Explore how creative organisations are using AI to stay competitive, work smarter and unlock new opportunities, while maintaining originality and identity.

This panel explores how that momentum turns into real growth, from reimagining places, innovating industry and alligning policy and investment.

Bringing together industry, community networks and regional voices, the discussion will focus on what works and what it takes to build a sustainable creative powerhouse.

KaraokAI is an award winning interactive platform that uses generative AI to turn written content into karaoke performances. For TechNExt26, we will curate a library of content drawn from the festival's themes and the North East tech scene — from AI and creative technology to local startups and tech for good initiatives. We'd welcome input from the TechNExt team on what to include, making this a genuinely bespoke experience for the festival.

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Here's how it works: participants choose a topic from the curated library, then pick any song from our catalogue of 400+ tracks spanning genres and eras. The system then generates a completely unique karaoke track live — mapping that content to that song in real time. No two performances are the same. Then they take the mic and sing it.

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Developed by Anna and team, KaraokAI has toured internationally - — from CHI 2025 in Yokohama (where it won the Popular Vote Award with over 1,000 participants) to ECSCW, the Northumbrian Water Innovation Festival, and the University of Lisbon. It has been used to communicate academic research, hackathon outcomes, government initiatives, school curriculums organisational ideas and so much more - through song.

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This session is suitable for all audiences — no technical background or singing ability required. Just curiosity and a willingness to have fun.

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Technical requirements: Reliable internet access; a large screen or projector; microphones and speakers (we can bring our own but venue-provided alternatives would be helpful).

Our Keynote Speaker will be announced soon.

Step into the world of sound design in this interactive synth workshop. Explore how technology transforms simple waveforms into rich, expressive sound, and experiment with the tools behind modern music production. No experience needed, just curiosity.

Step into 2040 through four imagined futures of the creative industries. This live film screening from CoSTAR Foresight Lab transforms research into an immersive experience. This is designed to provoke, challenge, and inspire what comes next. View the trailer here: https://vimeo.com/1170294818?fl=ip&fe=ec

After imagining 2040, this panel asks what comes next. Focusing on music and creative technology, industry voices explore how emerging trends are already reshaping live experiences, platforms, and power - and what it will take to build a better future for the creative industries.

Join EMI North and Sunderland Music City as they explore how the North is building its own music infrastructure - creating opportunities for artists to make, perform, and earn a living from music without relocating and how tech is playing a role.

Community building is never easy, and creating a space that truly champions diversity and inclusion comes with its own unique challenges. 

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Since 2022, we’ve grown an incredible community of over 1,500 members, and along the way, we’ve learned a lot.

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In this session, we’ll share the wins we’re proud of, the lessons that shaped us, and what we’d do differently. If you’re thinking about building a community for women or other marginalised groups, you’ll leave with practical insights to help you get started and grow with confidence. 

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There'll be time at the end for Q&A to answer any specific questions. 

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Intended audience: Anyone interested in diversity, equity, and inclusion.

There will be two main elements of this workshop, an interactive session where attendees will be able to sample our open-source materials for increasing AI literacy, and a short talk on best practices and experiences in upskilling groups in AI literacy; including how to integrate AI tools into these types of training. The interactive session will take around 40 minutes, with a 10 minute presentation and 10 minute Q+A. It will require three or six cluster tables depending on attendee numbers as there will be a carousel of 3 activities that participants can try. 

Every day, millions of small and medium‑sized businesses use Sage to run payroll, manage finances, and operate their businesses—generating a unique, real‑time view of the economy grounded in actual business activity rather than surveys or lagging indicators.

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Sage is exploring how this operational data can be used responsibly to deliver impact across three core areas: improving access to finance, strengthening economic insight, and enabling better decision‑making for businesses, policymakers, and institutions.

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A key example is Sage SME Pulse, which uses anonymised payroll and accounting data to provide a near real‑time view of SME performance. SMEs represent around 60% of UK economic output yet are underrepresented in traditional economic reporting. SME Pulse helps close this gap by offering more timely and accurate signals of business activity.

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This work is strengthened through trusted partnerships such as Smart Data Foundry (SDF), enabling secure, privacy‑preserving data collaboration. Combining Sage data with third‑party datasets allows deeper insight into real‑world challenges—such as regional disparities and financial resilience—and supports more targeted, evidence‑based interventions.

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At an individual and small business level, Sage is also exploring how data can help reduce barriers to financing and investment, ensuring people can fully participate in—and benefit from—a digitised economy.

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Looking ahead, Sage is extending these foundations through real‑time economic signals, deeper data collaboration, and AI‑driven insights embedded directly into user workflows—shifting from static reporting to proactive, insight‑led decision‑making.

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Across all initiatives, trust is fundamental. A consent‑first approach, strong privacy safeguards, and transparency underpin how data is used and shared.

Most mission-driven organisations depend on technology platforms that set the terms, change prices without warning, and operate under jurisdictions they've never considered. But few have ever thought about what they mean for their mission.

This interactive taster session gives you a hands-on introduction to the TechFreedom approach. Working together, you'll build a quick technology inventory for your own organisation, then assess your tools through five risk lenses: jurisdiction, business continuity, surveillance, lock-in, and cost exposure. You'll leave with a clearer picture of where your hidden dependencies sit and what you could do about them.

Over the last 2 years Virgin Money Foundation have distributed £5million in grants to tackle digital exclusion in local neighbourhoods. During the session you will hear what we have learnt about the nature of digital exclusion and the human centred ways in which community anchor charities across the North East are tackling it. 

This session will explore how innovation is driving real impact - from the way technology is improving day‑to‑day legal work to how it’s strengthening pro bono support. We’ll highlight practical examples of tech being used for good, including recent matters, our pro bono initiatives, and a case study that shows the difference innovation can make in practice.

Join us to find out about the importance of robust evaluation methods used on new technologies that present an opportunity to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs to the NHS.  We’ll present some recent work around economic evaluation in the North East including the challenges of evaluating and implementing these new technologies.

This joint session with The King’s Trust and Seriös Group shares how data has been used to better measure impact, support decision making and improve the outcomes for young people across the UK. The session is based on a long-term partnership that began in 2020, supporting the charity’s data transformation journey.  

Speakers will discuss the challenges of fragmented data, manual reporting and limited resources, and how bringing data together into a single, governed platform has improved visibility of programme outcomes, employment results, diversity metrics and donor impact. The session will also cover how dashboards are used to support consistent reporting to stakeholders and to prioritise resources more effectively.  

The format will include short talks followed by discussion and audience questions.  

Intended audience: Professionals looking to better understand how data can support impact measurement and reporting, and tech professionals and data practitioners interested in delivering purpose‑led data solutions.  

Format: Short talks followed by discussion and Q&A

Most productivity systems are designed around a narrow model of how people think and work. In reality, many individuals, particularly those who are neurodivergent, experience daily tasks as fragmented, overwhelming or cognitively demanding. Advances in AI present a genuine opportunity to rethink how work is structured. This session explores how emotionally intelligent use of AI can reduce cognitive load, remove friction from routine processes and support individuals to work in ways that feel more natural, focused and sustainable.

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Drawing on lived experience alongside practical stage based demonstrations, Andy will show how tools such as Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT and simple automation platforms can be used to support thinking rather than simply increase output. Real examples will include structuring complex or messy information, reducing task switching, improving clarity in written communication, managing overwhelm and using AI as a safe reflective space for planning and prioritisation.

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Rather than positioning AI purely as a productivity tool, this talk reframes it as a mechanism for redesigning everyday work to be more inclusive, emotionally aware and human centred. The session will last approximately 60 minutes and will be delivered as an interactive stage talk, incorporating live demonstrations and natural audience engagement throughout. Time will be reserved for a Q and A segment, including the potential for live audience questions to be captured via social media channels.

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The session is suitable for both beginner and more experienced audiences, with content designed to be accessible to non technical professionals while still offering insight for those already exploring AI adoption. It is particularly relevant for employers, managers, educators, SME leaders and individuals interested in using AI responsibly to support wellbeing, business processes and day to day decision making.

As retail and public spaces become more automated, we don’t often pause to ask a basic question: who are these environments really working for?

Self-checkouts, app-based services, and “frictionless” systems are usually designed around speed and efficiency. But that experience isn’t the same for everyone. For many people, including older adults, disabled people, and those with cognitive or sensory challenges, these changes can make everyday tasks more difficult rather than easier.

This session explores that gap between efficiency and inclusion through the lens of Slow Shopping, a programme that works with retailers and community partners to make spaces more accessible through small, practical changes that don’t require major overhauls.

It will also draw on research developed with Newcastle University through the Arrow programme, looking at how shopping connects to wellbeing, independence, and economic participation.

Rather than a one-way presentation, this will be a more open, interactive session. We’ll look at real examples from high streets and public spaces and invite participants to reflect on their own environments, what’s working, what isn’t, and where small changes could make a big difference.

The session is aimed at people working across retail, technology, public services, design, and community development, but it’s intentionally accessible to a mixed audience. Whether you’re shaping strategy or working on the ground, there should be something relevant here.

The session will be led by Katherine Vero, founder of Slow Shopping, who has worked across retail, community settings, and international projects.

Many teams understand that accessibility is important, but lack experience in how people navigate digital products using assistive technologies. 

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This interactive workshop introduces participants to common accessibility barriers through a series of guided exercises using built-in accessibility features available on most laptops and smartphones. 

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Participants will work through short activities including: 

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1. Screen Reader Challenge 

Participants attempt to complete a simple task on a website while using a screen reader. This demonstrates how navigation, headings, link text and page structure affect usability. 

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1. Keyboard-Only Navigation 

Attendees try to complete common actions using only a keyboard, highlighting issues with focus states, menus and interactive components. 

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1. Accessibility Barrier Spotting 

Small groups review real examples of inaccessible interfaces and identify potential problems for users with visual, motor or cognitive impairments. 

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1. Quick Wins for Accessibility 

The session concludes with practical guidance on simple accessibility improvements teams can start implementing immediately. 

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The goal of the workshop is to build empathy for users with different access needs while giving attendees practical knowledge they can take back to their teams and projects. 

Design systems are often discussed as tools for consistency and efficiency, but they can also be powerful drivers of accessibility and inclusion. When accessibility is embedded into components, guidance and testing processes, it scales across teams and products. 

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This panel explores how accessibility can be built into design systems from multiple perspectives: UX design, design system governance, and quality assurance. Panellists will share practical examples from real projects, including how accessibility standards are translated into reusable components, how QA teams test for accessibility issues, and how teams balance speed with inclusive design. 

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Attendees will gain insight into how cross-disciplinary collaboration helps ensure accessibility is not an afterthought but a core part of the product development lifecycle. 

This practical, hands-on workshop demystifies the refurbishment process and shows how old laptops can be transformed into high-quality, reliable devices.

Participants will be guided through the full lifecycle of a device, from initial assessment and data wiping through to hardware testing, reconfiguration and redeployment. The session will demonstrate how refurbishment meets commercial standards while delivering environmental and social value.

Attendees will get the chance to work directly with equipment, understand key components, and learn what makes a device “fit for reuse”. We will also explore how refurbished tech supports large-scale digital inclusion programmes and reduces environmental impact, avoiding the significant carbon and resource costs of manufacturing new devices .

The workshop is designed to build confidence in refurbished technology, challenge misconceptions, and highlight opportunities for organisations to adopt circular IT models.

This interactive panel explores how access to devices and data underpins digital inclusion and drives real outcomes across health, employment and education.

Led by Jason Legget, the session will bring together voices from the public sector, VCSE organisations and industry alongside BornGood CEO Simon Howatson and a representative from Gentoo, one of the largest contributors of devices into the VCSE sector in Sunderland.

Together, we will share live examples of what is working across the North East, including pilots with Sunderland City Council, the North East Combined Authority and NHS partners.

We will explore practical delivery models such as device reuse, community distribution, and combining connectivity with hardware, drawing on initiatives like the Digital Resilience Fund and large-scale device repurposing programmes. These approaches align with regional ambitions to tackle the digital divide and improve access to opportunity for all .

The session will move beyond theory, focusing on real-world challenges, lessons learned, and what it takes to scale sustainable digital inclusion. Audience participation will be encouraged through Q&A and live discussion.

The Gateshead Tech4Communities pilot was launched in August 2025, involving local communities, local and national partners, and Gateshead Council in a brand new partnership. These different partners have crucially provided local expertise and delivery as well as and national knowledge and support. The North East is one of the most, if not the most digitally excluded region in England especially if considering the issues of digital poverty and lack of devices. 

Tech4Communities is a proven delivery model developed by the Digital Poverty Alliance that demonstrates how secure, scalable device redistribution can be delivered with lasting local impact. In Gateshead, that model is being applied through a trusted network of libraries and community venues, ensuring that every device reaches the people who need it most. The pilot’s collection phase has ended, and we have opened the form so people living in Gateshead can request a donation of a refurbished device.

In this panel, we will discuss how the project has been working to support digital inclusion, digital transformation, and sustainability. It will also talk about stakeholder partnerships, and any lessons, challenges, and impact that we have so far encountered. 

I will cover the story so far, but then ill go through each way Ai is being used to enhance and simplify ways to donate.

Taking food bank wish lists, creating tasty recipes, and automatically populating a supermarket basket with things to be sent to the foodbank

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Ill include the journey so far, and how cutting edge technology has been harnessed, along with the hunger of a team of outstanding engineers to make less people hungry.

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There will be demonstrations and chats, wrapped up in a lighthearted approach to an important topic for the UK

What does “good” look like when you are building a digital service for people harmed by institutional failure?

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At the Infected Blood Compensation Authority, we have been part of standing up a national compensation service at pace. In many ways, it has felt like a government start up: building teams, platforms, governance and culture simultaneously, under intense scrutiny and real urgency.

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But this is not a typical start up problem. Our users are people who have experienced profound harm, decades of distrust and repeated systemic failure. In that context, traditional product metrics such as efficiency and speed are necessary, but not enough.

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This session explores how we are redefining success through a trauma informed lens. How do you translate principles like safety, transparency, choice and empowerment into measurable product outcomes? How do you balance speed with sensitivity? How do you ensure that scaling a service does not scale harm?

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We will share how we are embedding trauma informed principles into our measurement frameworks, how lived experience has shaped product decisions, and how we are holding ourselves accountable not just for delivery, but for dignity.

In fast moving tech world, the Third sector is often seen as a sector not worth building for. The fear of ruining the cause reputation, the scarcity of their resources and the lack of training are all factors contributing to the sector being consistently behind when it comes to adopting new technologies. This creates a space where fewer tech companies operate and a hill where many brilliants startups die before the incumbents even feel any threat.

We will explore the Tech For Good landscape, see who are the leaders, who are emerging and explore why so many startups fail to capture a fair share of the market even with better offers than the existing market leaders.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly moving from experimentation into everyday organisational use, creating both significant opportunity and new risk. This fireside keynote session will explore Gentoo Group’s real world journey of implementing AI through a governance first approach that places accountability, trust and data protection at the centre of adoption.

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Michael McCarroll, Head of ITSM and Infrastructure at Gentoo, will share practical insight into how the organisation established clear guardrails, defined ownership and embedded responsible AI practices before rolling out tools such as Microsoft Copilot. Drawing on lived experience from a regulated public service environment, the session will highlight lessons learned, common pitfalls and how governance can act as an enabler rather than a barrier to innovation.

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The session is hosted by Access Training, a regional digital skills provider that has worked alongside Gentoo on workforce development initiatives, AI awareness activity and employer roundtables focused on practical adoption. This collaboration provides a strong foundation for an open and honest conversation about what real AI implementation looks like inside organisations today.

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Hosted by Andy Bremner, Digital Transformation and AI Trainer at Access Training, the session will take the form of an informal keynote conversation followed by a live Q and A. Audience members will be able to contribute questions both in the room and via livestream, creating an interactive discussion centred on governance, emerging risk, workforce capability and responsible innovation.

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The session is aimed at business leaders, managers, public sector professionals and technical teams who are beginning or progressing their AI adoption journey and want practical, transferable insight into how to move forward with confidence.

Big tech companies have built incredibly powerful predictive models, but they haven't built people. They lack personality, physical presence, and a persistent memory. So, how do you take AI and give it a face, a voice, a diary, and an independent existence inside a real-world business? And what happens when you do, then a tech giant treads on your toes?

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In this session, Aidan Dunphy (and his Synth colleague Alfred) will share the Frntir story. We’ll take the audience behind the scenes of our startup journey to build "Synths" - digital humans that work alongside you. Designed for a broad audience of business leaders, students, and tech professionals, this talk bares all regarding the challenges of choosing and delivering on a bold vision, rather than a ‘me too’ product.

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Key Topics:

• The Attitude: The challenges of conceptualising an AI agent with a persistent persona and autonomy.
• The Diary: How we designed (and redesigned) memory using advanced techniques, and understanding the tradeoffs between remembering everything and being able to focus.
• The Voice: The messy reality of generating natural speech and full video in real-time, and keeping pace with ever-climbing expectations of realistic and natural behaviour.
• Being first: What happened when, inevitably, one of the tech giants suddenly announced they were doing the same thing, and had given it the same name!

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We will include a live demonstration, introducing a Frntir Synth (“Alfred”) in an online meeting, showcasing his real-time facial rendering, speech cadence, and contextual memory.

The event will consist of a high level legal overview of key data and AI trends, with a focus on legal risks from an English law perspective. 

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The session will be in a workshop format, so that the members of the audience can review certain key legal risks and consider how they might apply mitigations to their own scenario. There will be opportunities for interaction and questions. 

AI is shifting from pilot projects into core government systems, driven by national strategies and major investment in digital services. This keynote panel looks at what that means in practice as public sector organisations begin to deploy AI at scale, often in ways that exceed private sector use cases.

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A senior technologist from a Tier-1 UK government department will share how AI is being introduced inside complex, regulated environments. An AI product specialist from Scrumconnect will speak to the realities of building and scaling AI within live public services, including the organisational change required to make it work. A leading futurist will provide a view on how AI capabilities are evolving and what organisations should prepare for now.

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The session will focus on how policy, delivery, and technology need to align for AI to deliver real outcomes. It will explore what progress looks like today, where barriers remain, and what the next five years of adoption could bring.

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Audience: Accessible to all levels of tech awareness, including public sector leaders, technologists, and policy professionals.

Most businesses aren't short on data. They're short on data that actually works together. Spreadsheets here, a CRM there, operations running on a system that hasn't spoken to anything else in years. The result: hours lost stitching together reports, decisions made on instinct, and an AI strategy that's permanently sitting on next year's roadmap.

This session is a live walkthrough of the fix. Led by Groundsight AI's Sam Lipman - with the platform built by one of the North East's most capable data engineering teams behind it - the audience will follow a real scenario from start to finish.

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We start with the mess: a growing business, data scattered across disconnected systems, conflicting numbers and invisible risks. Then, live on screen, those same fragmented sources flow into a centralised data platform - dashboards appear, patterns surface, and the fog lifts. Finally, the AI layer lands: a conversational assistant answering plain-English questions about the business, powered by data that's finally pulling in the same direction.

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Format: Most businesses aren't short on data. They're short on data that actually works together. Spreadsheets here, a CRM there, operations running on a system that hasn't spoken to anything else in years. The result: hours lost stitching together reports, decisions made on instinct, and an AI strategy that's permanently sitting on next year's roadmap.

This session is a live walkthrough of the fix. Led by Groundsight AI's Sam Lipman - with the platform built by one of the North East's most capable data engineering teams behind it — the audience will follow a real scenario from start to finish.

We start with the mess: a growing business, data scattered across disconnected systems, conflicting numbers and invisible risks. Then, live on screen, those same fragmented sources flow into a centralised data platform - dashboards appear, patterns surface, and the fog lifts. Finally, the AI layer lands: a conversational assistant answering plain-English questions about the business, powered by data that's finally pulling in the same direction.

Format: 60-minute live demonstration with Q&A. Designed for business leaders, operations managers, and IT leads — no technical background required. Beginner to intermediate level.

You'll leave knowing exactly why data silos block AI adoption, with a practical framework to assess your own readiness - and a clear sense that this isn't out of reach.

Most organisations collect customer feedback, but very few use it to improve how they operate. While feedback programmes are widespread, only a small proportion successfully turn insight into action.

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This session explores how organisations are evolving from traditional survey and reporting approaches to using Voice of the Customer as an operational tool. We’ll look at the shift from periodic reporting to real-time insight, and how feedback is increasingly used as an early warning system rather than a scorecard.

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We’ll also explore common challenges such as fragmented channels, insight overload and lack of ownership, and how these prevent organisations from acting on feedback effectively.

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Finally, we’ll share practical best practices used by leading organisations, including designing feedback for action, closing the loop with customers, and creating clearer accountability across teams.

This session will highlight the growing issues around extensive, potentially wasteful uses of AI, and the real risks that society as whole faces in it's continued consumption of resources to fuel it.

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In the talk, Dr Paul Hands will expand on the tangible economic factors and the risk of an "AI bubble" bursting, the risk of a polarity growing between members of society that can access AI and those that can't, and the risk that AI poses not just to the workforce in jobs that AI can now automate, but to society as we know it, as a whole.

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This is not however a doom and gloom lecture presentation, as much as it is a highlight of the risks, and warnings on steps to mitigate, with predictions of what the future might hold in the stratosphere of artificial intelligence adoption.

AI is rapidly reshaping how software is designed, built, and delivered. What began as simple code assistance has evolved into AI agents capable of generating code, tests, and even proposing architectural approaches. This shift is forcing organisations to rethink not just their tooling, but their team structures, delivery models, and the role of the engineer itself. 

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This session introduces the AI-Driven Delivery Lifecycle (AI-DLC) and the rise of the architect-developer, a hybrid role that combines architecture, engineering, and product thinking to orchestrate AI-driven delivery. Rather than focusing on writing code, architect-developers guide AI agents, define intent, and validate outputs to ensure alignment with business goals, technical standards, and long-term maintainability. 

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We will explore how this shift is enabling smaller, high-impact teams to replace traditional delivery models. Large, task-driven teams and rigid agile processes are giving way to autonomous pods, supported by AI agents, that operate with faster feedback loops, fewer handoffs, and greater focus on outcomes. We will also introduce semantic-first engineering, where teams collaborate with AI in real time using just-in-time specifications and curated source context to improve speed, quality, and consistency. 

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Drawing on real delivery experience, this session will provide a practical perspective on how organisations can adopt these approaches today, moving beyond experimentation to build faster, reduce complexity, and turn AI into a genuine competitive advantage. 

This session examines how new AI capabilities are expanding what’s possible in legal innovation, while shifting the risk landscape. We’ll look at how combining ambition with thoughtful, responsible‑use practices enables firms to harness these tools safely, sustainably, and in ways that enhance quality, speed, and deliver better outcomes for clients.

Accessible to a wide range of technical and non-technical people, we will dive into the harsh reality that many enterprises find themselves in today - complex legacy IT estates, big balls of mud that are seemingly impossible to understand, esoteric custom code, an ageing and shrinking talent pool, and rising license costs from mainframe vendors ramping prices.

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It isn't just a tech problem. Inflexible, hard to change, legacy tech holds back the business too. 

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Today we have new tools to help us overcome these challenges. You will see a live demo of the tried and tested agentic reverse-engineering tools in the AI/works platform, showing how AI agent swarms can be used to semantically understand code, processes and business rules, build a knowledge graph and generate specifications (specs) which are fuel for building the future technology stack.

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Finally, now we have a rich, comprehensive and searchable view of the system, connections and dependencies, we can deploy another swarm of agents to build a modern, well-architected, domain-driven replacement, running in the cloud and ready for user-testing.

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Transforming impenetrable legacy tech to modern, maintainable working software in production used to take decades, now it takes hours.

As organisations accelerate their adoption of AI, many are discovering that ambition alone is not enough. Without strong data foundations, AI initiatives often slow down, deliver limited value, or introduce new risks around trust, governance and decision-making. 

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This session brings together insights from senior data leaders and practitioners to explore the real-world challenges of adopting AI without the right data platforms, governance and operating models in place. Drawing on discussion from our recent data leaders roundtables, speakers will talk about common failure points, including fragmented data, unclear ownership, inconsistent metrics and pressure to “move fast” without sufficient guardrails. 

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The session will also discuss what “AI ready” really means in practice, covering the role of trusted data platforms, semantic layers, governance and organisational alignment, and how these foundations enable safer, more effective use of AI at scale. 

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The format will include a panel discussion followed by audience Q&A. 

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Intended audience: 

Data leaders, technology decision makers, product and engineering teams, and non-technical leaders responsible for AI strategy. Suitable for a mixed audience from non-technical to advanced. 

Most organisations aren’t struggling to start with AI—they’re struggling to make it stick.

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This panel discussion focuses on scaling AI inside the business:

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• Why promising AI pilots fail to scale
• What changes when AI becomes part of a real product or service
• Integrating AI into real systems and workflows
• Where data, product, and engineering decisions go wrong (and how to fix them)

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Speakers will be from hedgehog lab and other international organisations sharing their experience. Audience would be senior leaders who are trying to introduce AI to their business.

We live in a world of constant notifications, emails, admin tasks and repetitive work. But what if you could automate 30–40% of your digital life?

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In this practical and inspiring session, n8n Ambassador Badr Adnani will demonstrate how AI-powered automation can simplify everyday workflows, from managing emails and documents to connecting apps, databases, and messaging platforms.

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Rather than focusing on theory, this session will show real examples of how automation can:

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• Reduce repetitive tasks

• Improve productivity

• Help founders and developers scale faster

• Create “AI assistants” that actually work

• Free up time for learning, creativity and growth

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A live demo will walk through building a simple AI automation workflow using n8n, followed by a short interactive Q&A.

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This session is ideal for developers, founders, students and professionals curious about practical AI.

Generative AI has been reshaping a swathe of industries, from software development to creative arts and gaming. Data science is no exception. GenAI is especially adept at writing code for the kind of "greenfield" rapid prototyping and exploratory work typical of data science.

In this session, we will use GenAI to enhance your data analytics skills. In about an hour and a half, we will explore and clean data, build dashboards, and run data science models. However, GenAI is still not perfect, so we'll also be carefully evaluating its performance along the way.

Please bring your laptop. All levels of Python experience are welcome, as this session is designed to help you navigate GenAI and meet you where you are. By the end of the session, you will have the confidence to start building your own dashboards and data science models, along with a practical sense of how to use GenAI as a coding partner.

This interactive workshop introduces Dynamic Personas. These are AI agents trained on an organisation's own primary research rather than generic training data. Participants will see a live demonstration of how research-grounded personas can be used to stress-test ideas, surface overlooked user needs, and trace every AI-generated insight back to its evidential source through what we call the Digital Thread.

The session is structured in three parts. First, a short introduction to why traditional personas fall flat and how grounding AI in real data changes the game. Second, a live walkthrough where we build personas from a sample dataset and run a multi-agent workshop in real time. Third, a hands-on discussion where attendees explore how this approach could apply to their own teams and sectors, from energy infrastructure to FMCG to public services.

This session is suitable for product managers, researchers, designers, strategists and innovation leads at any technical level. No coding knowledge is required. You'll leave with a practical understanding of how to move from static research reports to living, queryable knowledge that your whole team can use.

AI is rapidly changing how businesses approach marketing, yet many organisations are still unsure how to apply it in a meaningful way. For some, AI is seen as a magic solution; for others, it feels like another tool to experiment with but never fully adopt. In reality, the real value of AI comes not from individual tools or prompts, but from how it is integrated into everyday business systems.

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This session explores how SMEs can use AI to build smarter marketing systems that improve insight, increase output and allow small teams to operate with the capabilities of much larger organisations. Rather than focusing on tactical hacks, the talk introduces a practical framework for integrating AI into marketing through four key pillars: Clarity, Multiplication, Consistency and Intelligence. Together these pillars show how AI can help businesses better understand their customers, scale content more efficiently, maintain a strong and consistent brand voice and continuously learn from real customer feedback.

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The seminar will also explore the concept of the Marketing Divide — the growing gap between organisations that successfully integrate AI into their operating systems and those that continue to rely solely on manual marketing processes.

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The session is delivered by Helena Rudd, Marketing Director of The Rudd Group, a North East-based hospitality and leisure technology business operating thousands of entertainment machines and digital systems across the UK. Helena leads marketing and innovation across the group and has been instrumental in introducing AI-driven tools and data-led systems that improve efficiency, insight and decision-making across multiple business divisions.

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Drawing on both practical experience and real-world implementation, Helena will share how AI can move beyond experimentation and become a structured system that helps businesses market more intelligently, scale more efficiently and compete more effectively in an increasingly AI-driven economy.

The Web of Things started with the simple but powerful idea of giving connected devices URLs on the web, to extend the World Wide Web of pages into a web of physical objects which can be monitored and controlled over the internet.

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This session will provide an introduction to the W3C Web of Things (WoT) family of open standards, and how they apply lessons learnt from the World Wide Web to the Internet of Things, to create a universal application layer which enables apps, services and intelligent agents to interact with the physical world.

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It will then cover how North East startup Krellian is applying this technology to commercial buildings, to make our built environment smarter, safer and more sustainable. Krellian helps facilities managers to meet their net zero targets whilst saving money, by using smart building technology to optimise space utilisation and reduce energy consumption.

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Aimed at web developers, IoT developers, commercial building operators or anyone who shares our vision of a connected world where technology is seamlessly woven into the spaces around us and improves the lives of those who use it.

This will be an engaging and practical session on how artificial intelligence is reshaping the modern workplace and redefining career paths across industries.

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This session will explore key trends in AI adoption, the types of roles most impacted, and the emerging opportunities available for professionals willing to adapt.

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The session will be delivered in a panel session with Ifeoluwa Afuwape - (Newcastle University), Jason Yip - (Newcastle University), Angela Hudachek - (PwC),  Arshia Bhatti - (PwC) using real-world case studies, and an interactive discussion where attendees can ask questions and share their own experiences.

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This session is designed for a broad audience, including beginners, non-technical professionals, those considering a career transition, and more experienced attendees looking to future-proof their skillset.

This panel brings together three of the North East’s most innovative clusters—Space North East England, North East Advanced Material Electronics, and North East Regional Defence Supply Chain  and will explore how AI is rapidly transforming space technologies, advanced electronic materials, and defence and security systems. The discussion will unpack how AI-driven sensing, satellite data, and next gen materials are converging to create new capabilities in threat detection, situational awareness, and national resilience.  Panellists will highlight cross-sector opportunities, shared challenges, and the unique strengths of the North East’s deep tech ecosystem in leading the UK's digitally enabled security and space innovation.

AI is everywhere, but for most people it might as well be magic. Terms like "neural network", "large language model" and "deep learning" get thrown around constantly, but what do they actually mean? What is a computer really doing when it "learns" or "thinks"?

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This session answers those questions plainly. We'll start with the building block, a single artificial neuron, and work up step by step: how neurons connect into networks, how data flows through them to produce an output, and how training works by adjusting thousands of connections until the network gets good at its task. By the end you'll understand the core ideas behind everything from image recognition to ChatGPT, and why it's not magic but a computer program running at an extraordinary scale.

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A live interactive demo lets you see a real neural network processing in real time, making the concepts tangible rather than abstract.

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The talk is aimed at a general audience: business leaders, non-technical professionals, curious beginners, or anyone who uses AI tools daily but has never looked under the bonnet. No prior knowledge is needed.

Format: A 60-minute talk with live visual demonstration.

Enjoy a three-course dinner accompanied by arrival and table drinks.

Starter:

• Mushroom Arancini, Chargrilled Asparagus, Romesco Sauce (Vg, Gf)

Main (choice of 3):

• Harissa-Marinated Butternut Squash, Butternut and Chickpea Hummus, Pickled Red Onion, Sesame Seed Tuille, Chilli-Dressed Broccoli (Vg, Gf), or
• Mushroom Cream Cheese and Smoked Leek Wellington, Olive Oil Mash, Pickled Baby Carrots, Parsley Gremolata (Vg), or
• Roast Chicken Supreme, Wild Mushroom Fricassee, Truffle Jus

Dessert:

• Raspberry and Dark Chocolate Tart, Raspberry Sorbet (Vg, Gf)

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This year we welcome Kimberley Turner as guest speaker, Co-CEO of Double Eleven and leader in high-growth, internationally successful tech businesses.

Seating will be arranged in banqueting-style tables rather than rounds. If you would like to purchase a group of tickets and be seated together within the same section, please email getinvolved@technext.co.uk

Dynamo North East members receive a 40% discount on all flagship event tickets. Please contact info@dynamonortheast.co.uk for your code.

TechNExt26 kicks off with our Festival Launch Conference, featuring a single stream of thought provoking conference talks from leaders in technology and related industries.  

Lunch is provided, and as part of our Good Festival Ambition, please note that all catering at this event will be vegetarian. All additional dietary requirements will also be catered for, please state your needs on the booking form.  

Refunds   

Please note our ticket refund policy below:

• Up to 12 weeks before the event starts - full refund
• More than 8 weeks before the event starts, but less than 12 weeks - 50% refund
• Less than 8 weeks before the event starts - no refund

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Dynamo North East members receive a 40% discount on all flagship event tickets. Please contact info@dynamonortheast.co.uk for your code.   

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The Schools Challenge will return to the TechNExt festival for the third year, taking a slightly different format from the previous two years. The challenge will continue to be an opportunity for children in the North East to engage in tech and with tech employers within the region, as part of the regional festival.  

Technology is all around us, but sometimes it‘s difficult to understand what a career in the tech industry might be like - the Schools Challenge will help school children get an insight into the industry.  

By focusing on ‘Tech for Good’ - the Challenge will inform and encourage school children to develop an innovative tech-based solution that addresses a real life problem and could help them and the world they live in!  

We are looking for businesses and organisations to join us. Use this form to register your interest.

Target Audience

The Schools Challenge will focus on engaging students across the North East, between the ages of 9-13 years old. We are keen to encourage participation from students with SEND needs from both specialist schools and those attending mainstream schools.

Skills Development

• Problem Solving
• Research
• Design
• Creative Thinking
• Presenting
• Team Work

Programme

• 9:30am - Arrival of school groups‍
• 9.45am - Workshops and demonstrations of tech equipment. Students will begin to generate ideas for challenge output‍
• 10.45am - Morning break‍
• 11am - Consolidation of ideas - challenge output created‍
• 12pm - Lunch - Students will be required to bring a packed lunch‍
• 12.30pm - Challenge showcase

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to pay to take part in the Schools Challenge?

The Schools Challenge is free for schools to take part. There is funding available to support schools with travel costs.

Is the Schools Challenge open to all schools?

The challenge is open to all schools, including home schools, in the North East region (Sunderland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Gateshead, Durham, Newcastle, Northumberland and Tees Valley). We are keen to engage more SEND students, both from specialist and mainstream schools. 

‍Will the participating children get any prizes for taking part?

All participating schools will receive a certificate. 

‍Is there funding available for travel?

Yes, if required, funding will be available to schools attending the Schools Challenge. You can let us know whether you would require funding in your application to take part. 

‍Am I guaranteed a place in the Schools Challenge?

We hope that all applying schools will be able to participate in the Schools Challenge, but this will be determined by how many applications we receive. We will let schools know either way in early May.

How do I apply to take part?

Simply fill in an application form. If your application is successful, we’ll be in touch via email with another form that will help us gather all the information we need from you about your school group and participating students.   

When do I need to apply by?  

The deadline for submitting your application is Friday 1 May.

Looking for your next big career move? Want to upskill, switch industries, or connect with top employers? Don’t miss this exclusive in-person careers fair...

The North East’s largest Digital and Tech Careers Fair returns in 2026 with the theme “Opportunities for All.” 

Last year’s event welcomed over 500 attendees, bringing together experienced professionals, emerging talent, and organisations from across the region’s thriving digital and technology sectors.  

With over 30 exhibitors from leading tech organisations, this event connects employers with people looking to explore new careers, training opportunities, and pathways into the digital and tech industry.​

Who should attend?

This event is for everyone – from experienced professionals aiming for senior roles to career switchers and fresh talent exploring digital and tech careers.

With the theme “Opportunities for All,” the careers fair is committed to creating an inclusive space for people from all backgrounds, career stages, and skill levels.  

Why attend?

• Meet Leading Employers: Connect with top companies actively hiring across a range of experience levels.
• Upskilling & Training Opportunities: Explore certifications, reskilling programmes, and career development workshops.
• Career Growth for All: Whether you're a seasoned professional seeking leadership roles or a newcomer looking to break into the industry, there’s something for you.
• Inspiring Career Talks: Hear from leading organisations about the future of tech careers, emerging trends, and how to succeed in the industry.
• Expand Your Network: Build valuable connections with employers, training providers, and career mentors.

Additional event features & benefits:

• Live Talks by Industry Leaders: Hear insights from leading organisations on the future of tech careers and industry trends.
• CV Clinic & Career Coaching: Receive expert advice to strengthen your CV and career strategy.
• Exclusive Networking Opportunities: Choose to share your details with exhibitors during the sign-up process to enable potential follow-ups after the event.
• Free LinkedIn / Passport-Style Photos: Enhance your professional profile with a polished headshot.

Sign up now and unlock all the opportunities this careers fair has to offer – completely free of charge.  

Spaces are limited – only 530 spots are available in total! Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Secure your spot now!

New in 2026, join us for the Tech for Good Hub. With three rooms covering a wide range of talks and workshops, we are bringing together technologists, VCSE sector and public sector representatives to explore and discuss how tech is making a difference in our communities.

This year we have simplified booking with one ticket for the whole day, but please note for sessions in smaller rooms entry is on a first-come-first-served basis.

Find out more about the sessions that are taking place, and book your tickets below. Some programme sessions may be added or changed in the run up to TechNExt.

Complete your festival week the right way. TechNExt invites you to an informal festival party at Revolución de Cuba. It’s a moment to revel in the remarkable achievements of the North East tech sector while meeting and catching up with fellow tech enthusiasts and attendees from across the UK.

Food is provided, and as part of our Good Festival Ambition, please note that all catering at this event will be vegetarian. All additional dietary requirements will also be catered for, please state your needs on the booking form.

Dynamo North East members receive a 40% discount on all flagship event tickets. Please contact info@dynamonortheast.co.uk for your code.

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Join us for a day of activities exploring Data, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning with industry leaders from the region and beyond across three rooms at the National Innovation Centre for Data at The Catalyst in Newcastle. Note that lunch is not provided but there is catering available on site and at surrounding shops and cafes.

This year we have simplified booking with one ticket for the whole day, but please note for sessions in smaller rooms entry is on a first-come-first-served basis.

Find out more about the sessions that are taking place, and book your tickets below. Some programme sessions may be added or changed in the run up to TechNExt.

Join us for the Creative Tech Hub at TechNExt26 where we will have inspiring talks, panel sessions and creative demonstrations across a day of exciting activities. The festivities will continue long into the night with our partners Sunderland Music City.

This year we have simplified booking with one ticket for the whole day, but please note for sessions in smaller rooms entry is on a first-come-first-served basis.

Find out more about the sessions that are taking place, and book your tickets below. Some programme sessions may be added or changed in the run up to TechNExt.

More information will follow soon. To join this event you need to either Sponsor the festival or sign up to the TechNExt Pledge.

Join us for the Tech Startup Hub where we have a packed day of activities for Tech Startups at all stages of development. Enjoy talks, panel sessions and presentations bringing together the Tech Startup community in the North East.

This year we have simplified booking with one ticket for the whole day, but please note for sessions in smaller rooms entry is on a first-come-first-served basis.

The Tech Startup Hub programme is coming soon - sign up for tickets below.

The Glasshouse Artist in Residence, Nat Sharp, invites you to a private sharing of SPUME, a multisensory installation blending reflected light, immersive sound, and tactile encounters.  

Lie down on a soft seabed, absorb healing frequencies, and practice the art of horizontalism — gazing upward through a shimmering surface where glass buoys drift and scatter light across the space.  

The soundscape, built with subtle and intuitive technologies, resonates through the room in ways that invite you not just to listen, but to feel and participate fully — creating a gentle, shared presence.  

The work is rooted in Nat’s personal stories and expansive influences: from childhood memories of the Merchant Navy to the ancient vibrations of the Solfeggio scales, matriarchal sirens, sonic body transduction, and ecological reflection.  

This is an invitation to slow down and explore a rich, inclusive world of connection and creativity.  

Note: This is an open sharing so visitors can drop in at anytime between 11am-5pm.   

The building is closed for a private event on Thursday so please make your way to the West Entrance main Doors (the doors where you can see the Tyne Bridge) and a friendly face from our team will welcome you and show you where to go.   

Co-produced by The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, in partnership with Newcastle University.

If you’re a small business owner, freelancer, or part of a local SME, you know how much time gets lost juggling digital tools, managing endless information, and trying to stay on top of it all. But what if some of that pressure comes from data and systems you don’t even realise are holding you back?  

This friendly, informal event is part of the TechNExt Festival Fringe 2025 and is packed with real, useful advice not just theory. We’ll cover how to reduce digital overload, manage your data more effectively, and explore low-cost green tech options that can help your business run more efficiently.  

Highlights include: 

• A session on dark data—the unseen digital clutter draining your time and resources, led by Sharon Sinclair-Williams
• Tips for avoiding digital burnout and supporting your team’s wellbeing
• Advice on using data and technology to grow sustainably
• Local support info from the BEST (Business Energy Savings Team)

You’ll also have the chance to connect with other local businesses, share experiences, and leave with ideas you can put into action right away.

Step into the most realistic, high fidelity VR experience in the North East.  Whether you are racing at breakneck speeds or soaring through the skies, you’ll feel every turn, drop and impact with our 6 degrees of freedom motion platforms, haptic emersion and force feedback controls.  

If you nimble enough to climb into the simulator you're welcome to join us for an unforgettable experience. 

This event led by the NortHFutures Hub aims to foster collaboration in healthcare technologies (health-tech), bringing together research and innovation in people centred approaches to humanising health-tech. During the workshop we want to hear from the audience about what your needs are and where the gaps/barriers are for collaboration so that we can build and develop opportunities for future collaborations in healthcare technologies.  

The workshop will explore ways healthcare, design and tech companies can come together with academia to develop an ecosystem that engages and lead in digital health and health tech initiatives.  The aim going forward is to create an inclusive environment where everyone can come together to collaborate, innovate and share insights and experiences.  

There are a number of unmet health and care needs and inequalities in the region that we need to address.  

“Our region has a strong history and legacy of innovation, transformation and collaboration. Many of our future aims and aspirations will be enabled with digital data and technology, allowing our region not just to do the same things better, but to do better things." — Professor Graham Evans, Executive Chief Digital and Information Officer/SIRO, at NHS NENC ICB.  

The NortHFutures consortium has a shared agenda to address unmet health needs, inequalities, and digital exclusion in the North East and North Cumbria (NENC) region where there is proportionately high deprivation, child poverty, mental health challenges and a high percentage of people in the population living with multiple long-term conditions.  

Representatives from the region’s universities will present specific engagement opportunities they have in the health-tech sector as part of the NortHFutures Hub.  We will then host an interactive workshop to explore opportunities for collaboration with future funding calls.  

NortHFutures Hub’s mission is to foster collaboration, networking, and entrepreneurial ventures within the Healthcare community across the region.  

This fringe event aims to ignite innovation and facilitate pathways to commercial success for healthcare technologies within the North East and Cumbria.  

We will discuss the following themes:  

• Promoting Health and Nutrition for Children and Young People;  

• Developing Digital Surgical Pathways;  

• Supporting Mental Health and Wellbeing;  

• Living and Ageing Well with Multiple Long-term Conditions.  

For more information please contact Emma Batey, businessenquiry@northumbria.ac.uk

Since 2013, multi award-winning Southpaw Dance Company have created powerful, joyous performances, from small scale solo work to large scale outdoor spectaculars, combining absolute artistic integrity with engaging narratives which inspire and excite audiences. Infinitely versatile and virtuosic, Southpaw’s work is inspiring, thought-provoking, engaging, and full of joie de danse.  

We end the immersive hub in style with a showcase of how digital technologies such as immersive tech and virtual production are creating new possibilities when it comes to live performance.

Join us to explore how XR technologies are revolutionising patient care during the opening session of the Immersive Hub at TechNExt. This session will feature insights on XR in healthcare, initiatives enhancing health and wellbeing through health-tech, and an AI-powered XR experience for training healthcare professionals.

Join Shermin Arab, Scientist at Samsung Technologies and formerly of Meta and Apple for a captivating keynote on the journey of Extended Reality (XR), from Google Glass to Ray-Ban Stories/Orion, HoloLens, and Vision Pro. The session will explore XR's evolution and dive into the display technologies that power XR devices, such as microLED, OLED, and waveguide technologies, and understand how they enhance the immersive experience. The session will also focus on the challenges and opportunities within the XR landscape while uncovering the exciting prospects across industries like healthcare, retail, and remote work.

If you're a solo entrepreneur in the tech world, chances are you're:

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• Wearing every hat – from developer to marketer to CEO

• Battling self-doubt, decision fatigue or imposter syndrome

• Struggling to scale without burning out

• Knowing your tech, but questioning your strategy

• Ready to grow – but unclear what’s holding you back

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This 75minute session is an opportunity to experience: 

• Real-time coaching tools to surface and reframe limiting beliefs

• Peer connections with like-minded tech founders

• A space to step back and think bigger - not just do more

• Concrete actions to help you shift from stuck to strategic

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You’ll Leave With:

• A refreshed mindset that fuels growth

• One strategic action you’re excited to implement

• A reframed belief that stops playing small

• Tools to keep your mindset aligned as your business scales

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The session will be led by Sam Patterson: Leadership coach, facilitator and trainer supporting startup and scale up businesses to realise their dreams. 

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At the heart of this work is you – the one with the idea, who’s already bringing it to life and has the courage to keep growing, changing and pushing comfortable.  

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This is easier to do with help. 

You bring:

🔹 Deep expertise in you, your ambitions and your business. 

🔹 A drive to make things better.

🔹 A commitment to meaningful change.

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I bring:

🔸 Specialist expertise in partnering with people to drive positive change.

🔸 A creative yet challenging perspective that pushes boundaries.

🔸 An unwavering belief in your ability to succeed.

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“I had the privilege of being part of Sam’s Aspiring Leaders course, and I can confidently say it was instrumental in my professional development. Before this, I had never experienced coaching, but thanks to Sam’s guidance, I can’t imagine a future without it.

Her ability to create a safe, inspiring, and thought-provoking space for growth is truly exceptional. She doesn’t just teach leadership, she empowers you to see your own potential and take action with confidence. Her insights, support, and practical approach have had a lasting impact on both my mindset and my career.

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If you have the opportunity to work with Sam, take it, you won’t regret it! 🚀” 

Kai Pitt-Richardson CEO Reset Reload

Join us for a discussion on how to effectively embed data and AI tools into decision-making processes in government organisations. This event is designed for analysts and decision-makers interested in using data to create a meaningful impact.  

Embedding data and AI tools into workflows and ensuring they are actively used to drive decisions can be challenging. This event will explore strategies to avoid the common pitfalls of developing data dashboards that are rarely or never used. Attendees will gain valuable insights into the challenges and enablers of successful integration, learning what works for driving effective data-driven policymaking.  

The event will include presentations and a Q&A session. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from experts in the public sector who have successfully integrated data and AI into their decision-making frameworks. Lunch will be served at the event.

Is your business too reliant on you to thrive—or even survive? Join Laurie Stirling, Growth + Exit Strategist and creator of the Step Back to Scale System, for a powerful webinar designed to help entrepreneurs turn their businesses into streamlined, scalable, and self-sustaining operations. This 60-minute session is perfect for business owners who want to step back without slowing down—or prepare for a successful future exit or sale.

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You’ll discover:

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• The key systems that make a business scalable and sellable
• How to reduce founder-dependence without losing control
• Strategies to increase business value and attractiveness to buyers
• Real examples of entrepreneurs who created exit-ready businesses
• Expect a practical, insight-packed session with time for Q&A at the end. Whether you want to sell in 2 years or simply create freedom now, this webinar will give you a clear roadmap to move forward with confidence.

Step into the most realistic, high fidelity VR experience in the North East.  Whether you are racing at breakneck speeds or soaring through the skies, you’ll feel every turn, drop and impact with our 6 degrees of freedom motion platforms, haptic emersion and force feedback controls.  

If you nimble enough to climb into the simulator you're welcome to join us for an unforgettable experience. 

A collaborative approach to workshop learning where attendees can work with Maven and other industry experts and advisors to:

• Understand the process and benefits of raising equity finance, navigating the complexities of business ownership.

• Highlight the common challenges and pitfalls when speaking to investors.

• Provide practical insights and investment readiness tools and resources.

• Introduce active growth and fundraising opportunities for local tech businesses.

Join us for an event dedicated to exploring trust and security in AI, with a special focus on defence. Building on the success of our AI report, "The View From the Top: How Business Leaders Are Operationalising AI," this event promises to delve into critical topics such as AI, cybersecurity, and defence strategies.  

The evening will begin with a panel discussion chaired by Womble Bond Dickinson, featuring industry experts who will share their insights and experiences.  

Following the panel discussion, there will be a drinks reception.  

Don't miss this chance to gain valuable insights into the future of AI and its implications for defence and security. We look forward to seeing you there!

Jon and Dave are the co-founders of Blu Sky Chartered Accountants, a firm they built over 15 years to become a cornerstone of the North East’s startup ecosystem. Through their work with a diverse range of businesses, Jon and Dave have become trusted advisors and champions of entrepreneurial growth in the region.

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Beyond running a successful practice, they’ve shared their insights and humour through their podcast, 2 Pints of Lager and a Spreadsheet, which has gained a loyal following. With years of experience, they’ve gained a rare perspective on the challenges, triumphs, and missteps faced by founders, particularly when it comes to raising capital.

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Join us as Jon and Dave share candid stories from their journey, reflect on Dave’s recent exit from the business, and reveal the common pitfalls founders face when seeking funding—along with practical advice to avoid them. This is a must-attend session for anyone navigating the highs and lows of entrepreneurship.

This moderated discussion featuring speakers from government, industry, HE, FE, and students will explore key topics around conceptualising tertiary education in the UK. This will include but are not limited to:  

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• What does “tertiary education” mean in today’s world — and who is it for?
• What are the key features of a well-coordinated regional tertiary education system, and who is best positioned to lead it?
• What are the unintended consequences of current tertiary education policy frameworks?
• Where would Research & Innovation best placed and connected with the tertiary education system?
• Whose voices have been marginalised or excluded from shaping the system — and how do we change that?

We are delighted to be joined on the panel by:  

Kim Smith - Regional Lead: Technical Education & Enterprise, North East Combined Authority  

Xin Xu - Departmental Lecturer in Higher/Tertiary Education, SKOPE   

Matt Forshaw - Senior Advisor for Skills, The Alan Turing Institute   

Louise Doyle - Co-Founder, MESMA  

Mike Chapman - Campus Principal: Bede Campus , Sunderland College

Join us for an engaging event where industry leaders explore how evolving technologies, hiring practices, and workforce expectations are reshaping tech recruitment.  

Whether you're a people management leader, recruiter, business leader, or educator, this is your opportunity to gain valuable insights and connect with key voices shaping the future of tech hiring.  

The event will start off with arrivals and networking at the cafe, and then delegates will be moved to Committee Room 1 for the welcome, insightful speeches, and the main panel as follows.  

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Welcome & Keynotes

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• Kim Smith, Regional Lead of Technical Education & Enterprise at North East Combined Authority, will open the event.
• Louise Reed, Solutions Director - Future Skills at Reed, will deliver a keynote on the future trends shaping skills demand and the recruitment landscape.
• Chris Brierley-Roberts, Senior Training Manager at Microsoft, will deliver a speech on how AI and Microsoft Copilot are impacting recruitment.

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Expert Panel Discussion

Moderated by Cheryl Burns, Head of Practice at Reed Technology, this thought-provoking panel brings together tech and talent acquisition leaders to discuss:  

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• How the tech hiring landscape has evolved
• The growing role of AI and automation in recruitment
• Remote work and accessing global talent pools
• Skills-based hiring and the rising importance of soft skills
• Predictions for the next 3–5 years in tech recruitment

Panellists include:  

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• Amanda Parry, Digital, Data and Technology People Lead at NHS Business Services Authority
• Jill McKinney, Director of Service Delivery at Sunderland Software City, and Digital Skills Council Member at DSIT
• Leanne Cullen, Chief Operating Officer at Seriös Group
• Louise Reed, Solutions Director - Future Skills at Reed

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect and learn about the future of tech hiring in the North East and beyond...  

Stick around after the event to connect and network with Tech Talent Live 2025 exhibitors too!

As every business becomes a data business and data users grow more diverse, taking a strategic approach to data isn’t just important, it’s essential for real impact. Seeing data as a valuable asset opens up new opportunities across your organisation.  

Join us for a 30-minute panel discussing how data teams can create greater impact by treating data as a product: building dynamic, reusable assets that fuel insights and decision-making across multiple parts of the business.  

We’ll cover the key elements of effective data products, the principles and architectures that support them, and how strong data foundations enables AI Futures that drive your business goals.  

Our team of data solution experts; Product Director, Charlie, Head of Data Engineering, Joseph and Product Manager, Paul will be joined by Andrew Mason, Head of Data & Analytics at Grainger plc.

Join Hekla Goodman Parker and Jamie Hardesty who open our Tech Startup Hub with data and insight regarding the state of North East tech startups. Jamie and Hekla will explore both the region’s tech startup credentials in numbers and provide insight into developments to boost the ecosystem and make  the North East into a region of thriving innovation.

Managind Director of Business Durham, Sarah Slaven, welcomes all attendees of Tech NExt 2025 showcasing some of what makes Durham a great tech hub. From the spin outs of Durham University to the UK's premier science park, NetPark, the city remains as a powerhouse for innovation and collaboration in the fields of science and technology. 

Paul Watson, NICD:  

An overview from the National Innovation Centre for Data's Director  

Aaron Harris, Sage:  

Sage’s Global CTO, Aaron Harris, will take you behind the scenes of how Sage is delivering AI at scale across its global platform, serving thousands of SMBs worldwide. In this keynote, you’ll get an inside look at the breadth of Sage’s AI capabilities, the groundbreaking services already embedded into critical business workflows, and how our customers are using AI today to drive real outcomes. Aaron will dive deep into Sage’s technical strategy for building, scaling, and operationalizing AI across our product portfolio — and offer a preview of the next generation of innovations we’re bringing to market. If you want to see what it truly takes to deliver AI for millions of users, this is a session you won’t want to miss.

This exciting fringe event is part of TechNExt 2025 and brings together expert insights from M&S, Fenwick and Eldon Square; cutting-edge technology, and relaxed coworking opportunities. All of this is designed to help you explore how innovation is reshaping the high street as we know it.  

Explore the Technology  

Curious about what the high street of tomorrow may look like?  

Experience the next generation of retail technology, including magic mirrors, robotics, AR wayfinding, smart wearable technology, and lots more!  

Meet the technologists and innovators who are building the future of customer experience.  

Hear from the Experts  

Retail Panel Discussion: Is Technology Killing or Saving the High Street?  

Hear from leading voices in retail and regional technology as they explore the evolving role of technology in the retail sector. There will be the opportunity to learn more about innovation within the retail space to ask our expert panel any burning questions that you may have.  

Our panel speakers will be:  

Helen Cowie, Centre Director of Eldon Square  

Matt Wood, Deputy Director at Fenwick  

Vicky Donahue, Store Manager at M&S  

Andi Liddell, Animmersion UK  

Whether you are a retailer, technologist, student or simply curious, this event is for you!  

We hope to see you at The Highstreet Reimagined: Tech Retail Expo. For more information about this event, please get in touch with Jenna Ingoe by emailing: jenna.ingoe@sunderlandsoftwarecity.com

It's part of a two-day immersive retail event hosted in 5G Immersive Lab, Eldon Square. 

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Day 1: Monday 17 June – Retail Industry Focus (4:30 pm – 6pm time TBC)

with a potential panellists: Eldon Square, Fenwick, M&S, Vodafone, and creative

tech studio Lighthouse; 

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Day 2: Tuesday 18 June – Public Innovation Drop-in with an expo of different interactive tech demos, like: Magic Mirror (featuring River Island content), Cleaning robotics, Immersive clothing (smart/AR t-shirts), AR wayfinding apps (HyperAR, Zappar), AI Personal Shopper avatars, Scent/smell-enabled experiences, Virtual Mall app.

Join us for Esports Recovery and Future Growth - a dynamic panel exploring the future of UK esports. Hear from top voices including Kylie Kendrick (Senior Technical Specialist for Esports, Durham University), Matthew Ashford (Esports Psychologist, Guild Esports & Aston Villa), and others across the industry. We’ll discuss how to attract new players, fans, and funding, how to support young gamers, and whether it’s ever too late to get involved. Expect engaging insights, audience Q&A, and practical takeaways for players, parents, and professionals alike. This session is ideal for anyone passionate about the future of competitive gaming.

Understand what the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill means for SMEs, why they’re increasingly at risk, and how it connects to Cyber Essentials and ISO 27001. This webinar covers practical steps to prepare and how Melius CyberSafe helps SMEs with penetration testing, continuous monitoring, and compliance support.

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Melius CyberSafe + invited guests (tbc) will present this informative webinar with opportunities for Q&A and also pointing after the event to helpful resources for SMEs. 

Join us for a look into the world of advanced media production and the impact these tools are having on live performance. This interactive session will be led by Southpaw Dance Company, founded in 2013 under the artistic direction of Robby Graham, who consistently pushes the boundaries of dance theatre. The session will explore how technologies is opening new opportunities across the creative industries, culminating in live performance by Southpaw.

Join us at the BALTIC Riverside to celebrate TechNext25!TechNExt festival is a celebration of the North East's thriving technology sector.

Through a mixture of curated and community designed fringe events, TechNExt will serve as a showcase of the diversity, achievements and breadth of the tech sector in the North East. The festival aims to help drive the message that the North East is a region that is passionate about supporting, developing and growing its tech sector for the benefit of everyone.

Festival Party - Thursday 19 June (7.00pm - 11.00pm) - BALTIC Riverside Cafe, Gateshead

Complete your festival week the right way. TechNExt invites you to an informal festival party at the iconic BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Arts. It’s a moment to revel in the remarkable achievements of the North East tech sector while meeting and catching up with fellow tech enthusiasts and attendees from across the UK.

Food is provided, and as part of our Good Festival Ambition, please note that all catering at this event will be vegetarian. All additional dietary requirements will also be catered for, please state your needs on the booking form.

Good Festival Ambition

The festival is planned as a Good Festival with ‘for good’ being a core value running through everything. This will ensure a focus on quality, inclusivity, diversity, accessibility, and sustainability.

As part of this ambition, we are offering a buddy system where attendees can select the option to be met by a friendly face from the TechNExt team or wider community on arrival. Your buddy would help you feel comfortable at the event perhaps by chatting over a coffee on arrival, introducing you to new faces, or help you understand more about the content of the event and what's planned that day. You can apply for a 'buddy' through the ticket purchase process.

We are also committed to minimising the impact of our events on the environment. We work closely with our clients, venues, suppliers and delegates to reduce the impact of our activity wherever possible. Last year, the festival's carbon from curated events was 7.49 tCO2e and we decided, as an ethical offset, to donate the equivalent carbon credit value to a North East environmental charity, Groundwork North East & Cumbria for their nature-based solutions programme. More measures will be intoduced this year, tracking the festival's carbon footprint once again, leading us to further reduce our impact and become carbon neutral in future years.

You will be asked to complete some questions about your planned travel which will help us create the carbon footprint for the festival.

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Refunds

Please note our ticket refund policy below:

Up to 12 weeks before the event starts - full refundMore than 8 weeks before the event starts, but less than 12 weeks - 50% refundLess than 8 weeks before the event starts - no refund

The session will combine an abstract visual landscape experienced via an Apple Vision device, with a short Yoga Nidra. 

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Nidra, which literally translates as "sleep", is a form of NSDR (Non Sleeping Deep Rest), sort of like a guided meditation. The goal is bring the mind into a meditative state. Traditionally this practice is done in darkness, and the participants are guided via the voice of the facilitator. This new experience will combine that with the colour, motion and depth available with the VisionOS platform.

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The participants will be seated for safety as well as relaxation. 

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We only have access to one device. If it's possible to borrow some additional devices, the workshop could be run with a group of up to 10, and would last for 30-60 minutes. If that's not possible, the workshop could be run for one person at a time, with the experience lasting around 15 minutes instead. 

The Schools Challenge 2025 engaged with North East school children in tech and with tech employers in the region.  

Technology is all around us, but sometimes it‘s difficult to understand what a career in the tech industry might be like. The Schools Challenge helped school children get an insight into the industry.  

By focusing on ‘Tech for Good' and working with North East tech industry mentors, the Challenge invited school children between 9-13 years to develop an innovative tech-based solution that addressed a real life problem and could help them and the world they live in!  

This year, the students were encouraged to look at themes such as Gaming, Online Safety, the Planet, and Cyber & AI.

UK utilities business are increasingly turning to data-driven technologies to address the key challenges they face. Water utilities businesses and energy providers are adopting AI analytics, sensors and other cutting-edge technologies, and the data they provide, to deliver smarter and more sustainable services to their customers. This Opencast talk brings together key players in the North East utilities space and our partners to share their experience of harnessing technology for better, more sustainable services.

The demos will be fun and interactive and applicable to people with little to no knowledge of AI, as well as those with more technical and in-depth knowledge. We will also feature new/trending tech where possible. 

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Demos will showcase real work Accenture has done with clients, as well as proofs of concept, other AI examples from other companies, and will give people the chance to have a bit of fun with some generative AI tools. For example, we will have a ‘video prompt game’ where people can suggest a prompt for an existing photo (a bit like a ‘caption this’ activity), and the tool will turn it into a 15-second video. These examples are both impressive and funny, and give an idea of the current maturity of Generative AI. We will also look to bring new devices like the Rabbit smartphone, iPads with demos they can interact with, and potentially other hardware as well.

AI agents - opportunities and threats – an Opencast talk  

Gartner predicts that AI Agents are set to make 15% of day-to-day work decisions autonomously by 2028 – they’re here to stay and are only going to get more prolific. However, their potential is inextricably linked to a very difficult challenge – safeguarding intelligent agents against unintended outcomes, errors and ever-present cyber threats. Agents are effectively a “black box” and determining why an agent makes a particular choice is near impossible, making transparency and trust a major issue.  

This talk, featuring Opencast's Director of Technology Strategy Gordon Murray alongside User Research Practice Lead Marianne O’Loughlin, highlights the challenges, risks and dependencies and explores potential ways to ensure accuracy, transparency, security and ethical standards within agentic workflows.

“All I want to know is, what’s our gross profit for this work?”

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Answering simple questions can sometimes be really hard in business.  

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Reports which take 10s of hours to create, and are instantly out of date.

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Slower decision making, or paralysis simply waiting for the right data to make decisions.

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Why does this happen?

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Businesses have software which is storing data in silos – it simply doesn’t talk to each other.

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What happens next is lots of manual effort keeping it in sync, or just giving up.

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The real risk though? If it’s not connected already, how can you possibly leverage AI to make holistic assessments of the business, or drive holistic improvements?

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You’re destined to use AI in the business in a generic way, rather than a deep way which creates competitive advantage.

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The way to resolve this, is getting fundamentals right now.

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The solution is to create a strategy for tech, which involves an ‘integration layer’, designed to connect all data sources, and pipe it all into a business intelligence dashboard which tells you in real time how healthy your business is.

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Then, adding AI is way easier, and easier means speed.

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In this session, we will speak directly to business owners, to show how to drive innovative change around business intelligence, what you will need, and why it matters.

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The purpose of this is to create clarity from confusion, with a set of steps for those who do not want to wait any longer!

"What is Winning With Numbers? 

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Winning With Numbers is a structured and systemised number curriculum and learning platform that ensures children are fluent and confident with number by the age of ten.  

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Winning With Numbers was establised in the North East in 2022. 

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Too many children leave education without key knowledge and skills (DfE). 

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Winning With Numbers is an edtech programme that helps ensure all children are fluent and confident with number by the age of ten. 

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It runs a subscription model with schools as its main target audience and tutors and parents as a secondary target. 

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The Winning With Numbers curriculum identifies 300 small steps of progression and puts them in a straight-line sequence of learning making it easy for staff and parents to support children to move from one WIN to the next.  

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Each of the 300 WINs has a comprehensive suite of digital resources to be used in school and at home. The Winning With Numbers resources for all 300 WINs on the learning platform include:

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Subject knowledge training videos for staff  

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Sequential teaching videos and explicit instructions teaching videos  

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Online practice and retrieval questions  

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Online user feedback and support  

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Support videos for parents 

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Individual awards system 

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Whole school tracking       

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Winning With Numbers has thousands of users and we work with schools who want to boost their maths provision and upskill staff and support parents as they go. Winning With Numbers provides a complete package of training for staff, resources for lessons and assessment and support for parents.  

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Winning With Numbers founders, Ben Harding and Bethan Harding MBE are both experienced Headteachers and School Inspectors and have moved into the startup world! Both worlds equally intense but very different. There have been a number of learning journeys along the way as they have worked to bring entrepreneurship and education together!

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The aim of the proposed session will be to introduce and further discuss NEST’s core mission, which is based on the following principles:  

1.. To promote the region as the sustainable technology capital of the UK;  

2.. To network and share best practice in the development and application of sustainable technology solutions;  

3.. To help educate and raise standards in sustainability best practice across all businesses in the region; and  

4.. To engage with representative bodies including political leadership in the region to promote better integration between sustainable technology businesses and education.  

The Facilitator & Panelists will provide a series of discussion points to highlight the benefit that these principles will bring to Partner Organisations and the broader public; essentially harnessing the power of Technology for Social and Environmental Good and in full alignment with the Ten Year Growth Plan of the North East Combined Authority [NECA].

Held in the Decision Theatre at the Catalyst, this event is expected to compliment the festival day at the Data & AI Hub giving delegates an opportunity to step out of the conference and explore practical applications and demonstrations of Data & AI.  It is expected to run over the lunch period so as not to deprive delegates of the opportunity to attend as may other ev ents as possible.  Therefore it is suggested the showcase runs from 11:30 - 13;30 and the room hire form 11:00 - 14:00 to enable set up and strip down.

This session will summarise current trends, opportunities and risks within AI implementation. Focus will be placed on the whole life cycle of a Machine Learning or AI solution from data gathering to evaluation of the developed models. Through a number of case-studies the benefits of adopting Data Science and AI methods will be explored. Keynote presentation with two presenters.   

A collaborative approach to workshop learning where attendees can work with Maven and other industry experts and advisors to: 

• Understand the process and benefits of raising equity finance, navigating the complexities of business ownership.
• Highlight the common challenges and pitfalls when speaking to investors.
• Provide practical insights and investment readiness tools and resources.
• Introduce active growth and fundraising opportunities for local tech businesses.

It’s a simple format of keynote speaker / fireside chat / panel followed by high quality networking. The panel discussion will be on AI Ecosystem in the North East with a Startup, Eco system partner/academia and a VC and industry player hosted by Twin path ventures (our VC partner for London AI Breakfast). Followed by a local AI start up showcasing their product and then networking. 

Agile teams often struggle with communication between design and technical teams, leading to uncertainty and confusion. This can result in unsustainable time lags and broken team dynamics, which have social and economic impacts on projects. This workshop will introduce methods, including presentation visuals, workshop techniques, and interactive sessions, to explore ways of working that create sustainable team dynamics.

Prediction does not equal control. The path to value delivery is not smooth, and both businesses and people need to roll with the impact of AI, decentralised models, quantum processing and more. This session develops elements of critical thinking and flexible planning for an uncertain future.

Led by Neil Wilson a partner in our Business Advisory team that works with early stage tech founders, our session would take the form of an interactive presentation with lots of time for audience participation and Q&A. 

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Key areas included are;

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• Income generation

• Revenue models

• Systems and processes

• Business structures

• Founder equity

• Types of funding and tax reliefs

Join Accenture for a thought provoking panel discussion around the impacts of Gen AI and how it's shaping the future! Some of our AI experts will be talking through the local and global impacts of AI along with some real life examples on how AI is shaping not just the technology sector, but the day to day lives of each of us.  

Host: Erin Kinnee  

Panellists: Rohan Nakashe, Danielle Armstrong, Elisio Silva.

The event will showcase the third sector’s best practice of bridging the gap between technology, accessibility, and communication. It will focus on the latest innovations and advancements of Tech for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Hearing Communities, and offer opportunity to get hands on with the interactive activities on the day.

Product on the Tyne, in partnership with Tech on the Tyne, will bring together tech and product professionals from across the North-east to learn, share and network. The conference will welcome leading product experts, coaches and leaders along with with emerging voices at the forefront of cutting edge technology for a day of talks and practical workshops.

Experts will explore the growing demand for green skills, highlighting the importance of reskilling and upskilling in renewable energy, circular economy, and sustainable practices. They will discuss workforce challenges, policy support, and practical steps businesses can take to thrive in a low-carbon economy.