That’s right, plans are well underway for Bath Digital Festival (BDF), once again curated by the team here at techSPARK. And we’re VERY excited to share with you what’s in store for 2024…
This year, the iconic festival is going to look a little different. The vision behind BDF 24 is to celebrate our city with a focus on three internationally impactful themes with foundations in Bath. During our planning sessions, we wanted to focus on what makes Bath special, what we do differently, and what are we world leaders in.
As a result, we chose Sport, Cities and Space, each theme showcased with its own day from Tuesday 14th May to Thursday 16th May.
We want these themes to be taken literally and creatively, used to start new conversations, showcase amazing technology, and create new opportunities to collaborate and support each other.
This is also the 10th anniversary of our becoming a not-for-profit organisation, evolving from our founders to becoming the start of the organisation you know today!
There’s plenty of opportunity to get involved with BDF 24, from sponsorship to hosting events, book a chat with the team today to find out more about your place in the festival.
Themes, explained
Each day will have a topic that will spark new conversations and connections, amplifying Bath’s people, tech, and companies to new collaborators, communities, and customers.
These are:
- Sports & Life Sciences: From data analytics improving Team GB’s Olympic athletes to Boxing holograms and detecting glucose levels through the skin, our tech is driving the world of sport and life sciences forward.
- Cities: Bath is one of the oldest and best-known cities in the UK. How are we using the latest advances in XR, the Internet of Things, new energy sources, and materials science to preserve heritage and build communities that are fit for the future?
- Space: Long home to the UK’s largest aerospace cluster, our expertise in materials science, electronics, and data is now being utilised in space to forecast climate change, connect remote communities and protect critical satellites from hazardous space debris.
Each day will feature a showcase and we’d love to hear from companies who’d like a platform to demonstrate their technology and meet the community – these were the highlight sessions for the 2023 festival with over 100 attendees at each one.
BDF 24 is a chance to shine a light on new innovations whilst also making sure that themes critical to the success of our sector run through all the activities happening over the event.
What can sport teach us about leadership? How can we make 18th-century spaces truly inclusive? Where will space be used to enable a net zero future?
Embracing and understanding these themes doesn’t just lead to greater business outcomes; it means we can create better, more equitable, healthier, and happier societies today, and in the future.
2023 was the first time techSPARK had curated the Bath Digital Festival, an event created by our founders with a responsibility to showcase our amazing tech and digital communities.
It was a huge success; we had over 2100 attendees, a reach of 1.38 million, and sold-out events across the week, including an amazing night in Parade Gardens for the SPARKies, the largest tech awards night outside of London.
We hope you’ll all join us for next year’s edition. Keep posted for updates on a full schedule coming soon, and get in touch to be a part of an amazing event!
