TechNExt Festival 2023

June 2023 saw the launch of TechNExt, a five day festival celebrating the North East’s thriving technology sector. Organised by BeaconHouse in partnership with Dynamo North East and Sunderland Software City, the festival welcomed over 3,000 attendees at its 57 events across the region, throwing a spotlight on the best tech businesses and talent the North East has to offer.

Curated showcase events included an Industry Dinner at Radisson Blu in Durham, No Code Arcade at Northumbria University, Tech Talent Live Careers Fair at Baltic Gateshead and Festival Wrap Party at Revolucion de Cuba. The Main Stage Conference at Sunderland City Hall formed the centrepiece of the festival, and featured six keynote speakers from the UK, Europe and US on topics such as AI, Tech for Good and technology for human enablement as well as panel discussions from the region’s most exciting start-ups and global businesses.

The festival also offered a comprehensive programme of over 50 community-designed and led fringe events, providing a unique opportunity for the local business community to actively participate, share knowledge and learn from one another.

From the outset, TechNExt was planned as a Good Festival, with ‘for good’ being a core value that ran throughout in its approach to quality, inclusivity, diversity, accessibility and sustainability.

With something for everyone, the festival successfully brought together tech enthusiasts from all walks of life and showcased the North East’s dynamic and vibrant technology sector to the region and beyond.

“High quality events like these, where we can learn more about advancements in technology from the best in the business, is massively valuable to us”
Roland Glancy, attendee and panellist at Main Stage, founder of Peek Home.

“Thanks so much for helping make TechNExt the week it was. I’ve received nothing but positive feedback and I’m still in awe of how you all make this work seamlessly!”
David Dunn, Sunderland Software City and CEO, Dynamo North East