Good to see Social media Cafe Manchester is returning or is it #smc_mcr or is it Common Ground. A name change is always good but especially when it's got Social Media in the title, I know Social Media cafe Liverpool has always struggled with the title as it can be confusing for people who think it is going to be purely about Social Media but the digital world is bigger than that

Started in 2008 Social Media Cafe became an institution. Meeting regularly on the first Tuesday of the month, it ran for over 5 years bringing an eclectic and sometimes bizarre selection of topics to discuss. From emoji madness and a requiem for Ceefax to more grounded subjects. Through #smc_mcr, Manchester kicked off its open data journey and became a stopping off place for people passing through, who had projects and passions to share. Most importantly #smc_mcr was a place where anyone with a passion could pitch up and propose a topic that they wanted to share with others - either to inform or to find help. Because of this #smc_mcr developed an unConference format that allowed multiple subjects to be discussed at the same time.

Although we've only picked up on the Robotics request here, they are looking for ambassadors across various fileds and various different schools across Cheshire. 

If you are looking for a place to work away from your home office or if you simply want a break from your work colleagues then Jelly LIverpool - the creative co working space is back this Thursday.

Are you innovating in business, manufacturing or tech? Apply for the 2015 MIA now and you could win £10,000

If you or your business are a pioneer in your field or have created something unique to transform your marketplace, you may be the next Merseyside Innovation Awards winner.

Just to spread the news further than it might get normally here is the Open Labs newsletter.  

We're now firmly in the New Year and and we've been busy again, particularly with joining the NWCAHSN team at the Connected Health Ecosystem event and presenting at Liverpool Health Partners' Health is Wealth Conference. Here's a quick update on what else we've been working on.

The Open Labs Team

I received a lovely email from Eventbrite the other day telling me about what I was up to last year...events wise. So here is a quick update from them about the events that I've organised over the last year.  

So I've organised 19 events that 719 people attended (nice) and 3.3 thousand looked at my events listing on Eventbrite. They also kindly informed me that Liam Shore is the person that attended my events the most last year! Sorry Liam I promise I'll introduce myself next time as  don't know who you are. 

If you are looking for some cool events to attend then you can check out our Eventbrite profile (lots there) plus check out the full Liverpool digital events diary here.

Give get in touch if you want to talk about events, workshops or training. 

Sound City are running some workshop this January on Music and the Media. They have a handful of saces available for digital and creative SMEs to take part in the Developing Digital and Creative Industry Business programme - read on to find out more.

I wasn't able to make it to the recent Arts Council event Digital Utopias in Hull, a one-day conference, which said it would inspire and incite debate about how new technologies are enabling creativity across the arts. Sadly I was away in Bristol teaching and I haven't been able to split myself yet so I could be in two places at once!

But luckily they did live stream it (although not that well advertised) but it did mean that they recorded the whole session and have made that available via youtube.

Innovate UK is to invest £2m in feasibility studies to stimulate innovation across four enabling technology areas: advanced materials, biosciences, electronics, sensors and photonics, and information and communications technology - and they are holding a briefing tomorrow.