Alistair Starling

Governments are among the world’s largest purchasers of technology and innovation, yet many organisations continue to approach them using traditional business-to-business (B2B) sales strategies that rarely succeed. Drawing on more than three decades of experience spanning diplomacy, government relations, international business development, and AI-supported stakeholder engagement, Alistair Starling presents a practical framework for building successful business-to-government (B2G) relationships across Europe. The session introduces the European Diplomats methodology for AI-powered commercial diplomacy - a structured approach that combines stakeholder mapping, policy intelligence, relationship architecture, and strategic engagement planning. Participants will learn how AI can accelerate the identification of key decision-makers, analyse complex institutional ecosystems, monitor policy developments, prioritise engagement opportunities, and strengthen long-term relationships with governments rather than relying on transactional sales. Rather than focusing solely on procurement, the presentation demonstrates how organisations can engage at an earlier stage within policy, regulatory, and innovation ecosystems, allowing them to become trusted partners before procurement processes even begin. Using practical examples from education, digital transformation, AI adoption, international partnerships, and government engagement across Europe, the session demonstrates how organisations have reduced time to engagement, improved stakeholder targeting, strengthened institutional partnerships, and expanded access to public-sector opportunities. Attendees will leave with a practical framework, an implementation roadmap, a stakeholder-mapping methodology, and an AI-supported workflow, all of which can be applied immediately within their own organisations.