PLUSMINUS on June 5th will see over 200 of the country’s business leaders in tech gather in the city for a single day’s conference. The event reaffirms the status of Birmingham as a top European startup destination and tech hub, as well as the meeting point for the whole of the UK.

The conference has two key aims: to explore emerging tech for businesses targeting consumers, and to unite the UK’s tech cities. On the agenda are apps, mobile, augmented reality, computer vision, brand marketing and new marketing channels. The morning session sees ten startups from all over the UK pitch to a room of hand-picked investors and angels, with startups travelling from top accelerators all over the UK to pitch.

As in many aspects of the UK economy, the UK is weighted heavily toward London in the technology and entrepreneurial communities. Nevertheless, the capital’s success is slowly being replicated across the rest of the country. In recent years, strong communities have grown up in Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Bristol to name a few.

Event Manager Ed Maclean said, “Birmingham was a natural choice for us. The city has had a really exciting tech scene for a while, especially within Oxygen Accelerator and Innovation Birmingham. Birmingham also allows us to connect London with the rest of the UK, with nobody being more than a few hours by train. It’s great to support the city in a venture which is also valuable for us.”