Sync the City 2023: “a highlight of Norwich’s business calendar”

• Over 100 people received expert mentoring and coaching at the annual “Sync the City” event, which took place from 23 Nov to 25 Nov 2023 at the King’s Centre, Norwich

• A record number of 47 people pitched initial business ideas. Ten were chosen and developed by teams over the 54-hour event

• A software engineer and a teacher took home the £4,000 cash prizes for their ideas

A record number of people – over 100 – developed their skills at “Sync the City 2023” – the ninth annual 54-hour challenge to form a start-up company; since it started the event has transformed lives and led to successful spin-out companies and innovations. On Thursday evening (23 Nov), 47 people delivered one-minute pitches for business ideas – again, a record number for the event. Ten ideas were chosen following an audience vote, and teams were formed to develop these ideas – with mentoring provided by leaders from Norwich’s business community. Each team then delivered final, five-minute pitches on Saturday evening for their business ideas:

• The team led by Matt Brookson (who is a Software Engineer for Artlist) was awarded £3,000 by the expert judges (see notes to editors) for their pitch for a new app for family-focused interactive adventures, called “Trailblazers”.
• The team led by Nicky Turner (who is a teacher at the Workers Educational Association) won the £1,000 “People’s Choice” award – chosen by popular vote – for their pitch to develop “HubL”, a digital platform to assess and aid refugees and immigrants in learning English for work.

This was Matt’s sixth Sync the City, and he told us that the event has led to him meeting “amazing people”. Speaking on Saturday evening (click here to see Matt’s interview), he paid tribute to everyone on his team and said: “My idea was for a quest app for children and their parents/guardians to encourage them to get outdoors, explore cities, and basically get off their screens and do something fun. I think it’s a good cause and am so glad we won. We have actually had some commitment from businesses in Norwich already, so people seem engaged with the idea and I think that we could potentially take it somewhere and do something with it.” English teacher Nicky Turner also thanked her team for their expertise and support in putting together her final pitch to develop ‘HubL’. Speaking on Saturday evening (click here to see the interview), she added: “I’ve spent years in the sector trying to help people from other countries to get jobs and integrate into Norwich, which is a wonderful and welcoming city. The problem we have is that students cannot manage to find the right class because they don’t have anywhere to go to know where the classes are. So, we have created HubL, which we hope will be able to continue thanks to the vote of the people. Students will be able to find the correct course and then become part of society in this country.” Since it was launched in 2023, Sync the City has helped a number of people to forge successful careers and develop innovative new products – including UEA graduate Callum Coombes, who told us how winning the event in 2017 led to the formation of his successful business (click here to see our interview with Callum). In a moving keynote speech on Saturday evening, Peter Abbott, Product Design Lead at Fresha, spoke about the huge benefits of taking part in Sync the City, regardless of who wins the event. Peter told us that taking part in Sync the City led to him getting his first job, meeting his wife and developing his career – while the skills he learned at the event helped him when he was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer in 2019 (click here to see our interview with Peter). John Fagan, chief executive of technology company Scribe, worked in partnership with the University of East Anglia (UEA) to start Sync the City in 2014. Commenting on the annual event, he said: “It’s been incredible to see so many people develop new skills, make new connections and gain confidence – all while having a fantastic time. I’d like to thank our amazing sponsors and the mentors and judges who give up their time to make this event possible. Following the great event this year, I’m delighted to announce that we’re going to be holding next year’s event at the King’s Centre in Norwich between 28 and 30 November 2024.” Fiona Lettice, Emeritus Professor, of Norwich Business School, helped to co-found Sync the City nine years ago, and told us: “This is a flagship event for University of East Anglia and for the tech community. What’s really good about it is the way that it brings together our students, the business community, mentors, judges, and we all have really good fun – but also, really great ideas get discussed and developed. People develop their skills and networks, and the icing on the cake is that we get some great start-ups and business being founded at the end of the event.” The primary sponsors for the Sync the City 2023 were: University of East Anglia, Aviva and Leathes Prior Solicitors and Greater Anglia). Supporting sponsors were: Brew Digital and Langham Recruitment. Other sponsors were: Norfolk County Council, Breakwater IT, Naked Tech and Artlist.