ciktn

After a successful trip to Berlin last year, CIKTN have teamed up with PICNIC, one of the must-attend digital conferences in Europe, and the UK Science & Innovation Network for a special event on 21/22nd Feb in Amsterdam.

Kicking off what's billed as a series of events between UK firms and Amsterdam, which has a strong reputation for digital businesses, this looks like a promising intiative for digital firms looking to start or develop a foothold in Europe.

In Chinwag's recent Digital Mission survey looking at which global opportunities were tempting the UK's digital firms, Germany featured 4th on the list.

Update: Panel line-up and Berline startups announced. Just one travel bursary left. See below.

For those digital firms interested in this market, Creative Industries KTN (CIKTN) and Berlin Brandenburg Medianet have announced a one-day session in Berlin to introduce firms to the local market, meeting with startups and local businesses who will provide mentoring support.

You'll need to be quick (deadline this Thu 16th Sept), but a new competition from the Technology Strategy Board's (TSB) new £600k Launchpad competition gives the chance for small business to move their best ideas from the drawing board into the real-world.

The judges are after "disruptive solutions for energy, digital, healthcare, & sustainability problems" that can be addressed in three month projects - the full background is outlined on the TSB website.

They're looking to see what you'll do with £25k and for the lucky few that are invited to put forward a written submission and pitch at Innovate 10: Connecting for Growth on 12th October in London, with the opportunity to run their project over six months with £100k funding.

The Partnering for Innovation (Metadata) events drew the cream of the UK's Metadatarists, which if not a proper word, should be.

The competition itself opens on 13th September so there's still plenty of time to put find a partner and put in an application. During the events in Birmingham and London, delegates took place in an Ideas Marketplace, outlining their concepts, companies, partners wanted and provide a handy way to find potential collaborators.

UPDATE: If you're not able to make it along, follow on Twitter #tsbcollab. Presentations will be available as videos in next couple of days.

This week we're off to The Watershed in Bristol on Wednesday (2nd June) and the Internet Advertising Bureau in London on Thursday (3rd June).

These events are part of the Partnering for Innovation tour Chinwag is helping to organise, to support the launch of the £18m Collaboration Across Digital Industries competition.

There's still a few spaces left for the Bristol event, don't forget to RSVP to secure one.

If you're after more background about this competition, don't forget to check out the videos we blogged last week with Alex Stanhope from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB).