This month's Future High Street Summit in Nottingham is promising to open the eyes of delegates to the latest reports and programmes that will push town and city centres into the digital age.
"This year, it's really important to us that attendees understand how important it is for their high streets to have a digital presence," said Summit founder Clare Rayner.

"We're constantly fed new updates that consistently show the rise of online shopping and digital advances; if place-makers don't recognise and implement solutions to take advantage of this digital revolution, they run the risk of being left in the dark ages."

The warning coincides with the release today of the Digital High Street Board's Digital High Street 2020 report, featuring the board's recommendations for the revitalisation of the UK's high streets.

The report has prompted the launch of IMRG's Pathfinder Programme, a new initiative which will work with selected towns to cluster digital innovation and short-circuit progress. Louth and Hemel Hempstead will be the first locations to receive the digital makeover.

IMRG chairman and founder James Roper will share further details about the Pathfinder Programme and the Digital High Street 2020 report during his speech at the Future High Street Summit.

Also speaking will be British Retail Consortium director general Helen Dickinson. "More than £150bn of retail sales are influenced by digital but only half of small businesses have a website, and just 33% of SMEs are currently online," she commented.

"It's suggested that digital technology could unlock £18.8bn of revenue for SMEs as well as reducing their costs by up to 20%, so it's clear that there is a real opportunity for all players in our high streets to tap into this potential and secure their place in the future."

Principal consultant for the Forum's Digital High Street Advisory Board, Guy Douglas, will look at how critical it is to understand the bringing together of all elements, from access technologies to digital skills and being able to use the right tools to connect with today's consumer.

Caroline Gorski, managing partner for Retail & Leisure at O2 Business, will also discuss the implications of the Digital High Street 2020 report, for which the communications giant provided several recommendations.
She said: "The report's recommendations really underpin what high streets need to do - and how central government, retailers and local authorities can work together to help them stay relevant in a digital world. I'll be exploring this more in my presentation on experiential retail, where I'll discuss the digital opportunities that already exist for high streets, and what exciting changes we can expect to see in the future."

The Future High Street will be held at Nottingham Conference Centre within Nottingham Trent University on March 25-26.