The biennial festival welcomed delegates from up, down and all over the UK. The event hosted speakers from Goldsmiths University, BBC, University College London, New Scientist and a host of tech innovators and digital marketing gurus.
With help from partners Baltic Creative CIC, Liverpool City Council, Bruntwood, The Binary Team engaged with over 300 people across keynote speaker, workshops, and networking events.
The festival took place in some of the most exciting venues in the city, branching out from Liverpool’s creative centre, the Baltic Triangle. Playing host to Binary Festival 2018 were: Northern Lights Creative Workspaces, the brand new Hinterlands event-space, which opened its doors specifically for Binary Festival, Fazenda and FACT cinema and art-space, to name but a few.
Attendees and delegates were thrilled with the opportunity to teach, be taught and discuss together some of the biggest talking points from within the digital sphere. A showcase of some of the leaders of the UK’s growing digital industry; Binary ’18 was a tech-engagement event for the new age. As Liverpool’s City Region Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram put it before the festival: “The Fourth Industrial Revolution” is underway and alive in Liverpool.
This is exactly why Binary Festival is so vital to the North West’s future.
Highlights this year were memorable and many:
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Christian Hughes of Curly Productions spoke on how to turn your YouTube channel into a success, through monetisation and creative use of content.
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Andy Kent of web-app developer Angel Solutions talked through business, attitude and how to get ahead with positivity.
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Science and Stuff (BBC Radio Ulster) presenter Emer Maguire went back 40,000 years to discover the technology behind the discovery of music and evolution of language.
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Digital Thought-leader Lydia Gregory of FeedForward and BIMA defined and demystified the hype behind AI, Intelligent Automation and “Digital Labour” in the workforce and in the modern business strategy.
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Dominic Wilcox of littleinventors.org led a presentation on encouraging school children to invent things, and why he’s been delighting the United Nations by putting them into production.
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New Scientist writer Lydia Nicholas discussed the anthropology of technology and where it is taking, not only society, but the whole human race.
Everyone was given opportunity to interact with the talks and workshops, as well as networking over breakfast in Northern Lights’ Tusk, lunch in Liverpool’s famous “street-food market” Baltic Market and drinks in the FACT cinema and gallery bar.
Speaking at the event, Herb Kim, director of Binary Festival, hailed the area’s dedication to tech, creativity and community spirit:
“It was really the Baltic Triangle Area Partnership that put forward the notion of Binary. That’s a reflection of the fact that it’s a successful thriving area and they have the resources and the size of the community here to support it.”
Nicholas Baskerville, Marketing Manager of Hinterlands/Constellations said:
“Binary was the first ever conference at Hinterlands. A symbiotic relationship, one we’re excited to nurture in the future. Our mission as a company has always been to provide events and spaces dedicated to promoting creativity and business. First, through Constellations and now through Hinterlands. We’ve combined the industrious nature of our Baltic neighbourhood with forward thinking events and technology. Binary Festival were the first organisation to put their faith in us and this has given us all a taste of what is possible in the space. Exploring and promoting creativity and technology and most importantly championing collaboration and the sharing of ideas. This is what Hinterlands was built for.”
“We want to thank everyone who came to the event and offered their kind words of support. Our plans for the future include exploring new technologies to enhance the buildings features and make it a truly immersive and interactive experience for every guest. This means that next year’s festival can only be better and we can’t wait to show you what we have in store.”
Mark Lawler, Managing Director here at Baltic Creative CIC said:
“Baltic Creative CIC was delighted to see delegates and speakers from around the UK gather in Liverpool for our 2nd Binary Festival. The main room for the keynotes was buzzing as we were at full capacity with over 300 delegates and seeing so many C&D businesses talking positively about their plans, ambitions and future was so inspiring. The Liverpool C&D scene got right behind the event again. This event is fast establishing itself as a key part of the Creative & Digital Calendar in Liverpool and we’re delighted to support it. We’re so excited about the future of Liverpool Binary Festival – we can’t wait to see what Herb and his team have planned for future events!”
Photo Credit: Binary Festival (c)
