A summertime festival that brings together innovators from all over the globe is set to return to Newcastle Racecourse after a two-year hiatus.
Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival is returning for 2022, and is set to bring thousands of ambitious people from the worlds of science, technology and more together at the iconic North East venue.
The sixth iteration of the well-known event, which is aimed at solving environmental and societal challenges, will be taking place in the height of summer between 12-15th July.
The festival will see people gather both physically and digitally for a series of design sprints, hacks, workshops and activities, aimed at solving difficult problems on topics such as climate change, cyber security, and water scarcity or future ways of working.
Aside from the hard work, attendees will also be treated to a mix of music, comedy, tech-demos, well-being activities and amazing celebrity guest speakers. Last year’s festival saw talks from guests such as documentary-maker Louis Theroux and activist Magid Magid, as well as a live exercise session with fitness guru Mr Motivator.
The theme for this year’s festival is ‘Untapped Potential’ and will focus on finding and bringing together untapped talent from all kinds of different sectors, backgrounds and locations across the globe.
Nigel Watson, Information Services Director at Northumbrian Water, said: “We’re extremely excited to be returning for a sixth year, and to be coming ‘home’ in a way, back to Newcastle Racecourse where this all began!
“Anyone who has ever been to our festivals before knows that it is a celebration of ideas, fun and is a total thrill – and is without doubt the best week at work you could possibly have.
“This year’s theme is ‘Untapped Potential’ – and we’re going to be tapping into different ideas that haven’t been fully explored before.
“We know that diversity is the key to coming up with good ideas – diverse people, opinions, ideas and backgrounds. So, everyone is invited to come along and be a part of something incredibly special!”
Previous Innovation Festivals have seen a variety of different successful projects - the most famous of which is the National Underground Asset Register.
This was an idea from the 2018 festival which has recently been adopted by the UK government and is currently being developed for a national roll-out.
Ahead of announcing the return of the festival, organisers thought closely about the devastating situation unfolding in the Ukraine.
The decision was taken for the event to still go ahead, but the situation will continue to be monitored and the festival will look at helping the humanitarian effort in some way – with further details to be revealed closer to the time.
As well as that, the event will continue to look at other challenges that impact our global community, such as climate change.
To be a part of the festival, register your interest here - www.innovationfestival.org/register