Tech events for all ages happening this month. As always, check times and booking details with the organiser before travelling.
Hannover, Germany – 25-29 April
US President Barack Obama joins German Chancellor Angela Merkel to open this year’s Hannover Messe industrial technology trade show, where approximately 5,000 companies from 70 countries will be exhibiting. Obama will appear at the official opening ceremony on Sunday, 24 April, and is also expected to take part in the traditional opening tour of the fair with Merkel on Monday morning. Modern manufacturing and energy technologies core themes for the event, visitors will see the latest ways of transforming production facilities into smart factories for the digital age, as well as how to build intelligent, networked systems for energy generation, distribution and storage.
Women’s Engineering Society Annual Conference
IET, Savoy Place, London – 22 April
WES’s 2016 conference includes sessions on a range of topics including CPD, ethics, skills, health and safety and mentoring. On the following day, the Dana Centre in London will be the venue for a meeting on ‘Women as Engineers in the Great War and After’ looking at how women’s professional participation in UK engineering began in earnest during the First World War. The free event will include open discussions, practical activities, and an opportunity to plan for events to mark the Women’s Engineering Society centenary in 2019; it will also highlight historical resources available in the archives of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
Excel, London – 12-14 April
The UK’s leading railway infrastructure event takes place against a background of high levels of investment in Britain’s mainline and urban rail infrastructure, as Network Rail embarks on its £38 billion CP5 spending round, including completion of Thameslink, Northern Hub projects, major electrification schemes and modernisation of signalling. Work is due to start soon on the £21.4 billion first section of the HS2 high-speed line, while in London, fitting out Crossrail has begun and the Tube’s Northern Line is being extended. Infrarail has provided a platform for industry professionals to meet face to face, make connections and do business for over two decades and is enhanced by co-location with CITE, the Civil Infrastructure & Technology Exhibition, which celebrated a successful launch alongside Infrarail in 2014.
Bletchley Park Presents: Sir Dermot Turing
Bletchley Park – 3 April
You saw him in The Imitation Game but who was the real man behind the glossy film? Alan Turing, played by Benedict Cumberbatch in the Hollywood movie, had a key role in Bletchley Park’s codebreaking during World War Two. His ingenious co-invention of the code cracking Bombe machine greatly sped up the decoding process. Now his nephew, Sir John Dermot Turing, will be giving a unique family perspective on the mathematician’s life and work in a talk at the home of the Codebreakers. In Bletchley Park Presents Sir John Dermot Turing, Dermot will give his own commentary on the life and discoveries of one of Britain’s revered characters. Educated at Sherborne and Cambridge like his famous uncle, Dermot later moved into the legal profession. He now serves as a trustee of Bletchley Park and his book ‘Prof: Alan Turing Decoded’, published in September, takes a fresh look at the influences on the codebreaker’s life and creativity.
£20/£18 concessions, including day entry to Bletchley Park
3D Bike Printing Workshop Challenge
Design Museum, Bermondsey – 8-10 April
Experience cycling history as the world’s first 3D printed bamboo bike is constructed live at the Design Museum. The museum is teaming up with the Bamboo Bicycle Club and partners as they undertake a never previously attempted feat: a pioneering live challenge to design, 3D print and test ride the bike of the future over the course of one weekend. The Future Bike Live Challenge explores the future of bicycle building. Bamboo Bicycle Club will be testing the limits of their bamboo bike frames with the unique addition of 3D printed, carbon fibre reinforced lugs. The ultimate goal is to prototype a bike that can easily be replicated by anyone; at home, at school, or anywhere in the world. Visitors will learn about the design, printing and build process, and the materials involved, as well as a chance to get a bit hands-on.
From Sci-fi to Sci-fact: Easter Bytes
National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park – 25 March to 10 April
There’s fun for all the family at the Easter Bytes Festival at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park with technology past and present, fact and fiction. Across the 17 days, there are lots of events, appearances and workshops sure to fascinate every member of the family. The sci-fi turns to sci-fact when MyndPlay lets you control devices using the power of your mind with the first virtual reality-ready brainwave headset. The magic continues when Pi-top brings the world’s first 3D printed laptop and runs sessions with Raspberry-Pi operated laptops. There will also be lots of workshops to keep fingers busy and minds active. Have an introduction to coding with FUZE and Bits and Bytes, join Tablet Academy to learn about Minecraft, meet, greet and even program OhBot the robot, design your own video game, create an app with Blippit and have a go with Oculus Rift. There are chances to win great prizes, like Wacom’s creative tablets, too.
Bingham – 7 April and 14 April
To celebrate the launch of the new PhaseONE 100 Mega Pixel medium-format cameras, 3D Laser Mapping is hosting an open day on 7 April 2016 at its UK headquarters in Bingham, Nottingham, where delegates will be able to get hands-on with the new technology. The morning will feature product demonstrations and the opportunity to discuss this technology with the company’s technical experts. The following week, visitors will be able to explore the features of the new RIEGL VZ-400i laser scanner. 3D Laser Mapping has been a premier distributor of RIEGL laser scanners in the UK since 1999 and hosted the VZ-400i’s official UK launch in November. It promises the open days are the first of many to come. Both events are free to attend but places are limited and those interested are urged to sign up soon via the company’s website.
‘On Holiday’: An installation by Olga Jürgenson
Pushkin House, Bloomsbury Square, London – Until 20 April
On Holiday” is artist Olga Jürgenson’s site-specific installation, which explores the legacy of Russian philosopher-cosmist Nikolai Fyodorov and his followers; it includes mixed media works on canvas and paper, along with a projected video. Resurrection, the achievement of immortality, was considered by the philosopher-cosmist Nikolai Fyodorov (1829-1903) as a “common goal” for humanity, which would lead to universal brotherhood and kinship. Fyodorov argued that, with the help of science, humankind would learn not only to become immortal and to resurrect all those who had ever lived, but also to move freely through time and space. His work has been regarded by some as the original inspiration for Soviet achievements in science which put the first man into space. In these works the resurrected Fedorov is cheerfully marching along a beach amongst other holidaymakers including Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud and Yuri Gagarin.
Birmingham NEC, 12-14 April
National Electronics Week forms part of the UK’s largest gathering of manufacturing and industrial professionals. Hosted alongside other events including MACH and Drives & Controls, it’s billed as the key event to attend if you are involved in electronics manufacturing. In addition to the latest products and services from international manufacturers and suppliers there’s a full seminar programme and interactive features.
Manchester Tech Nights is a meetup aimed at Manchester’s technology community, either the people who are making Manchester’s tech scene what it is, or just those who are interested and want to keep up-to-date. We want to find out what’s going on across the north west, regardless of language. The night kicks off with a headline talk, followed by a series of shorter lightning talks and then an informal chat between attendees.
Engineering & Technology magazine 