Northumbria University is a research-intensive University that unlocks potential for all, changing lives regionally, nationally and internationally. Named UK University of the Year 2022 by Times Higher Education and Modern University of the Year 2025 by The Times and The Sunday Times, it is based in Newcastle upon Tyne, with an additional campus in London. Originating from Rutherford College (founded in 1880), Northumbria is ranked in the UK’s top 25 for research power and graduate employment. The university works with leading employers like Nike, IBM, and the NHS, and is a top UK institution for graduate start-ups. Northumbria attracts students from 137 countries and collaborates globally with higher education institutions.

Healthy vision helps open the doors to education, work, sport and so much more. That’s why Vision Direct is committed to delivering great low prices, fast delivery and exceptional service for thousands of prescription eyewear customers across Europe every month. Founded by passionate opticians in 1998, Vision Direct was the UK’s first online only contact lens supplier. Thanks to a winning strategy of acquisitions and organic growth, we are now Europe’s leading online contact lens retailer, employing more than 150 people across different countries. Vision Direct’s focus on quality products, speedy delivery and an award-winning customer service has made us the trusted choice of more than 1.5m customers in the UK, the US, Ireland, Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Belgium, who now enjoy top brands at prices up to 45% cheaper than high-street opticians. Vision Direct’s commitment to helping people save on their eye care every month and deliver exceptional service has rewarded the company with a 9.6 rating on TrustPilot. We’re proud to support the communities we’re a part of, working together with charities, organisations and local leaders to make a difference wherever we can.

freetobook is a family run travel tech business based in Glasgow’s city centre. We’re an independent and authentic bunch that love supporting and enabling others like us by providing powerful creative tech solutions that help solve their business problems. That means developing booking engines that convert, API’s that open connectivity, mobile apps for “on the go”, messaging platforms that generate happy guests, payment gateways to sort cash flow, machine learning to save money etc. We’re never happier than when we’re creating and playing with new ideas. Nothing stays the same for long in this sector. We're constantly developing new products and evolving our tech stack: from PHP with Laravel and a Vue.js, Typescript with Koa, the Serverless Framework and Nuxt.js, to React Native, all tied together with AWS. We do work with tech giants like Booking.com, Google, Airbnb, TripAdvisor and Expedia but our soul remains an independent and free spirit, and that’s why we’re trusted by nearly 10,000 B&Bs, hotels, vacation rentals and hostels all over the world. With over 35 team members and counting, freetobook has over 200 years of combined experience in travel and technology. This knowledge and know-how provides solutions to our clients' problems , and helps improve their guests' experience and their bottom line. Continual improvement is key to us. We constantly evolve our software, staying ahead of the curve to deliver future-focused, intuitive solutions. We never stop watching, learning, and developing to ensure our team's success.