This year has been a complete blast and we’d just like to take a moment to thank you all for making 2018 so special.
As the confetti settled after a year-long celebration of Hull as the UK City of Culture in 2017, we started the year with excitement and a fresh look at Hull’s tech future.
We also welcomed new team member and Community Assistant Louise Cooke who instantly made herself at home, quickly grasping the essence of our building, as well as doing amazing work to connect individuals and companies.
In February, we saw the launch of Hull’s Smart City project, which has since gone from strength-to-strength, aiming to establish Hull as a flagship city for smart technology.
Later in the month, our Kit Car project launched in collaboration with local charity Child Dynamix. Several members signed up to help the kids construct their own kit car, which was then put to the test in a race. The Child Dynamix team came 5th!
Our work with Child Dynamix is ongoing. In May, nine community members conquered the Yorkshire Three Peaks to raise over £1,400 for the charity. Meanwhile, Company Member Arco has hosted several fantastic fundraising days and events throughout the year.
For International Women’s Day in March, we hosted an inspiring afternoon that saw our theatre filled to bursting as women in Hull’s tech community spoke about their experiences and how they made it to where they are today.
Meanwhile, Industry 4.0. event focused on robotics and 3D printing and saw Josh Barnfather, Alex Youden and Calie Pistorius take a deeper look at emerging technologies that are set to disrupt industries.
By August, things were really hotting up for our community - and we’re not only referring to the UK’s unexpected heatwave.
C4DI community and company members were shortlisted for almost every single category at this year’s Digital Awards. In 2018, the Hull Daily Mail received more entries than ever, which is fantastic news for the city as a whole as we see more and more tech companies emerging.
As achievements were celebrated in September, we also had to pull together as a community for one of our members, Josh Barnfather.
After years of battling a skin condition, which has resulted in him facing a rare skin cancer, he is now raising money for life-extending treatment. This campaign - which we’ve named #DoItForJosh - is still ongoing and many of our members have donated their time and money to organise fundraisers, including bake sales, auctions, gaming days and football tournaments.
If you would like to find out more and support Josh in raising £100,000, please visit www.doitforjosh.co.uk.
Autumn 2018 also saw the launch of the DesignMeetup. Organised by Mattix Design and TH3 Design, the event is set to run every other month, bringing together designers, creatives and businesses with talks, demonstrations and workshops centred around the value of design.
On top of this, we hosted a huge event at Hull Minster to announce our exciting partnership with Barclays Eagle Labs.
The partnership aims to build on three key areas of our existing work: fledgling businesses, high-growth scaleups and traditional organisations. These three areas will be facilitated through mentoring, business support events, guidance on investment and finance, education sessions, ideation workshops, MVP (prototype) services.
In November, we also had to say goodbye to our fantastic Community Manager Dileepa Ranawake. Connecting businesses, organising events and bringing the community closer, Dileepa has been part of the furniture at C4DI almost since day one. He has now moved on to an exciting new role at a health tech company.
Whilst 2018 wraps up, we’ve been going strong with exciting and inspiring events, from the NASA Hackathon Challenge to picking the brains of the experts at Tesla a few weeks ago. Even this week, one of our members has put on a LunchNLearn session for Sole Traders looking to go Incorporated in 2019.
We’ve already got some incredible events lined up for 2019 - a full list of which you can view here.
Again, we’d just like to say a huge thank you to all of our members for making this possible.
Six years ago, the C4DI was simply an idea and now, thanks to you, we are making massive waves.