In the last month, we have witnessed a plethora of exciting, European tech exhibitions and festivals. From the start of London Tech Week, in mid-June, to Tech Open Air – which ended Friday – the past five weeks have seen the most exciting, upcoming entrepreneurs in tech mingle with the most prominent names in the industry.
The output of this prolonged link of innovative design thinking has produced an impressive range of ideas, products, concepts, and presentations. Here at The Unknown Creative, we have been keeping a close eye on all proceedings, and our design studio has been bustling with interest and intrigue.
We were present at the official opening of EIT Digital’s London Node, which was opened by their CEO, Willem Jonker, while Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, officially launched London Tech Week. At Here East, Hackney, Khan announced Better Futures: a clean tech incubator for startups and small businesses innovating in the clean technology sector. With more than £1.5M funding already raised, via the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), the incubator will support startups working on smart-city and vehicle production.
Khan also announced a new innovation hub, Plexal, which is set to be the largest of its kind in Europe – housing 800 startups and SMEs, at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
A big theme of London Tech Week was its focus on AI, and its current impact and future effect on the workplace. This peaked on day 3 of the event, with the Rise of the Robots event at Worldplay’s offices, in The Walbrook Building.
The headline campaign of the event was TechXLR8, which put a strong focus on the potential of the 5G network, while our own interest in EdTech was kindled by the 3rd Future EdTech event at Immarsat.
Unsurprisingly, VR became a prominent feature of the event, and was used to showcase the development and possibilities of the technology across events – including at Tech Open Air’s Haus of Tech, in Berlin, where Red Bull promised indoor, outdoor thrills to its audience via interaction with their immersive visuals.
Tech Open Air (11-14 July, Berlin), combined tech (of course), music, and art – so is typically one we enjoy in our studio. Similarly, Dublin’s Inspirefest is a diverse, interdisciplinary festival, combining sci-tech and the arts, and from 6-8 July showcased a divergent field of creations, concepts, and ideologies.
The importance of combining the arts in education was a featured message of Inspirefest, as the theme of: “STEM to STEAM” (Science, Tech, Engineering, Arts, Maths) was repeatedly conveyed.
Along with the Digital Travel Summit, at the end of June, and the Digital Cities Forum, on July 4 – both hosted in London – as well as We Are Tech North starting its tour of the UK, the summer has already been blossoming with the latest in digital technology and innovation.
At The Unknown Creative, we are lucky enough to be regularly engaged by prominent designers and developers of technology. We have produced original EdTech and environmentally friendly energy management applications, and delivered entire brand identities to prominent, progressive tech organisations. Our experience and understanding of the industry mean that our creative communications engage with clever, tech-hungry customers on an intellectual, and emotional level.
And… it appears that we’re certainly not alone in our eagerness to engage with the industry – June’s Viva Tech Paris announced after its 3 day event that it had been viewed online more than 1 billion times!
Our event calendars are filled with exciting exhibitions that promise the new, the interesting, and the diverse that come out of the tech industry. While we develop our own latest design innovations, we await the output of the next important event in the calendar – and our next, first contact with a new, equally tech-captivated client.