Member Article

Newcastle Startup Week to return in 2018 after successful first outing

Newcastle Startup Week, the North East entrepreneurship and innovation festival, is to return in 2018 after a wildly successful inaugural programme this year.

Event organiser and regional ‘SuperConnector’ Paul Lancaster has confirmed that the city wide, multi-venue festival will be making a return this year following its successful launch event in May.

While plans for next year’s event are understandably at a very early stage, it is likely to build on this year’s efforts which brought together 600 delegates from the North East tech community, who all enjoyed speeches and advice from luminaries including Sage, Uber, Digital Union and Sunderland Software City.

Giving his verdict on the first-ever Newcastle Startup Week, Lancaster, who is also Managing Director of Plan Digital UK, said that he was immensely satisfied with how the event went, and that the time was right to get prepping for next year’s programme.

He said: “I loved every minute of Newcastle Startup Week and, once it was underway, and I knew we had a full house at The Boiler Shop on Day 1, I think I spent the whole week with a huge smile on my face and a feeling of enormous pride and satisfaction.

“Not only for what we’d achieved but that my faith in the strong community spirit of our region was being demonstrated for everyone to see.

“There are so many little anecdotes and examples of people coming together for the first time, using the week as an opportunity to launch a new product or service, gain confidence and renew their excitement about their business.”

Lancaster will also be helming the Newcastle Scaleup Summit this November at the city’s Live Theatre, where he will be exploring ways that delegates can collaborate and grow their businesses at scale.

Outlining his expectations for the summit, Lancaster said he hopes to leverage his 15 years of experience helping companies grow along with his extensive network of contacts to help some of the region’s businesses fulfil their potential.

He added: “We’re going to build on last month’s event with a 1-day ‘Newcastle Scaleup Summit’ at the Live Theatre on 23rd.

“This will be a more practical, hands-on event where delegates can learn how other local entrepreneurs have successfully grown their business in the morning, followed by a series of facilitated workshops, 1-2-1s and breakout sessions to help them get stuck in and start the process of growing and scaling.”

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →