Summit a success as all eyes now on Digital Academy
More than 300 of the region’s leading SMEs attended Birmingham’s first digital summit aimed at helping businesses become more successful by embracing the digital revolution.
The all-day Greater Birmingham Digital Summit at the ICC saw speakers from Microsoft, Google and Linkedin as well as leading politicians discuss topics ranging from the business benefits of new technology�; to how to use social media for selling and networking.
The event also saw the launch of the Greater Birmingham Digital Academy, a new initiative from Digital Birmingham that will be hosting a series of free workshops throughout 2015 for SMEs on a range of topics around the digital economy.
Raj Mack, Head of Digital Birmingham, said: “The summit was a great success and was a great a opportunity for SMEs across the region who are looking for support on their digital journey to get a better understanding of the opportunities technology offers their business as well as the potential support available.
“Technology is an incredibly important part of today’s business environment and many of the most prosperous companies identify a coherent digital strategy as a critical strand of their success.
“Along with other initiatives such as the super-fast broadband voucher scheme, the completely free Digital Academy is part of our commitment to businesses across Birmingham to help them switch on to digital and ensure they are well-placed to help spearhead the city’s economic recovery.”
The summit heard from Pete Danks, Industry Head at Google UK, and Ha Cole, Architect & Strategist at Microsoft, who helped set the scene for SMEs to understand what technology is available to them now, and what’s just around the corner, such as drone deliveries and 3D printing.
Birmingham Post editor Stacey Barnfield chaired a panel debate discussing digital options for businesses.
Panel guests were Mr Danks, Ms Cole, Dr Phil Extance, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Business Partnerships at Aston University, Chi Onwurah, Labour MP for Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Shadow Cabinet Minister leading on cyber security and social entrepreneurship and Coun Lisa Trickett from Birmingham City Council.
There will be a number of workshops and related activities happening throughout the year. The Digital Academy kicks off on March 24 with a Digital Marketing seminar, closely followed by a second workshop on Realising the Power of Data on March 26. Other topics to be covered in future workshops will be Growing Your Business Through Digital, Digital Driven Performance, and Cloud Technology.
For more information about the Greater Birmingham Digital Academy and to sign up for free workshops please visit www.gbda.org.uk.
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Digital Birmingham is a council-led organisation working to improve the way services are delivered through the use of digital and smart technologies.
For the last eight years, it has been at the forefront of leading the city’s digital and Smart Cities development, working collaboratively with many varied clients and partners across the public, private and third sector to attract and manage digital investment and uptake.
For more information please contact Alun Thorne of Barques PR, on 0121 233 2080 or email alun@barquespr.co.uk.
