techSPARK has relaunched Bristol Technology Festival as Brazen, marking a broader, city-wide format for the event.

Previously known as Bristol Technology Festival and later BTF+, the festival will run across Bristol over five days, using venues in institutions, neighbourhoods and grassroots spaces. The new brand reflects its expansion beyond a more narrowly defined technology gathering.

Brazen will bring together founders, creatives, investors, policymakers and local communities under one programme. The format is intended to connect technology, creativity and culture across the city rather than centre activity in a single venue.

The relaunch also includes a three-year strategic partnership with Bristol Business Improvement District, linking the festival more closely to efforts to support trade, footfall and cultural activity in the city centre.

Bristol BID is a business-led partnership backing projects aimed at making the city centre safer, greener, cleaner and more welcoming. It also supports local businesses and initiatives designed to attract visitors.

In its latest edition under the previous branding, the festival recorded more than 6,300 attendees and hosted more than 100 events. It also generated a reach of 4.6 million and GBP £883,000 in total social value.

Four tracks

The programme is organised around four strands: Summit, Community, Showcase and Live. These cover talks and debates, workshops and meetups, demonstrations and prototypes, and performances or immersive cultural events.

Each day will focus on a separate theme, including leadership and AI, clean tech, scale-up growth and creative technology. The structure is intended to give the week a clear narrative while allowing different groups to take part in different ways.

The model reflects how the event has developed over the past six years. What began as a more focused technology festival has widened into a broader platform seeking to draw in business, public sector, cultural and community participants.

Brazen will continue to operate on a not-for-profit basis, with any surplus reinvested into future editions. techSPARK has described it as a long-term platform rather than a one-off event, with each edition intended to build on the last.

City platform

The organisers have positioned Brazen as a city-led festival rooted in Bristol and the wider South West, while aiming for a broader national profile. Its format uses the city itself as the venue, spreading activity across central institutions as well as smaller local spaces.

Past partners have included Accenture, Amazon Web Services, Barclays, Deloitte, Dyson, EY, Meta, Sony and NatWest, alongside universities, public bodies, regional businesses, startups, artists and community groups. There is no single model for taking part: organisations can host events, help shape themes, present work or support visiting delegations.

The relaunch points to a broader ambition for Bristol’s technology and creative economy at a time when cities are competing to attract investment, skilled workers and cultural attention. By framing the event around cross-sector collaboration, techSPARK is seeking to raise Bristol’s profile as a place for innovation and creative work.

For Bristol BID, the partnership links a prominent city festival to its wider effort to support a busy and commercially active centre. For techSPARK, it provides a longer-term institutional relationship as the event moves under its new identity.

Steve Bluff, Chief Operating Officer, Bristol BID, said: “Bristol BID is excited to be a lead partner for Brazen, where technology, creativity and culture will collide across five days later in 2026. The festival will unlock new opportunities for Bristol’s businesses, strengthen pride and confidence in the city, and showcase Bristol and the wider region as one of the UK’s most exciting hubs for innovation and creativity. Brazen will bring the city to life with opportunities that we’re excited for our business community to be part of.”

Ben Shorrock, Chief Executive Officer, techSPARK, said: “Brazen is the next evolution of everything Bristol Technology Festival and BTF+ set out to be. We’ve seen first-hand the power of bringing technology, creativity and culture into the same space, and Brazen gives us the confidence, scale and ambition to take that story beyond the city.

“This is about building a festival that people plan their year around, one that puts community first, but speaks to a national and international audience.”