360 degree video dome and Guildhall arcade among CultureTECH festival

The family-friendly weekend programme will also coincide with the recently announced MTV Crashes event in the city.

The line-up includes a 3-day Minecraft tournament, a science stage show for over 6,000 young people, a temporary 360 degree video dome music venue as well as the first events in both the new NW Regional Science Park and the creative industries hub at Ebrington.

Now in its third year, CultureTECH is Northern Ireland’s largest technology and creative industries event with organisers expecting to welcome an audience of over 40,000 people across the week of September 15 - 21. With a focus on creative technology and media, the festival has seen enormous growth since its launch in 2012, becoming a favourite with both industry delegates and young people from across the city - over 8,000 of whom took part in the festival last year.

Festival director Mark Nagurski said: “Every year our goal is to make CultureTECH bigger and better, so we are incredibly excited to be announcing some of the highlights from this year’s programme.

“Simply put, we’ve got more video games, more workshops, more family events, more educational programming and more community-based activities than ever before.

“And of course, we are absolutely thrilled to be working in partnership with Derry City Council to welcome MTV Crashes to Derry-Londonderry, bringing a packed programme of events across the week to an amazing close.”

Some of the highlights include: The City Arcade - One of the biggest video games events in Ireland, including a huge Minecraft tournament in the city’s Guildhall and dozens of free-to-play arcades throughout the historic walled city-centre.

Ministry of Science Live! - A science-focused stage show, supported by technology firm Seagate and urban regeneration company ILEX, which will play to over 6,000 young people across the week.

Over 15,000 young people are expected to take part in CultureTECH’s educational strand which includes contributions from Seagate, BT, Kainos and Honeycomb - Creative Works.

360 degree Video Dome - An 11 metre high-definition video dome which will play host to a range of music events and stunning visual displays.

Community Programme - Over 70 individual events which will take place throughout neighbourhoods and communities in the city and the wider North West, programmed and hosted by over 50 community and voluntary organisations.

Make and Play Weekend - Dozens of hands-on creative activities spread across the city centre on the Saturday and Sunday of the festival, including 3D printing, electric kit cars, animation workshops and the world’s biggest fruit orchestra.

Culture Night Derry-Londonderry - Dozens of arts venues, galleries and arts organisations will open their doors as the city welcomes Culture Night on Friday, September 19.

Industry Programme - Four days of conferences, workshops and seminars supported by Invest Northern Ireland and produced by dozens of individual partner organisations including Google, IBM, the University of Ulster and the Belfast Media Festival.

Social Events - Belfast’s most exciting tech meetup, Friday Night Mashup, will host their biggest ever event during the festival. The North West Regional Science Park will open its doors to the public with its first major event at the newly built site and the region’s foremost digital industries awards, the DANI Awards, will host their black tie gala on September 19.

Additional events are being added daily ahead of the full programme release in mid-August. Anyone interested in attending can visit www.culturetech.co for the latest programme info.