Join Creative Manchester at The University of Manchester to explore how The University of Manchester can help businesses and academics work together for innovative applications of CreaTech.

On 18 May, Creative Manchester are delighted to present CreaTech Connect 2026: Accelerating University–Industry Partnerships in the Sister (Renold) Building, at the centre of the Innovation District.

CreaTech, as described by the Creative Industries Council (CIC), "is where creativity meets technology. It brings together creative skills and emerging technologies to create new ways of engaging audiences and to inspire business growth and investment."

At The University of Manchester, we know the value of working together. We break down barriers and get involved; we collaborate across disciplines, cultures and industries to solve problems; and we transform people’s lives by generating positive, relevant impact through our research.

During the event, you will hear from alumni of the CreaTech Innovation Lab 2025, hosted in partnership with The University of Manchester’s Business Engagement team, as well as academics and industry partners about their experiences working in interdisciplinary teams to solve real business challenges.

Following the Lightning Talks as 'case studies' for collaboration, a panel discussion with representatives from the University, industry and local growth partners will provide strategic direction and information on how University-Industry partnerships work.

Agenda

4.30pm: Welcome from Creative Manchester

4.40pm: Lightning Talks

5.15pm: Panel discussion and Q&A

5.50pm: Closing words and future funding and collaboration opportunities

Refreshments will be provided but capacity is limited, so please register to avoid disappointment.

About the projects

VALIDATA is an independent integrity verification system for music streaming data. Built by Dr Yishuang Xu and Dr Sergey Slizovskiy at The University of Manchester in partnership with the music-tech start-up BandShare, it tackles a growing systemic problem: bot-driven streams that distort charts, divert royalties from genuine artists and undermine trust in the wider market. VALIDATA combines Random Forests, autoencoders, cross-correlation analysis and geographic and temporal fingerprinting to detect manipulation, returning a daily Green / Amber / Red confidence score, with structured proof, for every artist under observation. Seeded by The University of Manchester's CreaTech Innovation Lab, the project is now moving towards larger-scale funding and is designed to extend beyond music into other digital industries where data integrity matters.

About the speakers

Dr Shukhrat Nasirov is an Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) in Technology and Innovation Management at Alliance Manchester Business School. His research examines how organisations develop and manage innovations, with particular attention to collaboration between universities and industry. At The University of Manchester, he has contributed to research and knowledge transfer projects aimed at making university-industry interaction more inclusive. Before moving into academia, he worked in both banking and government, where he focused on business planning and economic analysis.

Dr Yishuang Xu is a Senior Lecturer at The University of Manchester and the founder of an AI start-up building tools for sustainability in real estate. Her research applies machine learning to high-stakes data trust problems across sectors: from PropTech and ESG to the music industry, where she leads VALIDATA, a bot-detection system for streaming data.

Dr Amanda Banks Gatenby is a Lecturer in Digital Technologies, Communications & Education at The University of Manchester.

Dr Alex Roy is Director of Innovation at Unit M.

Rachel Kenyon is Business Engagement Manager for the Faculty of Humanities, within The University of Manchester’s Business Engagement & Knowledge Exchange (BEKE) team; she is also the Business Engagement Lead across the University for FinTech, LegalTech, and Digital Trust & Security themes. The BEKE function provides a mechanism for improved information flow between universities and the wider-world, facilitating collaboration with business partners, to inform research and increase economic & societal impacts.

Seb Mariner is Head of Communications and Marketing at Manchester Camerata. He does not come from a classical music background but loves the artform dearly. Before that, worked for internet radio NTS setting up their Manchester office and programming events for cultural institutions around the North West, including Yorkshire Sculpture International, Tate Liverpool, The Whitworth and more. A huge advocate of anything left of centre, Seb loves to challenge the status quo taking inspiration from all areas and applying them to the classical artform.