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TV presenter and gadget guru Jason Bradbury entertained guests in The Showroom, Lincoln at the Lincolnshire Digital Conference on Tuesday 10th March 2015 .
Some of the equipment available for businesses to use at the Lincolnshire Technology Hubs, including a pair of Oculus Rift 3D virtual reality glasses (in the photo) and a MakerBot 3D printer were on display at the conference.

Gadget Guru Gives Glimpse of Digital Future

TV presenter and gadget guru Jason Bradbury entertained guests at the Lincolnshire Digital Conference with tales of his childhood in Woodhall Spa and death-defying World record attempts.

Jason, who has had a passion for technology since watching Back to the Future in the 1980s, took delegates on a journey from his early days as an inventor through to his present-day career as a TV presenter.

He also talked about some of his the projects he is currently working on – one of which is a replica DeLorean time machine!

Also on the agenda at the Lincolnshire Digital Conference on Tuesday (10th March) were talks on the business benefits of superfast broadband by Zoe Easey and Will King from Epix Media and ultrafast broadband by Ian Hawkins from BT.

Mike Poole from the University of Lincoln also gave a presentation on the Lincolnshire Technology Hubs and the equipment which is available for businesses to use at the hubs.

Some of this technology, including a pair of Oculus Rift 3D virtual reality glasses, a 3D hand-held scanner and a MakerBot 3D printer, was also on display in the exhibition hall at The Showroom Conference Centre in Lincoln where the conference was held.

The exhibition also featured 20 local digital businesses from website designers to digital printers and telecommunications companies.

Commenting on the event, Jason Bradbury said he was really impressed by what he’d seen: “Many of the technologies that I talked about in my speech are actually here today and the message to businesses is really simple: use the Lincolnshire Technology Hubs! They’re really inspiring and there are connections you can make with like-minded people that you hadn’t even thought about making.

“The equipment they offer is very relevant to Lincolnshire which is a county that has been at the forefront of all kinds of science and engineering-driven technologies in its recent history.

“We’re in a situation now where you don’t have to talk to China or India – you can make something yourself and you can even get it crowdfunded. These are things that Lincolnshire is brilliantly positioned to take advantage of so whether you’re a digital agency looking to talk to a global market or whether you make hats and scarves – these are all business that can have a digital makeover and can use the strengths of the new global community to expand their horizons.”

The conference was organised by Lincolnshire County Council’s onlincolnshire project and part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

Cllr Colin Davie, Executive Member for Economic Development at Lincolnshire County Council, said he hopes the conference has helped businesses gain a better understanding of digital technology.

“We organised this event to help more businesses get online and gain the knowledge and skills needed to grow their business and compete with others on a level playing field.

“Studies have found that there is a strong link between online development and turnover growth. SMEs which use the internet on a regular basis are much more likely to increase their turnover than those who don’t and we don’t want Lincolnshire businesses to get left behind.

“Of course this is just one of the activities we’re running as part of the project. Since onlincolnshire first started started over 320 businesses have attended our demonstration events, social media workshops and internet marketing masterclasses. We’ve also recently set up the Business Lincolnshire E-learning Portal providing SMEs across Greater Lincolnshire with free access to hundreds of training courses, videos and fact sheets on everything from cloud computing to Microsoft Office.”

The Lincolnshire Digital Conference was followed by the first ever Lincolnshire Digital Awards organised by Lincolnshire Business magazine at the DoubleTree by Hilton Lincoln. Winners included BROADBANDRating who won the Best Use of New Technology award, sponsored by onlincolnshire, and Artsgraphica which was named Digital Business of the Year.

For more information about the Lincolnshire Digital Awards visit http://lincsdigital.co/ or for more information about onlincolnshire visit http://www.onlincolnshire.org

Ends

Notes to Editors:

About onlincolnshire

• onlincolnshire is a Lincolnshire County Council-run project which is part-funded by the East Midlands European Regional Development Fund Programme 2007 to 2013.
• In March 2013, the council signed a £48 million contract with BT to provide superfast broadband to at least 88% of county properties by 2016, with the remaining properties having access to at least of 2Mbps broadband. A further investment of £2.8 million was announced in February 2014 which has increased the number of properties to 89%.
• The contract with BT concentrates on an intervention area of over 150,000 premises where existing or planned commercial roll outs would not deliver superfast speeds.
• The Department for Communities and Local Government is the managing authority for the European Regional Development Fund Programme, which is one of the funds established by the European Commission to help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support local businesses and create jobs. For more information visit www.communities.gov.uk/erdf
• Some internet users in rural Lincolnshire experience speeds of less than 1 Mbps. The UK’s average broadband speed is 12 Mbps, according to Ofcom.
• onlincolnshire also offers up to 12 hours of support and advice to eligible Lincolnshire businesses to help them make the most of their access to improved broadband. Specialist consultants provide demonstrations, workshops, masterclasses or one-to-one coaching and mentoring to businesses to improve their services, processes, productivity and profitability.

For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Kate Strawson
Shooting Star PR
kate@weareshootingstar.co.uk
01522 528540
@KateStrawson


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