The event, held at the newly refurbished Templeman Library Canterbury Campus, welcomed University of Kent students and included inspiring presentations from mobile entrepreneurs and local businesses who delivered technical speeches and provided insights on their entrepreneurial journeys.
The University’s Enterprise Manager, Marcus Wright, led the conference with opening remarks given by Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Denise Everitt.
The first speaker, Gavyn McKenzie, from Etch in Canterbury, delivered a technical speech about how to establish the initial app concept and how solving problems can develop into an app. Gavyn was followed by Andy Ferrett and Mike Spence, from Brightec in Brighton, who gave some insight about how to run a lean and effective business and took the audience through the different stages of creating an app.
During the buffet lunch the audience were able to network with fellow like-minded students and discuss their ideas with the external developers and receive feedback. This was an opportunity for technical and non-technical students to come together alongside industry experts.
Following on from the networking break, Paul Swaddle, from Pocket App, took the audience through the stages of how to mobilize a business and his own entrepreneurial journey. The conference concluded with a questions and answer session with all the guest speakers and closing remarks, featuring how the University of Kent, via the Hub for Innovation and Enterprise can support student entrepreneurs, and has done so since 2004, delivered by the Enterprise Manager, Marcus Wright.
This event was kindly sponsored by the Kent Student Project Grant Scheme.
For more information about the App Development Conference, please contact the Hub for Innovation and Enterprise team on 01227 82 4641 or email unikenthub@kent.ac.uk. Please see below a list of the App Development Conference speakers and the presentations used.
“I liked that there was a diverse range of speakers from different levels and all of the talks were really engaging. There was an opportunity to network with the guest speakers and other attendees. I was able to get advice from the speakers and meet other students who share the same interests.”
“I really enjoyed being able to speak to the entrepreneurs and app developers who had delivered the presentations. It was great to meet the people behind the apps we actually use and the Q&A session was really insightful and helpful.”
“Thank you for a great afternoon. The company speakers talked about good topics and were very insightful and from good companies. There was lots of professional opinions and advice. Thank you for getting industry speakers with experience coming to talk to us. The presentation were awesome. My one concern would be, how could you top this? Doing another conference again would be great.”
For more information about the App Development Conference, please contact the Hub for Innovation and Enterprise team on 01227 82 4641 or email unikenthub@kent.ac.uk.
