Leeds Digital Festival's 'second edition' to host record 294 events

The Leeds Digital Festival has announced the programme for its ‘second edition’ of 2020, with 294 events taking place, from September 21 to October 2.

A spokesman said: “The festival was due to announce 250 physical events for its April edition but was forced to switch to an online festival because of Covid-19 and 134 online events were subsequently organised within three weeks.

“The September Festival will feature mainly virtual events, but will also have a number of physical events.”

Highlights of the two-week festival include events arranged by organisations including BJSS, ODI Leeds, Asda, Deloitte, and Raspberry Pi.

There is also a Tech in China event featuring Alibaba organised by Leeds City Council. The Embassy of Israel is putting on two events. There are four events from the Department of International Trade, and a Eurocities conference.

Sponsors and partners of the festival include Crisp, TPP, Leeds City Council, the University of Leeds and Channel 4.

Stuart Clarke, festival director, said: “I often say that the Leeds tech community is the most collaborative in the UK and to host almost 300 events in our second festival of the year goes a long way to prove that.

He added: “The Leeds Digital Festival is the most varied tech event in the country, with events covering all aspects of the sector, from healthtech to data to coding to cyber security.

Adam Hildreth, CEO and founder of main Festival sponsor Crisp, said: “We’ve been really pleased to support the Leeds Digital Festival over the last few years as it's an incredible showcase for the talent we have in the city region and helps to cement the city’s reputation as a fast-growing tech cluster.

"As a Leeds born and bred business with an international focus, it’s great to see the growing number of international events taking place, which helps to spread Leeds' message across the world.”

“There are also events covering how specific industries use tech, for example Arup and SES in construction and engineering, and Opera North and the British Library in the cultural world.”

For more information visit: https://leedsdigitalfestival.org/about/