Bring a real business challenge. See what emerging digital talent can do.
What could your customer data tell you about your next big business opportunity?
Most businesses are sitting on a goldmine of customer information. Sales records, spreadsheets, transaction histories and CRM exports contain valuable intelligence about customer behaviour, buying patterns and opportunities for growth.
But how much of that information are you actually using?
On 18th November, join a range of other Sussex businesses at this Tech Talent Champions hackathon, bringing employers together with emerging digital talent to harness the power of the data your business collects.
Working with an anonymised dataset from your company, participants could develop an interactive dashboard, visualisation or AI-powered analysis tool to inform better commercial decisions.
📅 Wednesday 18th November 2026
🕙 10:00am–4:00pm
📍 The Hastings Centre, Hastings
🎟️ Apply to take part
Places are limited to 20 employers, with 12 still available.
Teams of talented graduates, tech bootcampers, apprentices and career-changers will work on the problem, exploring how data, AI, automation, dashboards and low-code tools could provide a practical solution for your business.
As a participating employer, you can:
✅ Help shape the challenge around real customer insight needs
✅ See candidates tackle a genuine business problem rather than simply reading their CVs
✅ Watch how they analyse problems, use technology, collaborate and communicate
✅ Help judge the final solutions
✅ Meet promising people you may want to speak to about a project, placement, apprenticeship or junior role
This isn’t a careers fair or a coding competition.
It’s an opportunity to explore a useful solution to a shared business challenge while seeing emerging digital talent demonstrate what they can actually do.
You don’t need to have a vacancy to attend.
We’re looking for firms interested in AI, automation, data and digital improvement, and open to meeting the people who could help deliver it.
🚀 Join the employer challenge
18 November | 10:00am–4:00pm | The Hastings Centre
Register your place and help us explore a tool that could support better customer insight, decision-making and profitability, while discovering some of Sussex’s emerging tech talent.
Tech Talent Champions is funded by the UK Government through Innovate UK, as part of the TechFirst programme, and delivered in partnership by TechNative Digital and Sussex Innovation
Good to know
Highlights
- 6 hours
- In person
Location
Hastings Centre
The Hastings Centre the Ridge
Hastings TN34 2SA
How do you want to get there?
