Ruth Oliver: Joining the Dots at Brighton Digital Festival

When we join the Dots it creates a constellation of possibilities. Innovation is often described as the result of combining existing things – joining the dots – to create something new.

The more varied, the more disparate, the more diverse those Dots are, the more groundbreaking the result will be.

Brighton is a perfect city to join the dots and in many ways Brighton Digital Festival is a celebration of exactly that. The connections made between digital businesses, creative organisations, the student population and the wider community are what makes the city innovative – and such a fantastic place to work on projects that really push the boundaries. These industries and skills exist in many places but the concentration of people and organisations in Brighton makes networking frequent and productive.

The festival is a fantastic opportunity for people to visit Brighton from further afield – to get a real understanding of what makes us unique. But more importantly it allows the local community – those who may not be aware of the fantastic work being done on their doorstep – to engage with the digital community, and to see the opportunities and possibilities open to them.

At Brilliant Noise we work with global clients – but our roots in Brighton are important. Sponsoring the festival and creating Dots allows us to embrace the diverse digital community in the city, as well as drawing attention to it from all over the world.

Previous Dots installments have featured a paediatric surgeon who spotted the potential for approaching the tricky surgery-to-ward stage of a child’s care with the skills used by Formula One pitstop teams, the leader of the agency who created the much discussed Green Party TV campaigns and a digital anthropologist.

We’ve heard from the woman who conceived of the fully shoppable Net-A-Porter glossy magazine, a 16-year-old award-winning scientist and a paraplegic man who has adapted technology to allow him to interact with spaces and communities all over the world, from his own home.

On September 29 we’ll be welcoming award-winning Sussex winemaker Sam Linter who has always done what others said not to and triumphed, renowned expert in inclusive technology and AbilityNet founding member Robin Christopherson, co-founder of The Bradford Literature Festival Syima Aslam, BBC broadcaster Gemma Cairney, NSPCC associate head of child safety online Amanda Azeez and many others. Dots is a marketing conference like no other.

Ruth Oliver is the head of marketing at Brilliant Noise, a Brighton-based company working worldwide to transform marketing to be customer first, built around data-led creative communications and connected into the culture of the organisation.