York Business Festival programme unveiled

City of York Council has unveiled the themes and programme of events for York Business Festival 2022 (previously known as York Business Week).

Now in its 12th year, York Business Festival 2022 will be a month-long programme of free events from Tuesday 1 November to Wednesday 30 November that will focus on ‘Growing the Economy for Today and Tomorrow’.

This year’s festival aim is to support growth and spark innovation for local businesses in the context of current and future challenges. The events will cater to all business needs and were developed around York’s new 10-Year Economic Strategy.

The month-long event programme will include a series of sessions supported by various partners that cover 5 major themes:

• An economy driven by good business
• Thriving businesses – the right conditions for Sustainable Growth
• Reducing carbon – a greener economy
• Developing our people – a thriving workforce
• York as a global city

With topical seminars, thought provoking workshop sessions, online and in-person networking opportunities, there will be something for everyone.

York Business Festival 2022 is led by a partnership between the Council and various business support organisations across York, including:

Institute of Directors
York and North Yorkshire LEP
University of York
York St John University
York BID
Department for International Trade
York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce
Ad:Venture
The Supply Chain Network
See Green

Cllr Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council, said:

We’re glad to be bringing the York Business Festival back for its 12th year, with the support of partners across the city.

“The month-long festival will see local, regional, national and international speakers and businesses come together to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing our economy and businesses. The wealth of events this year will offer practical support, inspiration as well as new opportunities to local businesses of all sizes.”

Cllr Ashley Mason, executive member for Economy and Strategic planning, said:

The feedback from last year’s Business Week has played a big role in shaping our response, support and engagement with the business community.

“The York Business Festival 2022 is back to support sustainable and long term growth in the city and region, and address the immediate needs of our local businesses during what continues to be a very challenging time.”

Caroline Wilson, Partnership Manager (York & North Yorkshire), Department for International Trade said:

DIT works with many businesses across York and North Yorkshire who are expanding their sales through exporting, helping to grow our economy and supporting high-quality sustainable jobs across the region.

“We are hosting four events as part of this year’s York Business Festival and are looking forward to introducing more businesses to the benefits of exporting and the exciting new business opportunities across the world.”

Ian Garner, Vice-Chair, Institute of Directors North Yorkshire, said:

The Institute of Directors (IoD) is proud to support the York Business Festival.

“We can identify strongly with the festival’s theme one, ‘Closer to home – an economy driven by good business’. Our purpose is to ‘help create better directors for a better world’ and our ambition is to help ‘directors be the best they can be’ The IoD North Yorkshire branch membership are mostly SMEs and micro businesses. We hope our sessions at the festival will be helpful for local small businesses to be the best they can be.”

To make the programme accessible to everyone, all events within York Business Festival will be free to attend.

Find out more about the programme of events and book tickets to this year’s events.

Join the conversation at #YorkBizFest22. Find us on social media:

LinkedIn – York Business Festival
Twitter – @YorkBizFestival
To get involved in York Business Festival, contact the council’s Economic Growth team by email: economicgrowth@york.gov.uk.

To get updates on the Festival, sign up to the Council’s Business newsletter.