2020 vision for going digital
Colleagues from across the University can sign up to take part in the biggest digital festival in the UK.
You can get involved with the University’s 2020 Leeds Digital Festival events
We have renewed our sponsorship of Leeds Digital Festival (LDF) for next year’s instalment of the hugely popular tech showcase, running from 20 April to 1 May.
LDF is a non-profit organisation supported by the digital community of Leeds, Leeds City Council and TechNorth – the Government’s initiative to promote and support digital entrepreneurship.
This year’s two-week-long Festival attracted 25,000 attendees to a record 240 events, including Fintech, Artificial Intelligence (AI), coding, cyber security, data, start-ups, Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR) and much more.
In fact, there were more tech events in Leeds during LDF 2019 than in San Francisco – home to Silicon Valley! Companies hosting and speaking included some of the biggest names in the region and beyond, including Sky Betting and Gaming, NHS Digital, Google, Microsoft and IBM.
And our own University Showcase, hosted by Nexus, also proved a big hit, including the hugely successful Women In Leeds Digital event, which cast the spotlight on the range of female activity within the sector.
Now, colleagues are invited to sign up for LDF 2020 to highlight the incredible digital innovation going on at the University.
Professor Neil Morris is encouraging colleagues to showcase their digital innovations
Professor Neil Morris, Dean of Digital Education at Leeds, said: “The University is proud to be continuing as a premier sponsor for the 2020 Festival.
“We would like to encourage colleagues from right across the education and research communities at the University to engage with the Festival, to showcase the innovative use of digital technologies and build stronger partnerships with the growing digital sector in Leeds.”
Going global
Delegations from China, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands and Estonia attended this year’s Festival, and plans are already in place to inject an even stronger international flavour into the 2020 instalment, echoing the University’s own strategy for greater global engagement.
Professor Nick Plant highlights the many opportunities provided by LDF 2020
Professor Nick Plant, Dean of Research Quality and Impact, added: “Leeds creates and advances knowledge and insight, delivering innovative solutions that improve people’s lives locally, nationally and globally through collaboration with national and international partners.
“Digital technologies are critical to many areas of our research, including our Centre for Immersive Technologies, Medical Technologies, Future of Work, Smart Cities, the Cultural Institute and Leeds Institute for Data Analytics. The Leeds Digital Festival offers many opportunities to engage businesses in the city, forming collaborations that will shape our future.”
Indeed, such interdisciplinary research is very much at the heart of the University’s own efforts to tackle global challenges.
Further information
Contact the Digital Education team at Leeds if you are interested in getting involved in the University’s 2020 Festival events, or register to take part now via the Festival website.
Posted in: University newsResearch and innovationIn depthNexus