BRIGHTON Digital Festival recorded its best ever visitor numbers for the fifth year in a row.

The event, which was held throughout September, drew more than 50,000 visitors to its 192 events - which was also the biggest line-up to date.

As well as art exhibitions, futuristic conferences and digitally inspired performances, there were educational events and talks.

Brighton and Hove is now considered one of Europe's leading digital cities, with dozens of leading firms based here.

This year also saw Brighton Digital Festival (BDF) appoint its first chairman, Jon Pratty, who helped establish the festival in 2011.

He said: “It was a roller-coaster four weeks of incredible digital activity across the city.

“One thing is for sure – the hunger for digital culture and creativity across Brighton and Hove is growing stronger each year. There have been lots of business-to-business events this year, with the Wired Sussex Open Studios really well attended, and as ever, the digital community in the city has shown ever more ingenuity and creativity.

“The arts and education programmes have also been incredibly strong. Spark! – one of seven BDF education commissions – gathered together all of the young companies and start-ups working in digital learning across the city, it was an amazing buzz.

“Work now starts on development and fundraising for Brighton Digital Festival 2016."

The fifth annual event also attracted its strongest sponsorship and partnership programme to date. Support from premiere sponsor EDF Energy, as well as digital businesses Guevara, Brandwatch, Propellernet and Brilliant Noise, helped the festival reach a wider audience.

Support continued from Arts Council England, through its Grants For The Arts programme, and from Brighton and Hove City Council, which enables the festival to provide grassroots funding to support underfunded organisers.

Among the stand out events in September was a discussion on the power of technology led by Channel 4 News economics editor Paul Mason.

Also popular were the digital arts and design conferences Dots, Reasons to be Creative, and dConstruct, the Brighton Mini Maker Faire and an alternative city planning sessions using Minecraft.

One stand out commission in the final week was The Waiting Wall, created by Hove-based Alan Donohoe and Steven Parker. They invited commuters to anonymously share their secrets and desires with the world via a digital train timetable at Brighton Station. The Waiting Wall received more than 10,000 submissions on their website and reached more than 125,000 people over the week.

Another of this year's popular events this year was a conference on the future of radio co-hosted by Brighton-based Fugu PR and totallyradio.

A number of events have already confirmed their return for 2016, which is in its planning stage. Visit brightondigitalfestival.com.