The One to Watch: Digital City Festival 2020
This year, Manchester saw the inaugural Digital City Festival; five days of events showcasing the best in digital! Over the course of the week, our team attended both days of the festival conference as well as hosting our fourth RegTech Talks event: Innovation in Manufacturing.
Space: The Final Frontier
One of our day one highlights of the two-day conference included a talk from Alan Cross, the ESA Business Applications Ambassador of the European Space Agency (ESA). He also introduced Richard Flemmings from 4 Earth Intelligence, one of the SMEs their agency supports.
Both engaged in conversation about how they are using data gathered from low-orbit satellites to track vehicle usage and to calculate the exact number of moving vehicles at one time. They then process this data with a Co2 emission equation to give accurate air pollution figures for a specific region.
ESA are currently in the development stage of launching the Galileo Constellation project which promises up to 20cm accuracy from over 23,000km away! ‘Space data’ is a huge potential market that is currently worth £16bn in the UK…what an exciting space to watch!
The Manchester Cyber-Superhub
To wrap up day one, we attended a ‘behind the veil’ talk from a panel featuring a clandestine guest speaker, the Head of GCHQ Manchester, joined by Saskia Coplans, an ethical hacker from Digital Interruption. A debate followed around cyber security and how digital technology can keep up with rapid demand, with a focus on the question of whether Manchester can become a cyber-superhub and what steps must be taken to achieve this.
AI in Healthcare
On day two, Imtiaz Adam from Deep Learning Strategies LTD gave a talk on how his firm is using deep AI in the medical industry. The CEO, Imtiaz, stated that by using the technology, experts could identify and predict the growth of skin cancer prior to it becoming a danger to the patients.
It’s also worth mentioning that although Imtiaz was unable to attend the event from London, with the help from the University of Cambridge, we were able to attend his talk through a live stream in the keynote theatre!
Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself
To finish off day two, we attended a final talk hosted by Gem Hill from BBC. Her talk, ‘Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself’ was a look into how people at work, college and university must issue themselves with self-care to maintain their mental health. In a field where this can be neglected, Gem gave an in-depth viewpoint into how to use self-care as a mood barometer.To finish off day two, we attended a final talk hosted by Gem Hill from BBC. Her talk, ‘Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself’ was a look into how people at work, college and university must issue themselves with self-care to maintain their mental health. In a field where this can be neglected, Gem gave an in-depth viewpoint into how to use self-care as a mood barometer.
Throughout the week, our team took away a lot of new information and innovative ideas from attending talks, seminars and other fringe events that were taking place throughout the week. We had a great time supporting clients exhibiting and networking with new companies. We can’t wait to see how the festival will grow next year! Well done to everyone involved!