Bristol is a creative, artistic and innovative place. In Connecting Bristol we say this quite a bit when describing the City to people who may not have been lucky enough to have visited before. Well sometimes that description just isn’t enough to reflect the energy and vision that gets an event like Bianco staged.

Creative Common is a wide ranging partnership bringing a diverse programme of performance and events right to the heart of the City, in their Big Top by Temple Meads station.

Mayor George Ferguson has recognised the value of Circuses in raising Bristol’s international profile, and the current show is nothing short of world class. A dizzying, dazzling, balletic and acrobatic performance that’s awe inspiring and incredibly moving.

The Temple Meads Enterprize Zone area  will grow as the Centre of the digital industry for Bristol in the next years, and if those digital businesses can capture just a fraction of the creativity and energy on show in Bianco they would be doing very well indeed.

The three day Summer School includes several workshops, presentations and excursions and site-visits with the aim of giving participants a wider insight about models, theories and technologies related to Living Labs and the opportunity to gain hands-on experience from the leading experts on the subject and network with other Living Lab enthusiasts.

If you would like to submit a paper for consideration visit the Living Labs website ASAP to find out details.

You can register to attend the Summer School on the dedicated website.

Innovative companies and entrepreneurs are invited to apply for a place at the Innovation Showcase at Venturefest Bristol 2013 (November 14th, UWE Conference Centre, Bristol).

Up to 40 of the best new and emerging technology business concepts will be chosen to demonstrate their idea to the Venturefest audience, which includes large corporates, prospective investors and business support providers.

There is no limit to the size of company that can apply – anyone from new and early-stage businesses, to established companies developing new products. We are looking for applications from individuals or SMEs with new, technology-based business ideas; products or services at any stage of development from pre-commercial to being available on the market.

The companies must be UK-based and can be working in any sector or industry We particularly welcome business ideas in key local sector strengths: microelectronics, creative digital industries, advanced engineering and low carbon technologies.

Applications must be received by Thursday 12th September and a panel of investors and professional service providers will make a selection by the end of September.

For more information about Venturefest Bristol 2013, go to the website www.venturefestbristol.com or follow @Science_Bristol on Twitter

For sponsorship and exhibition enquiries contact Hannah Male (hannah.male@sectormarketing.co.uk).

The Summer School in “Intelligent Services for Digitial Cities” aims at bringing students, researchers, industrial partners as well as municipalities together to explore and experiment on novel technologies for digital cities. The summer school will be held in Trento, Italy between 2nd and 6th September 2013.

The school is open to students from master and Ph.D. programs throughout Europe who want to spend an intensive week on the creation of new ideas and systems in the area of smart digital city applications.

Students will use technologies developed by the partner institutions and create ideas and proposals for new innovative service for digital cities. Partners from academia, research, and industry support student teams in the creation process. Participating municipalities provide the background information from real world problems. Students will use advanced tools and technologies that integrate data from real cities, exploit Service Oriented Architectures to create new services, will implement mobile multimodal applications and experiment with advanced mixed reality interfaces.

After the school, the best teams will be coached and will get access to investors that will support the development of innovative businesses.

The results of the school will be presented in November, during a Demo Day in the EIT ICT Labs Co-Location Center in Berlin. Representatives of SMEs and municipalities will discuss the best solutions with team members. The best solutions will be transferred into product ideas or open source application.

Participation at the summer school is free of charge and a limited amount of grants are available for applicants. The deadline for application is June 10, 2013

Kerry Bradshaw, our digital inclusion coordinator, and four digital champions held an event at the cinema this month using iPads to introduce older people to computing and the internet. The event has been shortlisted for a Best Event Award 2013, and as a result the team will receive at least one new Tablet PC as a prize to support their training courses and digital inclusion work.

The event was part of Digital Unites Spring Online and was organised to spread awareness of free beginner computer and tablet courses run for over 55’s in Bristol.

Thanks to Helen Moss at the Dolphin society for lending the iPads and helping on the day with Annette, Pete and Max. Thanks also to the Odeon Cinema Bristol for allowing us to run the event, BT and Citizens Online for supporting our Get IT Together programme.

For information on these courses and other digital inclusion initiatives visit http://bristol-getittogether.btck.co.uk

Small business owners from across Britain will descend on Bristol in September when one of Britain’s longest running enterprise competitions returns to its home town.

The Pitch, organised by BusinessZone.co.uk, started as a small event in Bristol in 2008. It has since grown into a nationwide competition that has supported hundreds of entrepreneurs.

Like in previous years, the champion of The Pitch 2013 will receive business support worth thousands of pounds including mentoring from serial entrepreneur and Crowdmission.com founder Karen Darby and a day with the founder of phenomenally successful business Morphsuits.

For the first time in the competition’s history, an investment panel including Bristol entrepreneur and Sift founder Ben Heald and investors from Heron Capital Partners have come on board with a minimum of £25,000 to invest in at least one company taking part in the competition.

Interested entrepreneurs need to apply at www.thepitchuk.com/enter by 30 June after which up to 50 shortlisted contestants will be selected to compete at The Pitch Live at Paintworks in Bristol on 25 September. Five finalists will then compete in the grand final for the package of support.

Over three days in May this year, the team members at Artswork Media (part of Bath Spa University) will be showcasing the wide range of work that has been completed throughout the degree, so come along and see exactly what Artswork team are all about.

Artswork Media is a media production company where the third year students on the BA (Hons) Creative Media Practice course can nurture existing skills and learn new ones. Whilst gaining invaluable B2B experience is one of the many skills the students have learnt, keeping a professional, yet friendly, relationship going even after the project has finished, is another.

The showcase will take place in the Paintworks Event Space, Paintworks, Bath Road, BS4 3EH. If you want to go along email Isabel Ayres at isabel.ayres09@bathspa.ac.uk by 23 May 2013.

If you are interested in how Smart Energy systems might work in homes in the next few years come along to a tour and presentation at the City Council’s Ecohome on Monday May 20^th.

Interested parties will get the chance to hear from experienced practitioners about how ICT can contribute to energy efficiency in buildings and to see equipment deployed in a home setting.

There will be the chance to view the technical solution – including the visual interface developed by Knowle West Media Centre – to allow participants to monitor their energy consumption in real time.

People will be on hand to discuss the benefits and the challenges of using smart metering technology in the domestic environment, with the aim of reducing energy consumption in social housing.

You can visit the Ecohome, in the Create Centre, Smeaton Road, BS1 6XN any time between 10am and midday. Please confirm your attendance via the Eventbrite address below:

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5965365569

On Thursday 25^th April, our digital inclusion coordinator, Kerry and 4 volunteers will be hitting the Odeon Cinema in Broadmead with iPads for the Silver Screening of the new Maggie Smith Movie. Before the screening of ‘Quartet’, we’ll be in the lobby offering those going to see the film the chance to use an iPad and see some of the useful features they have.

Come on down at 10.30 for a cuppa and film for only £3.50!  film starts at 11am

If you are fortunate enough to be in Barcelona 22-23 May you might like to come along to the conference on “ICT Solutions for Energy Efficient Residential Buildings”. Part of the conference will focus on the results of the 3e Houses project which has see technology deployed here in Bristol for the last year. You can download a leaflet covering the two day event.

3e Houses is an European project that integrates common information and communication technologies (ICT’s) and places them in the residential sector to support homes and occupants to save energy.

The project began in 2010 and focuses on social housing in 4 European cities. It has been possible to study how new technologies might help save energy and shift the demand curve. Partners will present the results and to share the European partners’ learning about how ICT can contribute to energy saving in buildings.

If you want to take part in the event email 3eHcongress@3e-energea.com to book your free place.