Connect the region
Studios, broadcasters, agencies, universities and technology partners across the North know each other far less well than they should. Getting the right people together, regularly, is the first job.
Creative Tech North
A quarterly meet-up for creative and media professionals working with technology across the North of England.
AI is evolving faster than most teams can keep pace with, so each meet-up carries a strong focus on the subject.
Format
Quarterly sessions
Focus
AI and creative technology
In partnership with FourPointZero and Dream Lab.
The work is already happening up here.
The latest tools, the approaches professionals are taking, and both current and forthcoming legislation all come up. Most of the useful knowledge sits with the people already doing the work, which is what these meet-ups are for.
Each session centres on a practical demonstration from a fellow industry professional and a showcase of work, with time to talk it through afterwards. You leave with something you can put into practice.
Our five key objectives
The North of England has a wealth of industry talent. Our aim is to showcase it and help it grow.
Share what is working
Real projects with real numbers, explained by the people who did the work. The parts that went badly are usually the most useful hour of the night.
Open up opportunity
Circulating funding routes, joint bids, partnerships and commercial openings so they reach the whole community rather than the same handful of names each time.
Raise the region’s profile
The national conversation about creative technology still defaults to London. A visible Northern community changes who gets invited and who gets funded.
Build a route in
Making it easier for people early in their careers, and those moving across from adjacent disciplines, to find their way into this work and to the people already doing it.
Every part of the industry, in one room.
From technologists and producers to creatives, engineers and data scientists. Everyone is welcome.
Technologists
Creative technology professionals
Production
Producers and production leads
Creatives
Designers, directors, artists and creatives
Engineering
Developers and engineers
Data Science
Data scientists and ML practitioners
Legislation is part of the conversation.
The rules are being written while the work happens. We make room to compare notes on them, peer to peer, with no compliance lecture.
EU
The AI Act is in force, phasing in since 2025, and its reach does not stop at the Channel. Any studio working with European audiences or clients is already inside it, from transparency and disclosure through to how general-purpose models are used.
UK
No equivalent Act yet. A growth-focused bill has been signalled but is not law. That leaves creative teams making their own calls on provenance, disclosure and where the human sits, often ahead of the rulebook.
Independent and industry-led.
A joint initiative between FourPointZero and Dream Lab. As the group grows, a steering group drawn from across the regional industry will set the direction and the themes.
WhereGreater Manchester, Liverpool, and eventually Yorkshire.
How oftenQuarterly
CostFree of charge
Lead themeAI in creative and media
StatusNot-for-profit
ReviewAfter the first event, then yearly
Dates for the first meet-up land in the next couple of weeks.
Follow the page to hear first. If you would like to be a founding supporter, speak, or offer a venue, we would like to hear from you.
Or just say hello: hello@creativetechnorth.org.uk