Fusion Fest, the headline event of Glasgow Tech Week, will bring together technologists, artists, designers, researchers, investors and industry leaders to explore how creativity and technology collaborates to drive innovation and growth.
The half-day event, taking place on Thursday 10 September at The Briggait is hosted by Glasgow City Innovation District (GCID) in partnership with the University of Strathclyde, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and The Glasgow School of Art (GSA).
Through talks, performances, installations and live demonstrations, Fusion Fest will showcase projects and ideas from the creative and technology sectors, covering areas including artificial intelligence, immersive storytelling, digital design, gaming, music, performance and creative entrepreneurship.
The programme is designed to encourage collaboration across disciplines, helping to build new partnerships and explore how creative thinking and technological innovation can address shared challenges and create new opportunities.
The event is structured around three themes – Flow, Expand and Amplify – reflecting the journey of ideas from initial inspiration, through development, to wider impact. Panel discussions and presentations will share lessons from entrepreneurial journeys and highlight innovative work taking place across Glasgow.
Speakers include Glasgow based artist and filmmaker Rachel Maclean and Dr Ana Rojo-Echeburúa, CTO of Aintools, as well as contributors from the fields of opera and artificial intelligence, gaming and health, space, animation, design and architecture.
Artist, designer, and GSA graduate, Emer Tumilty (Communication Design 2013), unveiled a new artwork commission, titled The Glasgow Rose, produced in collaboration with the creative studio NEWSUBSTANCE, to celebrate the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games. Inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s famous roses, the 10-metre-wide sculpture has been suspended from Glasgow’s iconic Finnieston Crane to act as a tribute to the city’s industrial and artistic heritage.
Alisdair Gunn, Director of Glasgow City Innovation District, said: “Glasgow has long been recognised internationally for its strengths in both creativity and technology and Fusion Fest is the first event of its kind to bring together the city’s outstanding creative and technology sectors to forge new collaborations, exchange ideas and lead the next wave of creative technology innovation.”
Professor Paul Chapman, Director of Emerging Technology at The Glasgow School of Art, said: “The Glasgow School of Art has always understood that the most exciting ideas emerge where disciplines meet. Fusion Fest is a natural home for us, a place where artists, designers and technologists can discover what becomes possible when creative practice and emerging technology are brought together, and we’re proud to help champion Glasgow as a city where imagination and innovation drive one another forward.”
Janine Matheson, Innovation Studio Producer at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, has led the curation of RCS’s contribution to Fusion Fest.
A spokesperson for the Conservatoire said: “We’re pleased to partner in Fusion Fest and to showcase members of our innovative performing arts community, sharing their work and insights with the wider CreaTech and startup community.
“Fusion Fest brings people together for deeper peer connections, cross-industry skills exchange, and to spark valuable future collaborations. At a time of real division and uncertainty, gatherings like this, where people come together to share ideas, learn and build something new, matter more than ever.”
Anchored by the University of Strathclyde, GCID brings together industry, investors, academia and government to deliver inclusive economic growth through innovation.
For further information please contact press@gsa.ac.uk
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About The Glasgow School of Art
The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) is internationally recognised as one of Europe’s leading independent university-level institutions for education and research in the visual creative disciplines – ranking 8th in the world and 5th in Europe in the QS World University Rankings 2026. Our studio-based, specialist, practice-led teaching, learning and research draw talented individuals with a shared passion for visual culture and creative production from all over the world.
Originally founded in 1845 as one of the first Government Schools of Design, the School’s history can be traced back to 1753 and the establishment of the Foulis Academy delivering a European-style art education. Today, the GSA is an international community of over 3,500 students and staff across architecture, design, digital, fine art and innovation in our campuses in Glasgow and Altyre (in the Scottish Highlands) and a thriving Open Studio programme delivering non-degree provision to over 1,500 students annually.
