TECH SY now has a full team on board, and we wasted no time getting out to industry events to immerse ourselves in the tech landscape. Here's a whistle-stop tour of what we learned at a few recent summits and talks, and what it means for tech in South Yorkshire.
Stakeholder Session in Sheffield
In October, we welcomed the region's decision-makers from Economic Policy teams to Leah's Yard in Sheffield for our first stakeholder engagement session.
Representatives from Business Sheffield, Business Doncaster, Enterprising Barnsley, Rotherham Investment & Development Office, Sheffield Hallam University, The University of Sheffield, Innovate UK, Sheffield Digital Limited, and Sheffield Technology Parks joined us to explore some of the detail behind our two-year programme, providing a space to answer questions, share problems, and develop plans that will inform our future action.
We'll be hosting more of these sessions with wider stakeholders in future, so sign up for our newsletter to be the first to hear or get in touch with your thoughts.
Scaleups and Defence Tech
Matt Snowden (Programme Development Manager) and Emi Bagshaw (Marketing Officer) attended the ScaleUp Summit at Birmingham Tech Week to see how our neighbours in the West Midlands are approaching ecosystem support and growth. We heard first-hand from founders and investors discussing their experiences of starting and scaling companies, with a disconnected ecosystem often mentioned as a barrier to success. As someone fairly new to the world of startups, it gave Emi a newfound respect for founders, getting to hear their thoughts on the challenges of starting and scaling a tech company.
Our Project Director Tracey Johnson made it to the Resilience Conference in London last month with Dealroom.co, hearing about dual use and pure play tech for security and defence as well as the increased innovation and investment necessitated by global events. She also visited Birmingham Tech Week, joining the opening event and hearing from Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, about the new government's focus on tech and Yiannis Maos, founder of Birmingham Tech Week and Tech West Midlands about their plans for growth in the region.
Tracey also joined the ScaleLeaders event hosted by Form at the x+why coworking space hearing from a wide range of speakers and working closely with leaders from other regions to explore how collaboration and knowledge exchange can contribute to regional growth.
Data and AI Opportunities
Matt went to the White Paper launch of 'Unlocking Data, Unlocking People' from Automated Analytics. He was happy to see a South Yorkshire business leading the conversation of AI and how it can be a force for good, unlocking productivity in the UK.
From a TECH SY perspective, the Keynote from Damian Allen was incredibly exciting – hearing about how Doncaster’s plans for being a centre for excellence of AI can have a huge impact on the regional tech ecosystem and bring innovation to local businesses, with ambitions to support and attract leading businesses in the field of AI. This will be bolstered by the recent announcement of their new digital tech hub, Gateway One, which Damien called a catalyst for change and an opportunity to build on the business support provided in the area.
Richard Brown (Projects & Contracts Manager) joined the Data City Summit up the road in Leeds. The event really highlighted the importance of context and discovery for maximising the potential of regions and industries. It's uplifting to see the developments of Data City's platform and their ongoing partnership with Dealroom, utilising their Real-Time SIC codes (RSICs) and data clusters on a regional level, such as mapping businesses in tech within South Yorkshire. Richard said it was inspiring to hear their stories on how data brings people together and supports the growth of the UK's scaleup activity, such as Midlands Engine using it to classify local businesses in different sectors.
We look forward to seeing what new companies and developments emerge from South Yorkshire's vibrant tech sector and will be announcing a special event of our own soon.
Comments