SOUTH YORKSHIRE
TECH SUMMIT

20
26

29th January 2026 | Barnsley Civic

The latest edition of our Tech Summit was on Thursday 29th January 2026, exploring the future of South Yorkshire’s tech economy at the Barnsley Civic.

With speakers from Helsinki, the US and of course, South Yorkshire, we're bringing new voices into the region to look at how we generate an entrepreneurial mindset, increase those that go to scale, look into our core sectors, and recognise what could be South Yorkshire's inflection point.

For information on our keynote speakers and panel discussions from the day, see our full agenda here. You'll find links there to our action plan on a page, and our 2026 tech landscape report in the Reports section. Thank you to everyone who was part of the SY Tech Summit 2026.

Tech Summit 2025 at Cast Doncaster TECH SY

Thanks to our headline sponsor:

Thanks to our partner sponsors:

Summit Speakers

Sarita Runeberg - CEO of Maria 01 (Nordic Startup Hub)

James Jackson - CEO & Co-Founder of Bumper

Janet Coyle CBE - Director of Grow London, London & Partners

David Richards MBE - Co-Founder of Yorkshire AI Labs

Aoife Morrin - Head of Ecosystem Growth at Dealroom

Roland Emmans - Head of UK Technology Sector & Growth Lending HSBC

Chris Dalrymple - Mentor and Co-Founder at Trove

Sarah Norman OBE - Chief Executive of Barnsley Council

Alison Partridge - Head of Inclusive Economy at Newable

Leslie Hitchcock - Co-Founder of Resilience Media

Chris Iveson - Founder & CEO at FourJaw Manufacturing Analytics

Sean Luther - Founding President & CEO of InnovatePGH - Pittsburgh

Cat Smith - Senior Manager, Yorkshire and Humber at British Business Bank

Dr. Max Sich - CEO & Co-Founder at Aegiq

Mel Kanarek - Director & Co-Founder at Sheffield Digital

Robert Pieroni -Managing Director, Strategic Partnerships & Business Development at gener8tor

Dr. David Dunn - CEO at Sunderland Software City

Philippa Hedley-Takhar - Head of Implementation & Quality at XR Therapeutics

Katharine Hammond - Chief Executive at SYMCA

Councillor Sir Stephen Houghton CBE - Leader of Barnsley Council

Thanks to our supporters:

Networking drinks are kindly provided by Altitude PR

2025 Keynote speaker: Tom Adeyoola

Tom Adeyoola, tech entrepreneur and member of the Creative Industries Taskforce

Tom Adeyoola, esteemed tech entrepreneur and founder of Metail, was the keynote speaker in 2025. Tom is known for his groundbreaking work in virtual fitting room technology and his commitment to sustainable innovation, and he is now the Executive Chair of Innovate UK.

Read about the last event here.