Leeds Aims for Digital Capital of the North

Stuart Clarke, director of Leeds Digital Festival, calls for funding to make Leeds the Digital Capital of the North.

21:03 10 May 2018

Stuart Clarke, the director of Leeds Digital Festival, was proud to announce that the event, which was held two weeks ago, was a huge success. He reported that there were 170 events that covered every aspect of digital technology and attended by 650 speakers and more than 20,000 attendees.

 

Tom Forth, associate of ODI Leeds, said that there were more tech events in Leeds last week than in San Francisco.

 

The event was an open platform festival that allowed any person or company to take part in it. Clarke said that one of the reasons why it has grown from just 56 events in 2016 to 170 this year is because people felt they are a part of it and want to celebrate and collaborate with others.

 

Clarke hopes that the industry can keep the momentum saying that long-term funding is key. He said: “We were only confident that we had the funds to put on this year’s festival about three weeks before it was due to take place. If we knew we had money in the pot for next year, we could spend the next twelve months planning an ever better event, instead of spending much of our time trying to bring in sponsorship.”

 

"I’m putting out a call to the city’s tech, property and professional services companies, all of which would benefit from continued growth in the tech sector: contribute to a fund that promotes Leeds and help to increase the flow of talent into the city."