Beyond Conference to celebrate Salford’s growing creative industry

This year, a conference in MediaCity will celebrate the “significant growth” within the creative industries in Salford. 

The Beyond Conference will take place in Salford’s media hub this November and will honour the region’s successful creative industries.

Salford Mayor, Paul Dennett, commented: “Over the last decade, we have worked hard, alongside partners and through investment to turn MediaCity into one of the UK’s foremost hubs for creativity and innovation. I’m very happy that Beyond Conference will take place in Salford this year.”

MediaCity in Salford Quays is home to over 250 creative and tech businesses including some of the world’s largest media and tech brands like the BBC, ITV, Ericsson and dock10.

Salford has also recorded the highest GVA growth increase and employment growth across Greater Manchester. The conference aims to celebrate Salford’s success and the fact that MediaCity is set to double in size in the next decade with a £1bn expansion.

The conference, which runs from November 25 and 27 this year, will host a ‘unique and global’ gathering of current and future innovators, who will focus on research and development across the creative industries

Previous events have been held in London and Cardiff, hosting a wealth of leading industry speakers, including actor and activist Michael Sheen and ABBA Voyage producer, Svana Gisla.

The conference features the Immersive Futures Lab, giving innovators a platform to put exciting XR prototypes, many featuring the latest VR and AR technologies, into the hands of new audiences and tell the stories behind their work.

Professor Andrew Chitty, Chair of BEYOND, said: “There is no shortage of creative brilliance and bold visions out there, ready to unleash the potential.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming creators, artists, researchers, businesses – from startup to multinationals – and policy makers, to MediaCity, Salford, to discover, see, hear and discuss what this means in practice.”

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Featured image credit: David Dixon, Wikimedia.