Bristol Technology Festival to promote inclusion, diversity and business growth across the city

From November 4^th to November 10^th 2019, Bristol will host the first Bristol Technology Festival. Made up of a series of over 40 events across the city, the festival will bring together the range and breadth of technology-led companies and organisations across the city. Its aim is to celebrate the innovation of the region and to champion inclusion in the sector. The festival is coordinated by a group of volunteers from across the ecosystem including representatives from Hargreaves Lansdown, TechSpark and Rocketmakers.

The Bristol & Bath region has a long-standing history of tech innovation and the ecosystem is booming, with the most productive tech talent in the UK. It feeds industries all over the world with breakthrough engineering and digital innovation. The region is famed for its creative approach to technology challenges.

Events throughout the festival are crowdsourced from organisations across the city. These include tech companies, public bodies, schools, community interest groups and charities. Events are open to engineers, business leaders from across sectors, visitors wanting to know more about the region, and residents of the city.

Nick Sturge MBE, Director of the enterprise hub Engine Shed, and chair of the steering committee commented “As a city, we need to make economic growth sustainable and that means the major economic drivers, such as tech, need to achieve two things. Firstly, we have to grow a diverse workforce, reaching out to and welcoming communities within the city which haven’t traditionally been included in the tech sector. Secondly, we need to promote the region externally, nationally and internationally, to attract new talent and to continue to enjoy investment in the burgeoning tech businesses here, as many of them are now scaling up, and gaining a global reputation for innovation.”

One of the events on the program is Bristol Tech Fair, co-organised by Technotopia, a free family-friendly event designed for all residents of the city to get hands on with technology in a fun, creative and inspiring way. Founder of Technotopia, Karin Rudolph, commented “We’ve had unprecedented interest in the Bristol Tech Fair event, with over 900 attendees already confirmed. It’s fantastic to be part of the festival and to help connect lots of people, regardless of their age or background, to the thriving technology developed in our region.”