North East presenter and influencer Tilly Lockey and a man with the job title of chief failure officer are among the confirmed speakers for an upcoming tech event in the region.
Ms Lockey, who has two bionic arms having lost the limbs due to childhood meningitis, will speak at The TechNExt Festival about her experiences and in her role as a global ambassador for Open Bionics - a company innovating prosthetics. And Dutch academic, author and chief failure officer for the Institute of Brilliant Failures Paul Iske will talk about the importance of experimentation and failure in innovation.
They are joined at the June 19-23 Sunderland City Hall event by Ann-Marie Imafidon, computer scientist and founder of the Stemettes - a social enterprise promoting women in STEM careers; ex-Microsoft executive Dave Coplin; Nell Watson, a specialist in promoting human rights and ethics and safety in technologies; and Mala Kumar, a former UN worker and GitHub’s director of Tech for Social Good. The conference is based around three key sub themes: innovation and humans, technology and ethics, and 'business, society and people: getting the balance right'.
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Manila McLean, chief information officer at Newcastle Strategic Solutions, one of the event's headline sponsors alongside Digital Catapult, Opencast and Sage, said: “We are really excited to be a headline sponsor of the TechNExt festival. As one of the most established and successful FinTechs in the North East, we have been a major employer of tech and digital talent for almost 20 years. The festival is an opportunity to showcase the fantastic talent we know exists in the region, and bring the community together to look to the future and discuss how we can continue to develop and grow the already thriving tech sector.”
The TechNExt Festival is being delivered by Dynamo and its partner Sunderland Software City. Jamie Hardesty, head of communications and stakeholder engagement at Sunderland Software City, will host the conference, and said: "It’s with great excitement that we reveal our speakers for TechNExt. The festival will bring together a range of extraordinary innovators, sharing insights and inspiring stories that will be a real treat for our audience. Technology is for everyone.
"Its potential to transform the prosperity of our region is unmatched. It’ll be a privilege to host speakers hailing from here in the North East to right across the world; I’d encourage anyone interested in tech or innovation to join us for what’s going to be a special day."
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