TechTides

Our next Gold Sponsor is Matrix, The Northern Ireland Science Industry Panel MATRIX is a business led expert panel that advises government, industry and academia on the commercial exploitation of research, science and technology in Northern Ireland. Supported by a secretariat in the Department for the Economy and chaired by Robert Hill, it tracks six priority areas: creative technology, artificial intelligence, life and health sciences, digital ICT, advanced manufacturing and green hydrogen. Recent reports include work on AI and the future of work here. TechTides | 27 October 2026 | Millennium Forum, Derry ~ L'Derry www.techtides.co

And we can now reveal... in no particular order.... the ten founders and tech startups pitching at TechTides Derry on 27th Oct are: Chris Cornwall of Arlo Beckie Ingram of VacTimmune Tiffany Brien of Signal Proptech Beth Pereira of Cavalloré Kieran Moore of Portava Karen Kelly of HeartPath Anne-Marie Mera of Picari Pádraig Mallett of Dealer Control Hub Karthik RajendraPrasad of Karb AI Steven McComb of ClearKey Congrats to all ten! We are also sorry that we couldn't have more startups on stage as some really fab founders applied.

Lewis Silkin joins the TechTides 2026 line-up as a Gold Sponsor. Lewis Silkin opened its Northern Ireland office in 2021 through a merger with Belfast employment firm Jones Cassidy Brett, followed by a merger with tech law firm Forde Campbell the year after. The Belfast team has grown from eight people to more than 80 in five years, covering employment, immigration, intellectual property, corporate, tech, media and data law. The wider firm works from nine offices including London, Dublin, Belfast and Hong Kong. TechTides | 27 October 2026 | Millennium Forum, Derry ~ L'Derry www.techtides.co

A warm welcome to InterTradeIreland, Gold Sponsor of TechTides 2026. InterTradeIreland was set up under the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement to help businesses trade and grow right across the island. Based in Newry and jointly sponsored by the Department for the Economy and the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, it has directly assisted more than 65,000 businesses and helped SMEs secure over €350 million in investment. For a conference in a border city, that cross-border remit lands very close to home. TechTides | 27 October 2026 | Millennium Forum, Derry ~ L'Derry www.techtides.co

TechTides Derry is on Tuesday 27 October at the Millennium Forum, and alongside the technical programme there's a set of sessions asking some of the big questions of the moment! What should and can a small region build next? What do we owe to the end user who uses what we build? What does responsibility actually mean when the tech moves faster than the rules? These five talks are the ones to book your day around if you're thinking about the direction of travel rather than the next sprint…

Meet another of our Gold Sponsors, the Artificial Intelligence Collaboration Centre (AICC) AICC is a £16.3 million programme led by Ulster University in partnership with Queen's University Belfast, backed by Invest Northern Ireland and the Department for the Economy. It gives small and medium businesses up to 20 days of fully funded AI, machine learning and data science consultancy, alongside the AI Learning Lab for teams who want to build those skills in house. The centre works across Ulster University's Derry~Londonderry and Belfast campuses, supporting sectors from agri-food and logistics to health and financial services. TechTides | 27 October 2026 | Millennium Forum, Derry ~ L'Derry www.techtides.co

Who's coming to the Evening Social at TechTides! 🍻

Are you a Founder looking to navigate the world of early-stage Investments and Grants? If you are coming to TechTides Derry on the 27th Oct, make sure to attend: "Beyond the Pitch: How Founders Navigate Grants & Investment" featuring Catherine K. Sean Macfarlane David Kelly. Expect a candid conversation with founders on navigating the world of grants and investment.....from finding the right early-stage grant, through to raising that all important seed round of investment. Cheers Panelists!

AVEVA is backing TechTides 2026 as a Gold Sponsor. AVEVA is a global industrial software company, headquartered in Cambridge, part of Schneider Electric, with roots going back to 1967. It has had a presence in Derry since 2015, and in November 2024 announced a £1.4 million investment to expand its research and development site here, creating 23 new jobs and doubling the local team to 62. That expansion broadened the Derry site from single product development into cloud operations and industrial platform work. TechTides | 27 October 2026 | Millennium Forum, Derry ~ L'Derry www.techtides.co

TechTides Derry is on Tuesday 27 October at the Millennium Forum, and this year we've gone a little deeper on the technical programme...