20 OCTOBER 2026
FREE EVENT | EXPLORE SHEFFIELD’S URBAN INNOVATION DISTRICT
SHEFFIELD CITY CENTRE
OPEN
DOORS
A free, open-to-all event for curious people to explore Sheffield Innovation Spine; the city centre’s urban innovation district. Follow the route of the Spine walk and meet with the people innovating, making, and doing cool stuff from our city’s specialist lab, studio and coworking spaces.
COMING SOON: The app is now available for Android and iOS will be live shortly, once live simply download the Spine Guide app and go!
A Trail of immersive experiences and hands-on demos
This October, follow an interactive walking route using the official event app, unlocking exclusive stories from Sheffield’s innovators and collecting leaderboard points along the way. Venue highlights include:
Sheffield Hallam University (Strines Building)
Step inside the 360-degree 'Igloo' immersive environment to experience place-inspired films, and tour the 144-camera photogrammetry suite used to create 3D models for gaming, fashion, and biomechanics.
Electric Works
Meet local tech entrepreneurs and business advisers—and experience the venue’s famous three-storey helter-skelter slide, known locally as "7 seconds of pure exhilaration".
Sheffield Technology Parks (Cooper Building)
Try out live inventions in the tech incubator and explore labs housing early-stage startups.
Royal Academy of Engineering (UKSE Innovation Centre)
Meet Dr Rachel Smith, Senior Enterprise Manager, to learn how national engineering networks support local innovators building global, green and growing businesses.
University of Sheffield (Ella Armitage & Engineering Heartspace)
Explore the Emerge Startup Studio product showcase, step inside the Siemens Digital Innovation Zone "living lab," and help test next-generation products spinning out of the university.
Pennine Five
Tour deep-tech labs, get live product demos from scale-ups, record a Vox Pop in the podcast studio, and take in panoramic city views from the top of Block One.
Open Doors is the official fringe of the TECH SY Northern Tech Summit:
Open Doors is delivered through a unique collaboration between organisations, communities and venues with a shared purpose; to champion inclusive innovation, inspire and connect people with opportunities across Sheffield’s urban innovation district. It is delivered by TECH SY, University of Sheffield, Business Sheffield, Electric Works, Sheffield Hallam University, Emerge, Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub, Pennine Five, Sheffield Technology Parks, Llama Digital and convened by Sheffield Innovation Spine.