Lancaster's first virtual digital and tech festival will go live throughout May

Speakers including Dan Knowles, Ruth Wilkinson, Mark Hallam, Lorna Stellakis, Michael Gibson, Rich Dyer and Jane Binnion will be hosting talks to allow people to discover the different types of career opportunity locally and what it takes to start a digital business.

So far 15 different talks on subjects ranging from digital marketing, data science, mobile hardware, eCommerce and influencer marketing have been booked with a few more still to confirm.

Festival organiser Dan Knowles was keen to ensure the event went ahead despite the Coronavirus pandemic.

He said: “The original concept was an offline event but with the pandemic we had to scale back.

"However, digitisation is vital in our economic recovery and I wanted to ensure Lancastrians knew more about the opportunities on their doorstep.”

Local companies such as Mazuma Mobile on White Lund, Cloud Commerce Pro based at Fenton House and Relative Insight from Infolab are all represented.

Dan added: “The stories of some of the founders of these businesses are incredible. Many people will be surprised to discover the types of organisation that start and grow right here in North Lancashire.”

Lancaster’s digital story has seen a great deal of activity this year. Lancaster University has recently opened its latest high-profile digital support programme, the Lancashire Cyber Foundry.

Lancaster City Council has implemented its own digital strategy and the County Council will be opening the city’s first Digital and Tech Hub, Fraser House at White Cross.

“I’ve been working closely with the County Council and Digital Lancashire on Fraser House,” said Dan.

“The hub will provide a central location for a digital community to prosper. It’s only right therefore that digital business has its own showcase event in the city to amplify what we do.”

For a full list of talks and presentations please visit arrayfestival.co.uk