In June 2023, I was fortunate enough to attend the ScaleUp Institute event: Driving UK Economic Growth through Scaleup Ecosystems – a Scale Up Master Class Program for Economic & Innovation Growth Teams. Hosted by Professor Daniel Isenberg, one of the world’s leading authorities on scaleup ecosystems. The two-day event looked into numerous examples of successful ecosystems, and their journey to getting there. There was one key, but incredibly simple (in theory) message that I took from the event – to celebrate and share every win for your region.
A simple message has a hugely consequential knock-on effect. This not only shapes policy decisions but feeds large data sources and most importantly, builds a narrative of trust for a range of audiences that your ecosystem is consistently providing growth for tech startups, leading them to be scalable.
At the event, the conversation about building trust frequently circled around. Through a variety of examples and case studies of growing ecosystems in unique locations around the world, the ever-present ingredient for unlocking a successful ecosystem was clear, positive communications. The point was made very clearly that to build an ecosystem and attract business, investment, and talent to our region, we need to show that growth happens here and be consistent with our message across partners.
Amplifying your startup wins and news
With TECH SY now actively working to scale the region's tech ecosystem, we have recently opened the door to data, and what the parameters will be for how we measure this against our project objectives. (probably another article on that later).
What we do have right now is Dealroom.co - a global provider of data and intelligence on startups and tech ecosystems. We wanted to make South Yorkshire’s ecosystem visible, and this platform does just that, enabling connections and better decision-making. What it relies on to do that is public information. This is why TECH SY needs you…or at least all your growth stories, no matter how small.
Currently, South Yorkshire is utilising data and insight providers including Data City, Dealroom and Beauhurst. All of which gather their information from algorithms and public information including what’s on your website, your published news, and social media.
How Dealroom collects data: “Harvesting public info via machine learning and APIs
We apply AI and algorithms to gather large quantities of data from public sources such as news, company filings, domain & trade registries, job boards, web and app store analytics, and investor portfolios among others.”
Whilst celebrating your growth stories, at a small scale (such as investment at any level or job growth) may seem like a daunting prospect, and without wanting to add to the workload of incredibly busy founders and startup teams, it’s time that South Yorkshire stepped out of the shadows and began shouting about what is happening here.
Sharing news for the collective good
TECH SY is here to develop the narrative of ecosystem growth in South Yorkshire. We want to help you generate future growth and for the bigger picture. We’re building our newsletter, and we want to demonstrate the data that supports this mission as this is being picked up through the data sourcing of insight providers, which feed into policy decisions that affect businesses on the ground.
For example, The Data City was the provider of the Government’s Innovation Clusters Map from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. This was referenced in SYMCA’s April publication of the Plan for Good Growth. So it's clear that without your positive news stories, we won’t have an accurate picture of growth to build a narrative and provide data, which is key for investors and decision-makers. The more we’re able to supply these algorithms sourcing the internet for our positive data and stories, the stronger the South Yorkshire narrative will be. In return we should expect to see more businesses wanting to locate here, more investment being unlocked in the region, and future talent seeing opportunities here.
To help share news, we've created some links on our website to help. Head to our contact us page and you'll be able to send us information for our regular newsletter (which you can sign up for here).
For reference, here is how the other two data insight providers collect their data as stated on their websites:
The Data City
Our data is updated bi-monthly, ensuring accurate and up-to-date information. Our comprehensive platform of UK company and sector data includes over 90+ datapoints including detailed financials, company info and growth measures. From their website, these include: Website – URL, description, sector keywords, innovation keywords, Growth trajectory – employees, turnover Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR), Company growth stage estimate, and Job postings. We don’t rely on outdated and inaccurate SIC codes. Our platform includes over 350+ emerging economy Real-Time Industrial Classifications (RTICs) built from the ground up with the UK’s leading industry experts and authorities.
Beauhurst
Using a unique combination of in-house tech, AI and our powerful team of 60+ data analysts, we’re creating the ultimate source of UK and German company data.
Including descriptions, target markets, hiring status, industry classification, website & social media, contact details, news.
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