Birmingham — Week of 24 Aug 2026

fizzPOP, Birmingham's makerspace, opens its doors every Wednesday evening to anyone who wants to look around, use the workshop or just see what people are building. Free and genuinely public — no membership needed to attend. The space runs laser cutters, 3D printers, electronics benches and woodworking kit, and the regulars span hardware hackers, product designers and software people who wanted something physical to work on. A good low-commitment entry point into Birmingham's maker and hardware community.

The Birmingham Network's weekly Wednesday fixture for tech entrepreneurs, startup founders, industry professionals and investors. Building on a 3,000-strong London community and a run of sold-out Midlands nights, it's an informal, high-calibre room for making genuine connections over a drink — no hard sell, just conversation. Business smart-casual; a non-alcoholic welcome drink is included.

Network One's Birmingham AI edition brings together AI founders, machine-learning engineers, data scientists, and the wider community of people building or exploring artificial intelligence across the Midlands. It's a relaxed, no-pitch evening for anyone curious about AI and machine learning — whether you're shipping models, researching, investing, studying, or just want to understand where the field is heading. Expect a mix of founders, engineers, creatives, students and professionals from every sector over a welcome drink. 18+; a non-alcoholic welcome drink is included.

The West Midlands HashiCorp User Group returns in person at Bluetel Solutions on Temple Row for an evening on platform engineering with HashiCorp's tooling — how modern platform teams actually assemble Terraform, Vault and the surrounding stack into something developers will use, rather than a product tour. Aimed at platform engineers, SREs and infrastructure leads. Free, with the usual food and conversation either side of the talks.

The weekly Friday after-work fixture for Birmingham's tech crowd — software developers, data scientists, cybersecurity and product people, students and career-changers — for relaxed drinks and networking. A low-key way to expand your network, swap notes on what you're building, hear about roles, and stay close to what's happening in Birmingham tech. Nominal ticket (RSVP online); ID may be required by the venue.