Careers and The Digital Healthcare Revolution: What Happens When Three Companies Bring Their Early Talent Together
A week before the event, most of the people in the room were just faces in breakout rooms on a pre-event networking call. By Thursday afternoon, they were working in mixed teams from a global pharmaceutical company, a technology integrator and a global cloud and AI company, pitching real solutions to a panel of Dragons. That, in a sentence, is what the GSK x WWT x Microsoft Early Careers Day was all about.
On 22 October 2026, WWT's London office at 25 Copthall Avenue hosted around 50 apprentices, interns and placement students from the three companies for a day themed "Careers and the Digital Healthcare Revolution." Through this event, all three companies showed their commitment to investing in the next generation. Our partnership with GSK spans all the way back to 2004 and has a long-standing strategic partnership with Microsoft, recognized with elite designations including Microsoft Frontier Partner.
Why we brought three companies together
The idea was simple: early-careers talent rarely gets the chance to work across company lines, yet the people you meet at the start of your career could become your future clients, partners, colleagues or managers. An organizing team of early-careers colleagues from all three companies, Joel Jennings and Raihan Petkar (GSK), Kasheef McLennon and Aarushi Karankal (Microsoft), and Navy Mahalingam and me (WWT), worked together from July to bring the day to life. Not long ago, I was the one starting out in tech. Events like this helped me come out of my shell, learn new ideas and build a strong network, so helping to create that experience for others felt like a real full-circle moment.
Real stories about building a career
The morning opened with career talks from Chris Grindley (GSK), Teresa Nicastro (WWT) and Razwan Khan (Microsoft), who joined virtually at short notice. Each shared an honest look at the moments that shaped their journeys. One of my favorite moments was noticing the common thread running through all three: stay curious, stretch yourself and say yes to the opportunities that scare you. They're simple habits, but ones that can help anyone build a successful career.
Where AI is taking healthcare
Next came a technology panel with Dr Karl Ace (GSK), Mark Prior, Chief Technology Advisor (WWT), and Maya Hoang (Microsoft). The conversation ranged from how AI is changing the way medicines are discovered to what an "agentic laboratory" could actually look like. The audience had so many questions that we ran out of time before we ran out of questions, and the conversation carried on over lunch. When asked how he made the move from hands-on technical roles into a more strategic, advisory position, Mark Prior was refreshingly candid: he didn't follow a set plan. His drive to keep challenging himself led him into new opportunities, and his current role came about almost by accident. It was a powerful reminder that careers don't always follow a straight line, and that a willingness to stretch yourself can open doors you never expected.
The Dragon's Den challenge
After lunch, attendees put what they had heard into practice. Mixed teams had around 90 minutes to answer one question:
Teams chose from four tracks based on real problems pharma companies face:
- "Lab of Doom"
- "Day One Every Site"
- "The Factory That Can't See Itself"
- Or went "Wildcard" with their own idea
Each team then pitched to our Dragons: Rachel Elliot (GSK), Paul Robinson, Client Executive, Life Sciences (WWT), and Maria Ferreira (Microsoft), who judged ideas on their impact for patients and how feasible they were to deliver.
Congratulations to Team 4, our Dragon's Den winners, and every team should be proud of what they pitched. The judges had a genuinely tough job.
Why it matters
It's easy to think real impact comes later in your career, once you have the title and the experience. This day showed otherwise. In a few hours, people who had never worked together took on a real industry problem, used AI to solve it, and presented ideas that senior leaders took seriously. For WWT, days like this are a natural extension of how we invest in early talent. WWT's three-year UK Apprentice Program, run through the Associate Academy, already gives apprentices hands-on experience, academic study and rotations across the business to build their sales, technology and business fundamentals. The Early Careers Day took that one step further: our apprentices worked side by side with peers from GSK and Microsoft, heard directly from senior leaders, and applied what they'd learned to a real industry challenge. That's the kind of experience no classroom can replicate.
Snapshots and feedback from the day
Thank you
A huge thank you to our speakers, panelists and Dragons for giving their time, to everyone behind the scenes at GSK, Microsoft and WWT, and to every attendee who showed up, got stuck in and had fun with it. Feedback from the day is already shaping the next one… Watch this space!