Business

BelTech 2022 - helping Belfast to champion tech innovation

Launching this year's BelTech are (from left) Mark Brown, vice president of technology products at Unosquare; Catherine Paul, lead software engineer at Kainos; Belfast lord mayor Kate Nicholl; Tony Marron, managing director of Liberty IT; and Kevin Higgins, technical lead at Allstate NI
Launching this year's BelTech are (from left) Mark Brown, vice president of technology products at Unosquare; Catherine Paul, lead software engineer at Kainos; Belfast lord mayor Kate Nicholl; Tony Marron, managing director of Liberty IT; and Kevin Hi Launching this year's BelTech are (from left) Mark Brown, vice president of technology products at Unosquare; Catherine Paul, lead software engineer at Kainos; Belfast lord mayor Kate Nicholl; Tony Marron, managing director of Liberty IT; and Kevin Higgins, technical lead at Allstate NI

NORTHERN Ireland is home to a vibrant technology community that is leading the way in innovation across many sectors. We have a healthy mixture of tech firms at various stages, some which have operated for decades and are now complemented by a lively start-up ecosystem.

This mixture creates the perfect environment for collaboration, and collaboration can be a catalyst for innovation. It is this potential for collaboration that inspired Kainos to curate the popular BelTech conference, and we’re pleased to be back with the ninth annual instalment this April.

After a challenging two years that brought the importance of our technological capabilities to the forefront, BelTech is a celebration of the activities and achievements of our industry, as well as a chance for technologists to come together to share challenges, ideas, and inspiration.

This year’s conference will feature dozens of expert speakers covering a broad range of exciting topics, from how artificial intelligence (AI) can radically transform healthcare delivery to what the future of sustainable software development might look like – and how to be at the forefront of this revolution.

The sessions, each curated in collaboration with other local tech firms, are designed to reflect current trends, challenges, ideas and advancements, so it’s no surprise that many focus on AI and the opportunities it presents.

The possibilities AI offers are only limited by our imagination, which is why discussions like these, bringing together a mixture of experienced technologists and those at the early stages of their careers, are so essential.

This leads on to another important focus of BelTech – and one we share at Kainos. Encouraging young people into our sector is embedded into everything we do at Kainos, and BelTech will once again give us the opportunity to meet the next generation of innovators.

BelTech EDU, the educational stream of the BelTech programme, has done this for thousands of young people through the years, and will once again offer insights to the students of today about what working in the technology industry really looks like, how the technology industry continues to innovate and find solutions to the problems of the world, and inspire them to do the same with their career.

Most importantly, BelTech is key to building an inclusive community of technologists that are committed to ongoing, sustainable growth and development. To achieve remarkable things, we need to be collaborative and build networks with our technology leaders within our industry. But this can only be done if our innovators and leaders have the chance to meet, collaborate and share ideas, which is why we look forward to celebrating with them next month.

Uniting technologists from across the country, BelTech 2022 (www.beltech.co) will challenge, celebrate, and inspire when we meet in person on April 7 at Titanic Belfast.

Aislinn McBride is digital services chief technology officer at Kainos