This week (27 November 2024), the BEYOND conference came to Salford in Greater Manchester, where it showcased the innovative potential of creative cities, giving a platform to the creative brilliance and the bold visions within our city regions and beyond.
BEYOND was three days of unique discussions between current and future innovators, focused on research and development across the creative industries. It brought together thinkers, makers, investors and researchers across the creative industries to explore the relationship between creative research and business innovation.
Now in its 7th year, it has proved successful in showcasing individuals, teams and organisations powering ground-breaking projects and creative clusters both in the UK and globally. It drew positive feedback from its delegates and encouraged people to explore MediaCity and the surrounding Salford area.
This year, BEYOND’s largest ever showcases featured cutting-edge prototype projects and innovative R&D in the Immersive Futures Lab, alongside a new addition, the Creative R&D Expo, with the latter highlighting innovation from the full breadth of the creative industries.
The Immersive Futures Lab allowed visitors to experience innovative projects that use Virtual Reality, Spatial Audio, Augmented Reality, AI and Machine Learning, Fashion Tech, Music tech, Med Tech, Sustainability & Eco tech, CreaTech, Mixed Reality, Games Engines, XR and more.
Across the three days, sessions included keynotes from Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and Mayor of Salford Paul Dennett. Delegates also enjoyed sessions chaired by University of Manchester and University of Salford lecturers, speakers from MIDAS, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and GM Business Growth Hub.
BEYOND Conference Chair, Professor Andrew Chitty said ”There is no shortage of creative brilliance and bold visions out there, ready to unleash the potential. We enjoyed 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.”