Member Article

Dynamo conference: Newcastle is not the end of the world, it is at the centre of digital transformation

DIGITAL Minister Matt Hancock MP was the keynote speaker as the region’s tech sector came together yesterday.

The Minister for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport joined leaders from the region’s tech sector, academics, politicians and investors for a conference organised by Dynamo, the North East’s tech network.

In his speech, the Minister praised the region’s tech sector and said the Government would do all it can to support the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution.’ In particular, he highlighted financial support available from the British Business Bank and said the region could soon be working with the Government to plug the skills gap in the north east tech sector.

He said his department is talking to both the North East and Tees Valley Local Enterprise Partnerships to form a Digitial Skills Partnership.

The Minister, who said he was a Newcastle United fan thanks to a Geordie uncle, said: “As someone who started life in a tech company, I understand the real need to keep talking to tech businesses and tech leaders – as good as they are, if I relied on my department for all the answers, we’d only get it half right. So that’s why it’s important that I continue to attend events like the Dynamo conference.”

More than 300 delegates attended the conference, entitled Region of the Future and hosted at Newcastle University’s Helix site on the official opening day of the Urban Science Building – capable of handling 300 computer science undergraduates each year.

Conference contributions covered cyber security, digital entertainment, challenger banks, digital health and developing the skills agenda. The event was hosted by Radio 4’s Futureproofing anchor Timandra Harkness.

Dynamo chair Charlie Hoult opened the conference highlighting the £87m of Dynamo initiatives, denigrating the fact that despite the ‘green light’ for Westminster funding, it does take significant time to deliver these major projects.

“We ain’t seen nothing yet!” he said. “It has taken five years to gain momentum but North East Futures UTC opens in September. There are cranes on the Helix site for National Innovation Centre for Data. And, we have much traction for IC3 – Northumbria University’s International Centre for Connected Construction, after launching this January at House of Lords. Great projects, just they’ve not opened their doors yet.

“These projects, as part of the £350m committed investment on Newcastle Helix, will drive the future of our city.”

Hoult said there was no point ‘blowing raspberries’ when other regions pick up big government investments – having seen one commentator argue that Great Exhibition’s £15m was small change compared to Manchester’s £110m Factory@Granada Studios.

He explained: “With a centralised administration asking for pitches to get government funding, we need to out-think other regions to define the emerging clusters and to cohere our strongest, differentiable sectors. We were never going to win a bid for Channel 4’s second home, but if we redefine our offer as ‘the future of digital entertainment’, for instance, we have a strong cluster with Ubisoft, tombola, Bede Gaming, Youtubers and our Northern Film Media assets.

“We have boomerang Geordies with expertise from leadership positions in Spotify, LinkedIn, Apple, Snapchat or Government Digital Service. We have global pre-eminence in med, tax and as a testbed city that matches 900 other similar cities globally. Newcastle is not the end of the world, it is a centre of digital transformation.”

One of the most well-attended sessions was delivered by Mike Morgan, of the National Innovation Centre for Ageing and Dr Emma Banks, CEO of clinical research software developer Datatrial. Dr Banks outlined Datatrial’s successful bid to Innovate UK for the development of Advanced Therapies Treatment Centres (ATTC) in the UK as well as discussing the subject of data in clinical trials.

Dr Banks described how her involvement in the programme began with a conversation with a contact from Newcastle University during a flight from the US.

And she outlined how being part of the ATTC has provided an opportunity for Datatrial’s latest software, Nucleus: “It’s a huge opportunity for a small company and it’s so exciting for us. In particular, being part of the ATTC is an important opportunity for and will undoubtedly accelerate the development of our product road map.”

Dynamo is self-funded thanks to the region’s tech corporates and education providers, including Tombola, Sage, Accenture, Forfusion and tech specialist Mincoffs solicitors.

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