The worldwide audience for Birmingham’s Hello Digital week has affirmed it as a huge success and a reinforcement of Birmingham’s place on the world digital stage.
In a week which saw Birmingham recognised as one of the world’s ‘Smart21′ intelligent cities by the internationally-renowned Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), Hello Digital gave visitors from the public and private sector a small taste of what is possible with the smart application of digital technologies.
Hello Digital’s three main events – Beyond 2010, Hello Business and the Eurocities KSF Autumn conference – drew over 900 delegates to the International Convention Centre and the Custard Factory in Digbeth to hear keynote speakers including Ian Watmore, the Cabinet Office’s chief operating officer; Alex Hunter, ex-Virgin Media global head of online content; Neelie Kroes, the EU’s vice president and digital agenda commissioner; and Robert Bell, co-founder of the ICF.
As befits events focused on the use of digital technologies, Hello Digital week generated masses of comment and coverage online. Worldwide, over 20,000 people interacted digitally with the week’s events, with over 1000 uses of the #HelloBiz hashtag alone.
Birmingham City deputy leader Paul Tilsley, who heads up the Digital Birmingham partnership, said: “We’re delighted with the success of Hello Digital week, especially as it coincided with – and, to some extent, competed for attention with – the Government’s spending review, making the issues under discussion even more pertinent. The number of physical and online delegates to the three key conferences reinforces not only the quality of the speakers and relevance of the dialogue, but also the pre-eminent position Birmingham now occupies as a leading global digital city.”
Raj Mack, head of Digital Birmingham, added: “Hello Digital week was a worthy showcase for Birmingham’s years of work in promoting the digital agenda and provides a real springboard for potential future projects. There’s much more that can be done and we look forward to continuing working with our partners to show how digital technologies can revolutionise business and public services for the benefit of all.”
A total of 337 delegates attended the Beyond 2010 conference – which focused on how the public sector can utilise digital technologies to deliver more for less – with 420 attending Hello Business, aimed at showing how companies can boost business the digital way. In addition, a further 59 signed up for a special spending review breakfast briefing, analysis and debate, hosted by Deloitte, which was held on the morning after the spending review announcement and attracted 126 delegates in total.
The Eurocities KSF conference attracted 85 delegates from 22 cities in Europe and nine in the UK, and the Beyond 2010 conference included live ‘follow the sun’ link-ups with Edmonton, Seoul and Sydney, further extending the week’s global reach.
The Hello Business website had 8,000 unique visitors, with over 14,800 visitors to the Beyond 2010 website during October, 1371 of them on the first day of the conference; and Hello Digital’s Facebook page attracted friends from the USA, Germany and Portugal.
In addition 41 people watched online the BSL signed version of the live stream of the Beyond 2010 conference.
Twitter comments on the Hello Digital week experience included:
- “If there was an advert for Birmingham as the hotbed for innovation, creativity and collaboration, it was/is @hello_business” – @GeckoProgrammes
- “Loving the digital appetite of #Birmingham! So many SMEs, so keen to be at heart of digital revolution, like industrial rev” – Neelie Kroes
- “Birmingham is really taking ‘digital city’ thing seriously & rightly so-they’re good #hellodinner #Beyond2010″ – @Socitm
ENDS
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Note to editors
Digital Birmingham is a Birmingham City Council initiative and a strategic partnership of private, voluntary and public organisations throughout the city. It aims to establish Birmingham as a leading European digital city in 2010 and ensure that the benefits of digital technologies are available to all in the city. For more information visit www.digitalbirmingham.co.uk.
Hello Digital has been created to support and celebrate Birmingham’s investment in digital technologies as a route to generating economic growth, closing the digital divide and promoting greater social inclusion. An innovative partnership between Birmingham City Council, Digital Birmingham, Say Hello, Screen WM, Arts Council England West Midlands, Business Link WM and Marketing Birmingham, it will acknowledge Birmingham as a leading digital city, populated by skilled citizens and businesses fully engaged with technology and committed to reinforcing the city’s reputation as a centre for investment and business growth, as well as a great place to live, learn and work.
Birmingham’s Hello Digital Week ran from 18 – 22 October 2010 and comprised a number of events celebrating the city’s and the region’s technological achievements against the best in the world. Hello Digital Week aimed to open up the debate on the impact of technologies across the broadest cross section of industries, and provide a platform to build links and share digital best practice, ideas and opportunities on an international level. For more information visit www.hellodigital.net
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