Member Article

West Midlands Tech Sector Booms as Birmingham Tech Week Celebrates Its Fifth Successful Year

Tech West Mids (TechWM) celebrated a milestone year as the fifth annual Birmingham Tech Week saw record sign-ups for 39 events across 24 unique locations. In what was a huge week for the region, the not-for-profit organisation also announced a ground-breaking merger with Tech Mids, an established community of passionate tech professionals, to further its commitment to developing the region’s tech scene.

Already in its fifth year, the week was a chance to celebrate the hard work continuing to go into the region from software development and AI to manufacturing and engineering. Headed by Yiannis Maos MBE, the event was launched in 2019 by TechWM (then Birmingham Tech) and has become a mainstay in the events calendar.

The city welcomed business leaders, tech experts, and investors from across the country as over 7,500 people signed up to hear from the likes of the Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street; the CEO of HSBC UK, Ian Stuart; and Chief Executive of Founders Forum, Carolyn Dawson, who used the platform to relaunch Tech Nation.

Making use of some of the city’s finest locations including The Bond, STEAMhouse, and HSBC HQ, various panellists and speakers tackled issues like the digital skills gap, scaling-up, and digital transformation.

Yiannis Maos, CEO of TechWM shared his thoughts:

“Birmingham Tech Week is one of the standout moments of the year for the UK tech scene and we’re delighted to have delivered another fantastic week of events. For a region with so much to offer, it’s a pleasure for myself and the TechWM team to be able to shout about it on a stage that only continues to grow year-on-year.

“We’re also thrilled to have our partners and sponsors choose to share some of their most exciting news during Tech Week. Whether that’s the relaunch of Tech Nation, game-changing regional investment or our own merger with TechMids, these announcements speak to the incredible platform for tech that our region has become.”

Birmingham Tech Week was rounded off with the key announcement that TechWM would be merging with TechMids, the organisation that oversees the development and engineering community, to ensure this part of the tech sector receives more support and investment. As part of this, James Seconde will join TechWM in a non-executive director role.

Alistiar Hey, Co-founder of TechMids commented:

“After several years collaborating closely TechWM we are delighted to become part of the organisation. This merger will allow TechMids to continue to serve the development and engineering community whilst growing our reach and collaboration with our region’s fantastic technology businesses.

“We look forward to continuing to work towards our mission of making the midlands the best place to work in technology in the world.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Claire Bryson .