I was at Sync The City Norwich last week, an event that brought together some of the best coders, designer and creative/tech types in this fine city to collaborate in teams using technology to create potentially word changing (or bigger) ideas over just 54hrs. Described as a cross between ‘Dragon’s Den’ and ‘The Apprentice’ the ultimate goal was to pitch the finished concept to a panel of industry experts in order to win cash prizes.
In the end over 120 people in 12 teams took part in the event – the youngest, a pair of innovators aged just 11 and 13 years old. Their idea ‘Sox for Swaps’ (a website, where you could swap unwanted gifts for something you did want) was just one of many interesting pitches heard.
The panel chose ‘Everyday Spaces’ as the overall winner – an easy to use framework for administrators of local halls and premises to manage their bookings online. Meanwhile a concept to vastly reduce the cost of using agencies by the NHS to recruit cover Doctors rightly won the ‘Peoples Choice’ award.
Anyway, I thought it would be cool to do a video to capture some of the atmosphere from the event for www.eastwestdesign.co.uk. I was blown away by the speed and quality in which the teams made their ideas a reality and the event was a testament to Norwich’s increasing reputation as one of the UK’s finest tech hub communities.
For more info and tons of photos on Sync The City have a look on the Norfolk Tech Journal
Long may it continue!