The Leeds Digital Festival is a multi-venue, city-wide festival celebrating digital culture in all its forms that took take place from Monday 25th to Friday 29th April.
Leeds Digital Festival collaborated with the award-winning Live at Leeds music festival, to create an exciting programme showcasing the hottest musical talent and the latest emerging digital technologies.
I was lucky enough to attend several of the events taking place on the 28th of April. This was a day of firsts for me. I had never been to Leeds, and I had no idea of what to expect from the festival.
After an early start I made my way to my first event taking place at The Tetley – A contemporary art gallery complex. I was here to look at how important digital credentials are within the digital industry, and how these qualifications and recommendations can affect your reputation to both potential clients and employers. This helped me to appreciate the value of the various memberships and certifications that are on offer for businesses and your own personal development.
My next stop was over at FutureLabs. I was here to understand more about digital health. ‘Digital Health, If not now – when?’ gave me a unique insight to the world of digital health, where we are now, and where we want to be in the near future. With a wide variety of health and digital specialists we looked at issues with interoperability within the NHS, the pros and cons of using open source code for development within our health system, and looking at user focused services to simplify the flow of data within hospitals. With panels and presentations I feel I left with a much deeper understanding of where digital healthcare is now, and where we will be in the near future.
My final event of the day was over at Dock 29, a stylish bar by the Royal Armouries Museum. Glug is a series of events that take place all over the world for the creative and design community. With talks from social chain, Intermarketing, ODI Leeds, M14 industries and more! I only wish I was able to stay till the end. For a detailed account of Glug #5 check out our blog post.
I had a fantastic day at Leeds Digital Festival, I only wish that I could have gone to all of the other events. I know I will be back next year.