TechNExt 2026 - Launch Event
TechNExt 2025 was an interesting event to be part of with the workshop Build a Podcast AI with Blazor using GitHub Models as part of the Data and AI Hub so it was great to be there for the TechNExt 2026 launch event hosted by David Dunn on Wednesday 26th November who talked about TechNExt being about the job and career opportunities to celebrate what is going on in the North East as well as reaching out to other places about what we are doing here. There are several tech festivals in the UK but from a standing start TechNExt is already at the top of the pack and are getting more activity plus national and international people being involved in TechNExt. TechNExt will be held between 16th and 20th June 2026 across venues in Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham, Northumberland, North Tyneside and Gateshead.
It is not possible do to it alone and it is up to those in the North East tech sector to help, TechNExt 2025 had over 3,000 attendees with over 100 speakers in 75 sessions and events with an audience of over 27,000 visitors to the website and more than 300,000 impressions on social media. TechNExt 2026 theme is Tech for Good from digital inclusion to everything in-between. The School's Challenge is being notched up and will bring together multiple schools for sprints and design phases plus there will be a Creative Tech hub in Sunderland which ties in with other events going on that week for music and concerts to bring a SXSW style of event to the North East.
TechNExt 2026 headline sponsors include Accenture, Sage and Leighton with Laura from Accenture who spoke about being pleased to be involved this year but have always been involved in some capacity with TechNExt showcasing people in the North East and it is really inspiring to see this and hopefully next year will be even better and the sponsorship goes beyond just a sponsorship and a logo on-screen, they are in the North East and Newcastle and want to help to being the North East alive in the tech community with the North East becoming the tech hub for the UK and are excited and thrilled to be part of it and are missing out if not involved.
You can pledge your support for TechNExt and need to make sure businesses can see the benefit and people can come, it is important to support people from a business point of view, let them come along to network and upskill and can talk about your company and have customer conversations which can only be good for those companies who go along and just think how positive it could be for your business.
Paula from Layers Studio was a pledge holder last year who mentioned to let people go and don't let them take holidays as it is important for teams to continually learn not just from speakers on the main stage but workshops from others who want to showcase and give back or allow their team to run events and give back to the region is massively important, they are passionate about what they do and want to instil this in others as people always need to adapt and learn so make sure you come along, host events and come to the main stage.
People need to be enthusiastic and talk about what they are going to do at TechNExt 2026, SuperTeam are supporting the event and it is a really important way to support the North East as a not-for-profit accelerator and is important to find talented people and give them the opportunities to learn and grow not just here but across their hubs in the UK so if building things new in emerging tech then they want to support those founders including getting first investors, get microgrants or find work in the industry they want to support this and people in their journey.
I really enjoyed being part of TechNExt 2025 not only for the workshop but for the main stage, sessions and various other events I attended as part of it and of course wrote about on this website, I'm looking forward to doing so again and one day I hope to step on stage myself but for now I'm happy to be involved in any way I can. So sign up to pledge your support to TechNExt 2026 today whether it is to come along or get involved at technext.co.uk.