Mike Whitby has promised that Birmingham City Council will back the growth of the city's digital industries through partnerships and innovation.
Council leader Mr Whitby was speaking at Millennium Point, at the opening of the Hello Digital, Hello World festival and conference, a four-day combination of public displays, interactive installations, talks, seminars and debates exploring and celebrating the exciting parameters of the digital age.
Festival director Ruth Ward said: “Hello Digital, Hello World is targeting both the consumer and the business communities.
“Between the festival showcase and the industry conference there is broad variety of inspiring and interactive content to engage people from all ages, background and disciplines.
“That’s our aim with the event, to bring digital to life in an inspiring, creative and relevant way.”
Thursday and Friday at Millennium Point were mostly dedicated to the Hello World conference, with speakers from international companies such as MySpace, Pixar Studios and internet photo-sharing phenomenon Flickr.
Seminars covered the development of the serious games industry, a sector the West Midlands is pioneering for the UK, and the use of digital technology to allow user-generated content to create more public platforms from forums to films.
Friday’s conference saw Tom Loosemore, Channel 4’s Head of 4iP – the broadcaster’s multi-million pound fund to encourage innovation on digital platforms - talk about the internet’s shift of power “from a controlling few to a much wider global community”.
It was a theme that resonated through the following seminars and debates.
Birmingham Post development editor Joanna Geary’s acknowledged the media as “no longer being the guardians of information” and the debate panel called on the public sector and Government to build more accessible public information platforms.
The Hello World conference attracted not only key regional figures from Birmingham’s creative and digital industries but also from further afield.
Tom Beardshaw, former director of the Fatherhood Institute and a key figure in the successful lobbying of Westminster for the changes in national paternity rights, came to Hello World from Cardiff prior to the launch of his new father-focused community site www.odadeo.com.
“I’m really impressed with Birmingham’s commitment to digital development” he said.
The Hello World conference closed on Friday, giving way to the full Hello Digital festival.
Funded by Birmingham City Council and Advantage West Midlands, with support from Marketing Birmingham, Screen West Midlands, Arts Council England and Business Link, Hello Digital and Hello World plan to return for another festival and conference in Autumn 2009.
