PXC raise £330,000 for Ambitious about Autism at ‘Night of Ambition’ 2025

PXC held their Night of Ambition event in London last night, raising £330,000 for the Ambitious about Autism charity, whose mission is to stand with autistic children and young people, champion their rights and realise their ambitions.

This year’s event was the 16th annual Night of Ambition which saw over 350 people in attendance at Raffles London at The OWO in Whitehall. Hosted by renowned actor Christopher Eccleston, the event was run in partnership with Headline Sponsor CGI, one of the largest independent IT and business consulting companies in the world. Other event sponsors included Tech Mahindra, Pega, Openreach, CityFibre, MDS Global & NICE.

The evening was focused on pledging support to Ambitious about Autism’s Assistive Technology initiative which aims to improve access to learning, independence and participation through technology for autistic children and young people.

Assistive technology is hardware and software that helps people express themselves in a way that others can understand and includes technology such as tablets, visual or audio aids, voice recognition programmes and speech generating devices.

This technology brings huge benefits to autistic young people’s independence, learning and wellbeing. It can help them communicate with others more easily and express their needs, like when they might be feeling hungry or unwell.

More than one in every 100 individuals in the UK are autistic. There are currently over 200,000 autistic children and young people who attend schools in England, and it is common for autistic individuals to experience delays in learning to communicate, with up to 30% of autistic people non-speaking.

The money raised at this event will go towards improving the quality of life for autistic young people while in education by providing additional assistive technology resources to learning environments across the UK.

James Smith, CEO of PXC reflected on the event:

"PXC is extremely proud to have hosted this 16th annual Night of Ambition event. Our partnership with Ambitious About Autism is very important to us. The money raised will support their Assistive Technology initiative, improving the lives of thousands of autistic children and young people across the country. We are deeply grateful to the event sponsors and to our partners and people for supporting the event. ”

Christopher Eccleston said:

"It has been a great pleasure to be involved in Night of Ambition. At a time when so much seems uncertain in the world it is refreshing to be in a room surrounded by great people focused on positive change. My work over the years has involved exploring neurodiversity in its many forms. To this day the work we did on The A Word still gets people talking and that is good! We need to keep talking to make the changes we know we need to make to ensure our world is a safer and more equal place to be!"

Jolanta Lasota, Chief Executive of Ambitious about Autism, added:

“Some autistic young people find it difficult to express their thoughts or emotions, but this doesn’t mean they aren’t full of ideas, opinions and ambitions for the future.

“Assistive technology can be genuinely life-changing for these young people, helping them to realise their potential, increase their independence and prepare for their futures.

“We are hugely grateful to our partner with PXC for their unstinting generosity and support. Thanks also to our incredible sponsors and our brilliant host Christopher Eccleston for making Night of Ambition a huge success.”