Industry leaders to converge on city for Bristol Technology Festival

Published by

Peter Davison

The countdown to Bristol Technology Festival, the UK’s largest and most connected regional tech event, has begun

The countdown to Bristol Technology Festival, the UK’s largest and most connected regional tech event, has begun.

From October 9 to 13, locations throughout central Bristol will play host to this festival of tech with five days of showcases, workshops, panel discussions, and events.

Throughout the week, some of the South West’s finest tech companies will showcase their progress, innovations and leadership with each day of the festival taking on a different organising theme.

From Science and People to Awareness, Resilience and Knowledge, each day at Bristol Technology Festival will offer something new, challenging and cutting-edge.

Ben Shorrock, managing director at techSPARK said: “The purpose of the Bristol Technology Festival is to showcase and support the thriving tech ecosystem in Bristol and the South West.

"In Bristol alone, tech accounts for 36 per cent of the city’s high-growth businesses. These organisations operate right on the bleeding edge of what’s possible; places and events like Bristol Technology Festival act as incubators for their creativity and innovation.”

The Bristol Technology Festival is run by techSPARK, a not-for-profit organisation, focused on supporting and strengthening the South West tech and digital community. The South West’s tech landscape contains a mix of tech giants and emerging start-ups and Bristol has the greatest number of high-growth technology companies in the South West and is one of Europe’s top 20 tech clusters.

Each day at the Bristol Technology Festival will begin with headline sponsors, Ghyston’s Breakfast Club at Bristol’s Engine Shed. This is set to give event-goers the chance to meet up with the wider tech community and share plans, ideas and inspiration over a croissant and coffee.

From breakfast onwards, each day will be packed with events. The full festival programme will be announced over the coming weeks, however, there’s currently lots to be excited about.

Monday’s focus is science, with a Health-tech showcase demonstrating the science-led innovation in the region. Exploring cell therapies, vaccine platforms and biome engineering – Bristol is host to a sea of deep science startups combining the very latest academic thinking with a pioneering, entrepreneurial attitude and attendees will get a chance to delve into their work.

In partnership with AND Digital, Tuesday is "People Day Summit”, dedicated to unlocking new thinking and translating ideas into impact. Senior level executives will offer their perspectives on the most critical tech challenges facing business leaders today. With a mix of insightful and strategic thinking, offering attendees the opportunity to interact, engage and learn from experienced thought leaders and practitioners.

Cybersecurity takes centre stage on Wednesday, with this year’s Bristol & Bath Cyber Con. The day will see a blend of workshops, hackathons, panel debates, and 20 industry-leading speakers, at the region’s largest cyber collective. Bristol & Bath Cyber Con is designed to support people working in the industry and celebrate the most innovative cyber startups.

On Thursday, MyWorld & Digital Catapult are bringing together a collection of industry leaders, investors, startup founders, and SMEs to explore how innovation is going to shape creative technology in ten years’ time. The keynote and panel event will then open up the creative tech showcase to allow people to immerse themselves and explore emerging technology innovations and trends, such as AI, haptics, immersive, animation, and learn how they are going to continue to transform creative industries.

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Rounding off the week is Friday’s Deep Tech Showcase taking place at Future Space, an event demonstrating how the region is advancing technologies such as AI, ML, robotics, quantum, and photonics. These are the companies using scientific and engineering breakthroughs to enable, create and catalyse. It will be a showcase of innovation that can have diverse and meaningful impacts on a technological, economical, societal and environmental level.

"We’ve got a really exciting programme this year, with more to still be announced," said Ben.

"There’s also still the chance for businesses to get involved in creating their own events, so if you think you’ve got something to offer, then get in touch and chat with our team.”

Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts. Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.