8
Academic Venues
eeds and the City Region
recently hosted a prestigious
international innovation
programme, in partnership
with one of the world’s most
famous universities,
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT). Delegates from
Central Denmark, Monterrey
(Mexico), Campania (Italy),
Guayaquil (Ecuador), Kentucky,
Oslo and Sydney visited the city
for the three-day programme,
which was hosted in the Nexus
venue.
Leeds hosted this stage in the
global programme at the end of
January 2020, having
successfully bid for a place on
the globally renowned two-year
MIT Regional Entrepreneurship
Acceleration Programme in
2019. Over a hundred leaders
from government, business,
universities and finance as well
as entrepreneurs from across the
world converged on Leeds with
the aim of understanding more
about the region’s strengths and
ambitions, and to assist in
positioning Leeds and the City
Region at the forefront of the
Government’s drive for national
growth and increased
competitiveness.
The wide-ranging MIT
programme saw the international
teams join interactive workshops
at Nexus, as well as attending
networking events across the
city. The workshop helped Leeds
develop new strategies to
implement change, to support
innovation and inclusive growth,
something essential for the
economic success of the region
itself. With three million people,
the Leeds City Region is the UK’s
largest economic area outside
London and generates more than
5% of the UK’s economic
outputs.
Claire Heap, head of
ConferenceLeeds, said: “We
Events
in action
CN explores two events that took place
at academic venues in Leeds
were so pleased to be able to
host the MIT innovation
programme here in Leeds last
month, and were particularly
pleased to see this event take
place in the innovative Nexus
building located on the University
of Leeds campus in a new
state-of-the-art building, which
provided all of the attendees with
easy access to the important
research and expertise of the
University. Our participation in
MIT REAP, and the opportunity to
showcase the Leeds City Region
to our international counterparts
only strengthens the reputation
of the city and allows us to learn
from their expertise, with the aim
of accelerating economic growth,
creating more jobs and making
the region more attractive to
growing businesses and
start-ups.”
Case study: EUROCITIES
Culture Forum
Event: Culture and Sport Team &
The International Relations Team,
Leeds City Council
Delegates: 100
Venues: Parkinson Building at the
University of Leeds - Drinks
Reception and registration
The Refectory at the University of
Leeds - Formal dinner
Leeds College of Music -
Registration, introduction to
Eurocities, keynote speeches and
plenary sessions
Kirkgate Market - Lunch
Leeds Civic Hall - Light Night
festival launch
Leeds Playhouse - Reflection
sessions, parallel workshops and
lunch with the Lord Mayor of Leeds
Mumtaz - Dinner
Objective
To welcome the continent’s top
cultural experts to Leeds to
provide a platform to discover
more about the city’s collaborative
approach to ensuring diverse
audiences are provided with an
equal access to culture and
demonstrate how Leeds as a city
encourages people from all walks
of life to become artists and
cultural practitioners.
Event
Culture experts from across Europe
gathered in Leeds as the city
celebrated its most colourful annual
arts spectacular in October 2019.
Leeds City Council, who worked
closely with University of Leeds,
Leeds Beckett University and Leeds’
cultural sector, were proud to
welcome 98 of the continent’s top
cultural experts, representative of
58 different cities and 100
delegates, to the latest EUROCITIES
Culture Forum.
Following the theme of
‘celebrating diversity through
innovative cultural partnerships, the
www.conference-news.co.uk