Northern Tech Summit Fringe Announced - Open Doors Innovation Festival from Sheffield Innovation Spine

Sheffield Innovation Spine is the official fringe partner for TECH SY’s Northern Tech Summit, bringing a dynamic three-day event series to the city from 20th–22nd October 2026. 

The fringe programme will complement the two-day-long summit hosted from Sheffield’s iconic Crucible Theatre on Tuesday 21st and Tuesday 22nd October.   

Spanning 190 acres across five mixed-use neighbourhoods in the city centre, Sheffield Innovation Spine is home to university spinouts, scaling tech firms, and specialist workspaces. The Northern Tech Summit fringe event series is designed to connect local residents, students, and summit delegates directly with the region's vibrant innovation ecosystem and showcase Sheffield’s energised urban innovation district.

An event series designed to appeal to both local communities and national summit attendees, the fringe activity highlights Sheffield Innovation Spine’s unique role convening economic development partners across the region, inspiring innovation, and championing inclusive opportunities for local people to stay near and go far.

Tracey Johnson, Project Director at TECH SY, said:

“The Northern Tech Summit is a unique opportunity to collide founders, policymakers, investors and others at the iconic Crucible Theatre in the heart of Sheffield. All the best events have inspiring fringe activity, so TECH SY is excited to be working with Sheffield Innovation Spine to help bring to life the city’s innovation ecosystem through three days of engaging activities.”

Book tickets for TECH SY’s Northern Tech Summit (21-22 October 2026).

Three days of Northern Tech Summit fringe by Sheffield Innovation Spine

Tuesday, 20 October – Open Doors Innovation Festival

Aimed at the local community, this free, open-to-all festival invites visitors, and anyone who lives, works, or studies in Sheffield, to explore the city centre’s urban innovation district and meet the people solving real-world problems. 

Between 9.30am and 4.30pm, public visitors can navigate the district using the dedicated ‘Open Doors’ content, hosted by the Spine Guide mobile app.  Festival goers can follow the Open Doors route on the app, collecting points and scanning exclusive content from inside innovation hubs in Sheffield city centre.

On the day, participants will enjoy exclusive experiences as they explore specialist lab and coworking spaces, meet local innovators, and earn leaderboard points at participating venues in Sheffield city centre - including Electric Works, Pennine Five, Sheffield Technology Parks, The Innovation Centre, and innovation facilities across the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam campuses.

The Open Doors route is self-guided and participants can decide how many of the venues to visit. The whole experience would likely take two hours, but one or two venues could be visited in a lunch break!

Learn more about the Open Doors event and download the app once it's published here. Until then, register your interest for the app to be sent the links once live.

Wednesday, 21 October – Guided Urban Innovation District Tours

Coinciding with day one of the Northern Tech Summit, Sheffield Innovation Spine will host one-hour-long guided walking tours during the summit’s afternoon break from 3:00pm to 4:30pm. Exclusive invitations will be sent to summit delegates, offering civic leaders, tech ecosystem partners, and regional businesses a curated experience of Sheffield’s urban innovations district. Delegates will Meet Tour Guides at 3pm at their designated meeting point at the Crucible Theatre. Tours will begin shortly after.

Thursday, 22 October – Run the Spine

The fringe series concludes on day two of the summit. Sheffield Innovation Spine has teamed up with local entrepreneur Hannah Duraid, founder of Sheffield Business Runners, to deliver an all-running-ability 5km group run along the Spine route in Sheffield city centre, meeting at 7am and finishing no later than 8am.

The social-paced morning run is open to summit delegates and the local innovation community, and offers an active networking opportunity before the main Northern Tech Summit day two programme re-opens at the Crucible Theatre at 9am.

Register your interest in the Spine Run here to be sent details of the route.

• Sheffield Innovation Spine is a partnership between South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Sheffield City Council, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, and Sheffield Technology Parks. The Spine works closely with tech ecosystem partners TECH SY and innovation communities across the region, to create the places, spaces and opportunities where collaborations are formed, problems are solved, and jobs are created.

• TECH SY is working with local authorities, universities, founders, funders and wider partners to scale up the tech ecosystem in South Yorkshire. TECH SY is funded by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and delivered through Barnsley Council, home of the UK’s first Tech Town. By collaborating with public sector, industry, academia and investors, TECH SY is helping to build a stronger, scalable and more connected tech community in South Yorkshire. They provide data to inform decision-making, promote ecosystem activity and deliver founder-focused business support programmes.

• Open Doors Innovation Festival on 20th October 2026 is aimed at anyone interested in learning more about Sheffield's urban innovation district and the people that bring it to life. The app, which will be available from both IOS and Android, will guide people through the Spine and behind the Doors of innovation venues on 20th October. Learn more and register your interest in the app here.

• Open Doors is delivered through a unique collaboration between organisations, communities and venues with a shared purpose; to champion inclusive innovation, inspire and connect people with opportunities across Sheffield’s urban innovation district. It is delivered by TECH SY, University of Sheffield, Business Sheffield, Electric Works, Sheffield Hallam University, University of Sheffield, Emerge, Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub, Pennine Five, Sheffield Technology Parks, Llama Digital and convened by Sheffield Innovation Spine.