In November 2024, Alan attended the Advanced Manufacturing Conference in Sheffield. Something stood out. For an event built around manufacturing, the region's large manufacturers were conspicuously absent — not just from the speaker line-up, but from the room entirely. And for a conference on advanced manufacturing, there was surprisingly little technology in the conversation.
A few months later, at Celebrate Chesterfield in 2025, Alan noticed the same gap again. There was clearly appetite for this kind of work locally, but the people and the technology weren't being brought together in the same place.
The idea took shape properly over a conversation with Jim at Host on Chatsworth Road. Tech Exchange Chesterfield grew out of that meeting — a deliberate attempt to close the gap between the area's technologists, manufacturers and businesses, and to give local tech talent a place to connect.
What we're here to do
We exist to accelerate local tech talent, innovation and opportunity. In practice, that means creating a regular, open space where people working in and around technology in Chesterfield can meet, share what they're doing, and find the support, collaborators and ideas they need to push their work forward — and to keep that value rooted in the local community.