The best ideas often start with two words: What if? From Tuesday 19 to Thursday 21 May, Bath Digital Festival returns to the city for three days of ideas, energy and practical inspiration, built around that very question.
Bath Digital Festival continues to position Bath as a meeting point for innovators, creatives, technologists and curious minds across the South West.
This year’s theme, What If?, is deliberately open-ended. It invites participants to challenge assumptions, test possibilities and explore new ways of thinking about technology, business and society. Rather than offering fixed answers, the festival creates space for experimentation, conversation and collaboration
across disciplines.
As ever, Bath Digital Festival is not a traditional conference. It is a curated programme of breakfasts, talks, workshops, panels and showcases designed to spark connection as much as insight.
Three days of ideas in motion
Each day begins with the popular BDF Breakfasts, facilitated sessions designed to spark conversation, networking and unexpected introductions. From there, the city becomes a live festival site, with events taking place across multiple venues.
Across all three days, attendees can expect a wide-ranging programme spanning technology, creativity and business innovation. The schedule features around 40+ sessions, including keynote talks, workshops, showcases and fringe meetups.
The festival opens on Tuesday 19 May, with a morning showcase and themed sessions exploring how organisations can apply emerging technologies in practical ways. Early confirmed sessions include What If Every Department Used AI Deliberately? and What If We Could Make Sense of the Megatrends?, reflecting a focus on real-world application over abstract theory.
Big ideas, bold voices
A key strength of Bath Digital Festival is the calibre and diversity of its speakers. Among the headline sessions is Tom Cheesewright, applied futurist, broadcaster and author, who challenges audiences to rethink emerging technologies through a more optimistic lens – asking whether today’s most disruptive tools could become tomorrow’s engines of creativity and progress.
Another standout session comes from Alex Barker (Be More Pirate), who explores behavioural psychology, experimentation and leadership. Her talk asks what happens when people step beyond inherited rules to redesign how they work and think.
On Wednesday 20 May, the Adelard Lecture, delivered with the University of Bath as part of its 60th anniversary, will be given by Jacky Wright, offering insight into leadership, transformation and the future of business in a digital-first world. Across the programme, additional sessions explore quantum technologies, neurodiversity in the workplace, inclusive innovation and decision-making in an increasingly complex world.
Workshops, showcases and hands-on learning
Beyond keynote talks, the festival places strong emphasis on participation. Across all three days, attendees can join workshops, live demonstrations and interactive sessions designed to turn ideas into action. These include technical deep dives, startup showcases and collaborative problem-solving sessions that encourage active involvement rather than passive attendance. The festival’s structure reflects its core belief: that innovation happens through doing, not just listening.
Closing celebration at Newark Works
The festival concludes on Thursday 21 May, with a closing celebration at Newark Works. This final evening offers space to continue conversations, reflect on ideas from the week and form new connections across sectors. It is less an ending than a continuation – an opportunity to carry forward collaborations sparked over three days.
A festival built for connection
Delivered by techSPARK and supported by regional partners, Bath Digital Festival plays a key role in strengthening the South West’s digital ecosystem by connecting startups, corporates, educators, public sector leaders and independent thinkers.
Its strength lies in its mix of audiences: founders alongside students, engineers with artists, policy thinkers with designers. The result is a programme shaped as much by dialogue as delivery. As organisers describe it, it is “a platform for ideas, not just attendance” – a space for those who want to build, question or explore what comes.
Free to attend
Importantly, Bath Digital Festival remains free to attend, ensuring accessibility across the region and helping it grow into one of the South West’s most collaborative innovation events.
Explore the programme
With three days of talks, workshops and experiences across Bath, the festival offers something for anyone interested in the future of technology, creativity and society. Whether you are a founder, student, creative, business leader or simply curious, Bath Digital Festival offers a chance to step into the conversation. What if?
Explore the full programme of talks and events and book your place at: techspark.co/bdf