Nick is an entrepreneur with a passion for technology based at Birmingham Science Park.

Nick is the founder of @QRky, @Foodient & @CoGoCoffee. Business, technology & design geek and The Apprentice 2012 (BBC) candidate.

Prior co-founding Foodient, Nick, currently featuring in the BBC Apprentice 2012, won Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year in 2010 and Birmingham Young Professional of the Year in 2011.     

LinkedIn    @nickholzherr

About Foodient
Food fanatics adding magic to food publishers’ websites through our web app Foodient.com that adds a purchase ingredients button to online recipes.  www.foodient.com

OVERVIEW: Midlands Games & Technology Piece on ITV news
(YouTube link)

• 12,500 tech firms in the Midlands
• Scout7 talking technology and football at Birmingham Science Park
• Soshi Games talk Midlands games industry
• Over 150 businesses at Birmingham Science Park
• Entrepreneurs for the Future programme for tech businesses
• Quote: “Midlands is the gaming centre of the UK”
• Quote: “West Midlands & Birmingham in particular becoming hub for digital business”
• Quote: “It is a real centre of excellence”

Call Matthew Hidderley of Birmingham Science Park on 0121 260 6168 to find out how you can get involved with the LAUNCH games activities through to locating your business at the Park. Office space ranges from 1 to 200 people or we can build your own building!

Unlimited hotdesking starts at £99+VAT a month with free meeting space and postal facilities.

Visit Birmingham Science Park at the next LAUNCH: Games & Digital Meetup on 20th June with the following guest speakers:

• Caroline Norbury, CEO of Creative England
• Suresh Sudera, Head of Games, Vodafone Group
• Neill Watson, CEO, 2Fold20 Play
• Stephen Morris, Technical Director, Greenfly Studios
• Simon Prytherch, CEO,  Chromativity Ltd

Click here for full event details including the full delegate list and speaker profiles.

Suresh Sudera, Head of Games, Vodafone Group

Offering over ten years of experience in mobile, Suresh’s career has enabled him to gain invaluable and extensive experience of commercial management and technical development of terminals, networked platforms & content. 

As head of games at Vodafone Group, Suresh is responsible for games on a global level, implementing and evangelising Group strategy, managing over 20 global content relationships and content for some 27 territories worldwide across the Vodafone and partner network footprint.

Back in 2002 Suresh successfully launched Vodafone UK’s Java games download service and later worked as business development manager for Vodafone Group where he was involved in the company’s worldwide 3G launch in November 2004. More recently, he has been focussed in delivering Vodafone’s centralised android and social gaming strategies. 

Suresh cut his teeth as a product manager for Psion in 1998 and moved to Purple Software in 2001 where he worked on a range of award winning PDA and Smartphone applications. His strengths include strong partner relations and effective negotiation and influencing skills, coupled with an unrivalled knowledge of the intricacies and inner workings of the mobile games industry.

LinkedIn

Caroline Norbury, CEO, Creative England

Prior to establishing South West Screen she ran First Take Films, an agency dedicated to developing new talent and new voices.  Caroline is a member of BAFTA.  She studied for her first degree in Government at the University of Essex and has an MA in Cultural Leadership from City University, London.

Caroline Norbury, CEO, Creative England commented, “Birmingham is a great city with a real opportunity for growth of the digital and technology sector. I am delighted to be attending this event and share what Creative England are doing to support the Games, Digital and Creative Services sectors.

At the end of last year, Birmingham Science Park Aston announced during a visit by the Prime Minister, David Cameron, the 50th new technology business enrolled onto the Park’s Entrepreneurs for the Future programme. This is testimony of the opportunities that lie ahead for the sector”.

www.creativeengland.co.uk    @carolinenorbury    Linkedin

Simon has been in the game industry since 1988 holding the following key roles: Executive Producer at Codemasters, Head of Development at Empire Interactive, Head of Development at Black Bean Games and recently as founder/CEO of Lightning Fish and Chromativity.

Lightning Fish established themselves as specialist developers of motion games and considered experts on MS Kinect and Sony Move titles.

Their latest game is Adidas miCoach (Xbox 360/PS3) will be released this summer. Now as Chromativity the company is expanding onto PC and mobile platforms. Their first iOS/Android game is called Fluid Football and is to be launched in June.

Simon has been responsible for several million-selling franchises including LMA Manager, Flatout, Ford Racing, Taito Legends and Club Football. His 40+ published games have been on every major console.

@spryt      Linkedin     www.chromativity.com

Stephen Morris, Technical Director, Greenfly Studios Ltd

Stephen Morris is one-half of Greenfly Studios, a small independent games company developing original titles for desktop and mobile platforms.

Currently working on a new unannounced IP, Greenfly Studios has also recently released their first iOS title ‘Ski Solitaire’ (EuroGamer App of the Day.)

Prior to Greenfly Studios, Stephen was responsible for several blockbuster educational games on the forefront of interactive classroom technology. He got his start in the games industry making levels and modding for Unreal before fulfilling positions at Ravaged Entertainment and Kamehan Studios as well as features in PC Gamer US and Gulf News.

Stephen is also the author for the upcoming book ‘Rise of the Indie Game Developers’ – a series of interviews with notable indie developers and their experiences. Covering their personal sacrifices and euphoric jubilation, the book looks to give a deeper insight into what it is to be an Indie Developer.

LinkedIn    Twitter

www.greenflystudios.com

Chris is the COO for a new social game publisher called Hooplo. Chris is also non-executive director for Relentless Software and Future Games of London.

Chris has spent the last few years building innovative game development firms such as Media Molecule and FreeStyleGames. He enjoys bringing new IP to market and is excited to now do this across social and mobile platforms, as well as console and connected TVs.

PREVIOUS ROLES:

• Vice President at Activision
• Co-Founder & Commercial Director at FreeStyleGames
• Co-Founder & Commercial Director at Media Molecule
• Vice President at Criterion Software/Electronic Arts

 www.hooplomedia.com    www.relentless.co.uk     Linkedin

Kwalee founder, David, has been involved with a succession of Top 10 video games over the last 30 years including series such as Dizzy, Micro Machines and Colin McRae Rally. David founded Codemasters in 1986 with his brother and father, growing the company to become one of the largest video game publishers in the world.

David was awarded a CBE by the Queen for services to the video game industry. David describes Kwalee as “a completely new business model where you can be creative and hopefully do something new and different.”

David on Wikipedia    CBE on BBC

@DavidDarlingUK

About Kwalee – mobile device games developer and publisher
Kwalee is a brand new start up developer and publisher of smartphone apps based in the Midlands, the heart of the UK games industry.

Kwalee is different. We seek to excite and entertain our customers with innovative new products that provide special experiences. Our ethos is based around a set of core values that put the customer first and which harness the creative skills of our staff to the maximum in order to do so.

www.kwalee.com   @kwaleeteam

Neill Watson, CEO, 2Fold20 Play

An expert in creative projects, new business & interactive digital media Neill’s career spans; Warner Bros (Music & Film) > Account Director @ Hyperlaunch Digital agency > Senior Consultant for VCs & Technology led start-ups.

Throughout this time Neill has worked with brands including; WB, EMI, HBO, Disney BVI, Reuters, UDV (Diageo), etc… Creatively driven, Neill has produced commercial tracks for Warner Music & Hollywood Records (Disney) artists.

LinkedIn         www.2fold20play.com

About 2Fold20 Play
2Fold20 Play is a gaming company designed to capitalise on the next stage of the casual, social gaming market and rapidly evolving convergence. Founded by TwoFold Twenty and with investment from the Creative Advantage Fund, 2Fold20 Play has a management team that includes expertise in Film, TV, gaming, marketing, digital, media, music and venture capital with a track record of building successful teams, projects, and new business in the digital entertainment space.

Latest news: 10,000 players sign up to test Birmingham’s ‘Enjoy! Karaoke’ Facebook game

Birmingham’s ‘Enjoy! Karaoke’ Facebook game

Rich Holdsworth, Chief Executive Officer, Wapple
A recognized name within the mobile industry for having true, proven, foresight into mobile internet Rich has been key in the creation of Wapple core technology. Rich has 8 years background in Web and Mobile Development and 8 years within Video Games Creation and Development as Lead Designer on ‘Number 1′ products. He was credited in the Sunday Times for creating the first ever WAP game.
@richholdsworth       Linkedin

About Wapple
Wapple delivers a unique Mobile Web Platform that empowers brands, web agencies, marketing experts and developers to deliver optimised mobile web content. With more than 25,000 global licensed users of its software products, Wapple’s clients include some of the biggest global brands and best recognised blue chip enterprises.  Wapple Professional Services delivers marketing strategies and rich experiences to mobile web consumers. Sites built on Wapple technology have reached more than 100 countries worldwide. The platform has formatted text into 23 different languages from Chinese, Russian, French, German, to Hebrew. www.wapple.net   @wapplemobileweb