We're big in Japan! Northamptonshire making waves as a digital creative hub

Some of the 500 participants at the Merged Futures eventSome of the 500 participants at the Merged Futures event
Some of the 500 participants at the Merged Futures event
Techie from Tokyo among first to log in to six-hour online conference

Tokyo calling Northamptonshire!

A bold bid to put the county on the map as a ‘digital creative hub’ has been making waves everywhere from Japan to Iraq.

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The six-hour Merged Futures event attracted more than 500 participants from around the globe, including the United States.

A collaboration between the county council, University of Northampton and local digital businesses, the online conference hosted by Digital Northampton in June featured an array of experts discussing everything from the future of social media to online education and cyber crime.

One of the first people to log in via Zoom was a techie from Tokyo.

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Yann Klein, a software engineer from Le Wagon, Japan: said: “Being based in Tokyo, It’s usually hard to meet and hear about cutting edge technologies from Europe and the US.

“In the event I e-met Nicolo Carpignoli, one of the lead developers in Web AR (augmented reality), the field I’m passionate about. It was a unique opportunity made possible by Digital Northampton.”

The county council’s web and digital manager Richard Beards, who was instrumental in organising the now annual event, said: “We broadcast across three Zoom rooms, and included 12 learning sessions with presentations from local digital businesses.

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“People attended from all over the world and many local people also joined in.

“The presentations reflected the ethos of Merged Futures, combining expert knowledge and opinion from different sectors to produce more meaningful collaborations and connections.

“Talks and workshops ranged from humanising the digital experience and the benefits of user research to digital learning in classrooms across Europe.

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“The interaction and engagement from attendees through Zoom chat, Twitter and LinkedIn was fantastic and the event worked perfectly as a showcase for the digital innovation taking place across our county.

“Many new connections were made and ideas shared on how to grow this digital community further to help put Northamptonshire on the map for tech innovation.”

Find out more and watch the Zoom presentations at www.mergedfutures.com