Humber hosts globally recognised tech festival

A Humber hosted technology festival sees global gathering with industry leaders gathering from the US and the Middle East to discuss Hull and Humber’s global connections.

Tech Week Humber, which takes place as a hybrid event from Monday 8 November until Friday 12 November, will cover all business sectors and will have a strong emphasis on education, with two days dedicated to delivering workshops for students.

The centrepiece of the programme on Tuesday 9 November will be Tech Expo, a full-day programme of events at Hull’s Bonus Arena featuring presentations from some of the biggest names in tech including IBM, Google, Microsoft and Apple and with local businesses launching innovative new tech products.

Antonio Tombanane, founder of Tech Week organisers GBE Connect, said: “Tech Week was launched in 2019 to showcase innovation from the Humber and to partner with the international tech community, and it is now recognised as a global technology festival which will be attended by the world’s most influential tech Brands.”

Tech Expo will open with a breakfast event presented by Welcome to Yorkshire and delegates will have the opportunity during the day to hear from more than 30 speakers including Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman and CEO of headline partner the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC).

Antonio said: “Landing DMCC as a headline partner is a real coup – a government entity which is the biggest free trade zone in the world with more than 19,000 Businesses. They are coming here as part of the effort to strengthen the trade ties between the UK and UAE and now we have got to show them what we can do.”

Texas-based global head of IBM hyper project accelerator, Dr Melissa Sassi will join a ‘women in tech’ panel. She said: “Profitability of firms increases when women leaders have a seat at the table. We must all foster career paths for women in tech, as there is no difference between the capabilities and strengths of women in the workforce compared to their male counterparts.

Hull-based ultra-fast broadband provider Connexin and Hull City Council have also lined up as Tech Week’s headline partners. Alex Yeung, founder and COO of Connexin, said: “Tech Week Humber is a brilliant chance for the region to showcase its tech talent and celebrate the growth and achievements that it has made with regards to digital innovation.

Mark Jones, director of regeneration at Hull City Council, said: He said: “Tech Week Humber is an important event that enables the area to showcase to a global audience the developments that are taking place within tech locally.”

Antonio added: “We’ve managed to get people here from all over the world because we didn’t take no for an answer and because they recognise they can come to Hull and reach a global audience.”

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