University to host Digital Northampton’s summer symposium

The University of Northampton is hosting an event which aims to raise Northamptonshire’s reputation as a digital destination.

Digital Northampton is a new independent collaboration between the University, Northamptonshire County Council and local digital businesses, and is designed to support digital innovation in the town.

Digital Northampton will be holding the Merged Futures summer symposium at Waterside Campus on Friday 14 June.

Merged Futures will connect technology companies in Northampton and people with an interest in seeing how Digital Northampton can support the town, including the University’s own students and academics.

To find out more about Merged Futures and to book a free place, visit the event website.

Presentations at the event will include how virtual reality could improve access to mental healthcare and how the Internet of Things could benefit all of our lives.

Breakout sessions will also focus on the role technology increasingly plays in a variety of disciplines including education, the arts, heritage and film, while a panel discussion will examine more widely just how digital innovation could benefit the county.

Stephen Westley, managing director at Iris IOT Solutions, said: “Digital Northampton has already brought people together through social media and now we’re delighted that a lot of the talent that we have in the town is coming together under one roof for our summer event.

“We’ve said before that the digital economy is moving forward at a tremendous pace and it’s time that we took stock of exactly what’s on offer in Northampton and how it could benefit business and society in general.

“People are faced with many challenges from the local to the global and digital innovation provides us with powerful tools to help solve problems and create better futures.”

One of Digital Northampton’s aims is to keep the University’s digitally savvy graduates from leaving the town to pursue a career elsewhere – find out more about that here.

Digital talent cultivated at the University is all too often lured away to areas more commonly associated with digital innovation, meaning the town loses out on skilled workers and the potential to grow the local digital economy.

But Digital Northampton is looking to change that, by making graduates more aware of the opportunities on their doorstep, including jobs, industry placements and helping to forge a more connected digital community.

Another major aim of the project will be to create a digital hub – a centre dedicated to digital innovation to allow close collaboration and information sharing – seen as pivotal to aid the expansion of the local digital economy.

Follow Digital Northampton on Twitter or visit the website.