BRILLIANT Festival 2026

BRILLIANT is a free one-day education festival and exhibition at the Exhibition Centre Liverpool that brings educators together with technology innovators and employers to explore how schools should prepare students for the future of work. It is pitched as a day of CPD for the North of England, a region the organisers say has historically been underserved by national education events.

Key themes for 2026

Content and exhibitors are organised around six themes.

• Artificial intelligence in teaching and the future world of work
• SEND and inclusive practice
• EdTech for classrooms and whole-school approaches
• Esports and gamification
• Industry engagement and careers
• STEAM

Who attends

More than 2,000 educators are expected, including head teachers, multi-academy trust leaders, school business managers, IT professionals, curriculum specialists, subject leaders, STEAM leads and careers leads. The Liverpool catchment covers almost 3,500 educational establishments.

What to expect

Speaker sessions run simultaneously in four theatres alongside the exhibition. BRILLIANT Talks bring education, technology and industry voices together, and 'The Classroom of NOW' puts teachers in the student's seat for technology-enabled lessons. The 2026 line-up includes inventor Ruth Amos, SCI president Paul Drechsler CBE and Sir Paul Grant, education advisor to the Liverpool City Region Mayor.

Tickets & passes

• Educator registration — Free: Free entry for all who register online