Member Article

Sunderland unveils Software City vision

Sunderland Software City was launched yesterday in a bid to attract business investment, employ thousands of people and generate wealth for the city. Business, academia and the public sector are combining forces to create and deliver a vision for Sunderland as a leading 21st century city.

International businesses and potential investors within the IT and telecommunications industries have already given their backing to the idea and preliminary discussions have taken place regarding future inward investment and partnership work. Partners in the concept include Leighton Group, the University of Sunderland, Sunderland City Council, the North East Business and Innovation Centre and regional development agency One NorthEast.

Prof John MacIntyre, University of Sunderland, said: “The University of Sunderland is delighted to be taking a leading role in the Sunderland Software City initiative. We are aligning our academic programmes so that our graduates will not only have the skills in software development and IT, which the new software industry in Sunderland will need, but will also be helped and encouraged to become the new software entrepreneurs.”

Cllr Bob Symonds, Leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “The council has, in partnership with the private sector, been working hard to develop a world-class infrastructure of telecommunications and business premises. This has already attracted business. “New buildings like the e-volve Business Centre at Rainton Bridge demonstrate why the city has been voted one of the top seven global ‘intelligent communities’ by the Intelligent Communities Forum.”

The North East now boasts three ‘City’ initiatives which aim to create location focused infrastructure for businesses in a certain sector. DigitalCity is an initiative driving the economy in Tees Valley while Newcastle has developed Science City status to reinforce strengths in science research; Sunderland Software City is expected to link with these two other ‘City’ initiatives.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .