THE shape of the future will be unfolding in Malvern later this year when the town hosts the next Festival of Innovation.

Starting on Monday, October 2, the town will be the venue for a host of activities aimed at incubating creativity and fostering the next generation of innovators.

The festival kicks off with a launch evening featuring keynote speaker and science author Brian Clegg, who has published over 30 titles.

Next Generation Innovators on Tuesday, October 3, offers a day of STEM, design and entrepreneurship demonstrations, talks and workshops for students in Years 7 to 9. Free to attend, the day attracts about 800 students and their teachers from around the region.

The Morgan Motor Company is hosting Automotive Advances, a symposium looking at developments in the car industry, particularly alternative fuels and the trend towards driverless cars.

Successful entrepreneurs will be sharing their startup stories at the Coach House Theatre, Grange Road, on the Wednesday evening, followed by networking and refreshments from Malvern's Friday Beer Company.

Cyber security and artificial intelligence will be the subjects of an all-day event at Malvern Theatres on Thursday, and that evening will see the festival dinner at Malvern College.

Friday will start with The Business of Innovating featuring Emma Jones MBE and Rashik Parmar MBE talking about scaling-up innovative businesses in the digital age.

Creative Careers is an afternoon schools event for students in years 10-13 in which STEM ambassador Dr Bal Choda will arrive in his Aston Martin and show how these cars are designed, tested and manufactured.

And the festival wraps up on Saturday in Malvern Theatres with a ticketed family show and a free exhibition of hands-on science and technology exhibits in the foyers.

For further information, see festival-innovation.com/programme.