deliver international expansion strategies and successful growth initiatives.
What to expect from the event:
A perspective from NVIDIA on enabling sovereign AI at enterprise scale;
Practical insights into deploying private, locally-hosted AI with DeepFellow;
Honest dialogue on compliance, ethics, data ownership, and technological sovereignty - with DPOs in the room;
Networking with developers, engineering leaders, AI architects, and privacy professionals.
Building AI systems that enterprises - and their customers - can trust, takes more than good intentions. It takes the right infrastructure, the right tooling, and a real dialogue between the people building AI and the people responsible for governing it.
That's exactly what this evening is about
Come & join us. 🙌
Detailed agenda:
6:00 - 6:15 pm: check-in
A curated room of engineers, AI architects, DPOs, and compliance leaders - all wrestling with the same question: how do you actually ship sovereign, compliant AI?
6:15 - 7:15 pm: Demos & Presentations
Ross Verrall, NVIDIA | Mirek Manelski, SIMPLITO | Josh Mesout, relaxAI / Civo
7:30 - 8:30 pm: Panel Discussion + Q&A
Janine McKelvey, PICCASO | Kasia Toczko, SIMPLITO | Simon Hansford, Civo
8:30 - 9:00 pm: networking
Meet the people you came to meet!
Partners:
NVIDIA - A global leader in powering modern AI, designing powerful GPUs, software and hardware that enables advanced computing and serves and the backbone of AI infrastructure.
→ https://www.nvidia.com/
SIMPLITO - An R&D company developing solutions built on the highest privacy standards. Its main products are PrivMX (a platform for rapid implementation of E2EE) and DeepFellow (an enterprise-grade architecture for Ai builders ).
→ https://www.simplito.com/
CIVO - Civo is the Sovereign Cloud and AI platform combining the freedom of public cloud with the control of private environments. With full cloud parity, powerful AI infrastructure, and transparent pricing, Civo makes the cloud faster, simpler, and fairer.
Civo is built for more.
→ https://www.civo.com/
PICCASO - An established community of DPOs, CISOs, legal and risk professionals, regulators, strategists, students, and those exploring the edges of AI, working at the intersection of compliance, privacy, and emerging technology.
→ https://www.piccaso.org/