Hello!
My name is Kris Sum, and together with Jacob Tomlinson and Kathryn White we are the leaders of TechExeter – a focus point for all things tech related in the regional capital of Exeter, Devon (UK).
We all live locally and work in the tech industry. We’ve been running local tech meetups and events for several years, and we’ve grown our grassroots community to over 600 900 1000 members – re-branding from “ExeterWeb” founded in 2011 to “TechExeter” in 2016.
We get involved with lots of events, including:
- NASA Space Apps hackathon at the Met Office [link]
- NOVA 18 Demoparty [link]
- TechExter Annual Conference [link]
- The Lost Weekend Festival [link]
- The GAME>PLAY Festival [link]
- Tech Nation 2017/2018 reports [link]
- …. plus a dozen meetups between TechExeter and DigitalExeter, held at Exeter Phoenix, Jurys Inn, and the City Gate.
Community, Conference and Diversity
These are our 3 main areas of focus.
- Co-ordinating resources and events for our awesome Tech Community.
This includes running regular meetups with lightning talks and networking, facilitating collaboration by connecting community members together, providing training & workshops, and putting on / helping out at tech events such as the NASA Space Apps hackathon. - Running an annual Conference, showcasing both regional and national speakers who are experts in their field.
- Helping to encourage Diversity in our industry, which is typically under-represented by females and people from ethnic minorities (see posts tagged #diversity)
These 3 things are embedded into the TechExeter Community Interest Company mission statement, everything we do and any sponsorship monies or donations will all go towards supporting the community.
“Our aim is for TechExeter to serve our vibrant community, by being their representative voice, and by helping to make awesome things happen”
How we’re run
For a long time, we have done this out of our own pocket. In 2017 Exeter City Council has pledged it’s support behind us, allowing us to spend more time working with and on behalf of the tech community.
“Exeter City Council is supporting and working with Tech Exeter on raising the profile of the digital & tech community in the city and improving skills within this sector”
Councillor Rachel Sutton, Lead Councillor for Economy at Exeter City Council.
We also have some wonderful corporate sponsors inStephens Scown LLP and GreyMatter who help us put on our free events.
Bio: Kris Sum
Kris is MD of software company Switch Systems Ltd, based in Exeter.
“I started Switch when I moved back to Exeter after University – I couldn’t find a job locally and I really wanted to stay in this beautiful city, so I started contracting doing programming as a sole trader. Having gained big clients such as the University of Exeter I needed to expand, so I set up Switch Systems and haven’t looked back!”
Kris is a keen technologist and gamer in his spare time, and loves nothing more than to tinker on side projects.
“I’ve always been an early adopter of new technology, from my first mp3 player as a teenager, through to todays smart phones, smart watches and virtual reality headsets – I couldn’t live without tech!
Bio: Jacob Tomlinson
Jacob is the lead engineer for the Met Office Informatics Lab with experience in software development, operational system engineering and cloud architecture. He uses these skills to ensure the lab is building robust prototypes that are pushing the boundaries of technology.
Bio: Kathryn White
Kathryn is the innovation manager at the Environmental Futures and Big Data Impact Lab
Kathryn has extensive experience in corporate and startup innovation, including eight years with Royal Bank of Scotland, three of which were based in Silicon Valley working on Open Innovation with startups and larger technology companies. She recently spent 8 months doing on-the-ground research into innovation ecosystems in emerging markets, travelling through 20 countries across 3 continents. You can view some of this research at www.global-innovation-project.com
If you want to get involved with TechExeter, drop us a line!
