Report highlights how tech sector can be helped to raise its game
Friday 15th August 2014
Graeme Davy, digital and technology expert at Gordons comments on a new report issued today (14 August) discussing how the technology sector can be helped to raise its game in major cities.
As reported on TheBusinessDesk.com, the Policy Exchange has expressed concern over the lack of infrastructure and capital available to support our northern cities to become a combined word class technology cluster. The report highlights the inferior transport links between our main northern cities enabling the North to become one technology cluster, the exodus of graduates and lack of capital investment. The report raises an interesting point which applies to other sectors as much as tech, illustrating how our main northern cities of Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield see themselves as competing entities as opposed to working together. The tide is shifting however and if the North of England is to compete as one with the likes of the M4 Corridor, the Silicon Roundabout and more ambitiously the Silicon Valley, we inevitably need to work together to make this happen.
All is not lost however and the report highlights this. We are also seeing first-hand the positive outlook across the region, advising companies within the digital and technology sectors as their own businesses grow and exploit new opportunities.
Start-ups are thriving and transport links are improving. HS2 will inevitably help, albeit the main links from the North will be directly into London. Planned spending on rail investment is also set to increase five-fold across the North, assuming the One North Rail Investment Plan unveiled last week gets the green light. There are also small clusters within the northern regions such as the Aire Valley in West Yorkshire where the technology and digital sector is thriving, with multi-national operations such as Pace and Radio Design choosing the North as their European bases.