A five-day festival will be staged at locations across Dorset next month to showcase the county’s exciting digital future.

Dorset Council’s Festival of the Future is back for the third year running and it will be a hybrid event where people can attend in person or take part virtually.

Held from 10-14 October, #FutureFest22 will come to Bridport, Dorchester, Ferndown, Weymouth and Winfrith to highlight how innovation and technology could transform the county.

Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for Corporate Development and Transformation, Cllr Jill Haynes, said: “Our festival will be a fully-fledged hybrid experience where we will be live with a local audience and available online for people to view as a live broadcast.

“It promises to be a lot of fun, very exciting and enlightening as we look into the possibilities our future might hold – and best of all it is completely free to attend.”

This year’s festival will feature ground-breaking digital innovation in farming, education, tourism, health and the climate.

A spotlight will be thrown on the breadth of careers in digital and the support available to help small businesses innovate.

The festival will also highlight the importance of making sure everyone is included in the county’s digital future and that Dorset has the right skills for a digital economy.

Young people will have their input, with school children taking part in Dorset’s first ever Coding Day and college students examining how Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality can transform a tourist attraction.

Guest speakers and experts will share the latest thinking and their ideas about the possibilities of a digital future.

And exploring the lessons learned from the ground-breaking 5G RuralDorset project, the festival will demonstrate what a digital town might look, using Weymouth as the setting.

Dorset Council’s chief executive, Matt Prosser, said: “We’ll be exploring very important issues and relevant topics but in a relaxed, fun-packed way full of festival atmosphere.

“We won't necessarily be able to deliver all solutions and some of these imaginative ideas generated might never take off from the concept board. But we want to make people excited about the opportunities that exist for digital innovation and investment that could make Dorset an even better place to live, work and visit.”

To find out what is happening on each day of the festival, and to book free tickets, go to www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/festival-of-the-future-2022