Digital crossover creates opportunities for Yorkshire, says Tech City UK chief

Gerard Grech told The Yorkshire Post that Sheffield would be the ideal location for a centre to help distribution firms learn new technologies from digital start-ups.

The cluster of warehouses in and around the M1 and M62 creates a “fascinating” opportunity for the region as distribution companies are always looking to become more efficient in time and money, said the former BlackBerry marketing chief.

Mr Grech said: “There is a lot to be said about pure tech, like you get in Silicon Valley, but there is a lot to be said for technology and digital crossing over into other sectors.

“A good example of that is fintech in London where you have the marriage of the financial services industry and technology.

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Sheffield thought about creating an accelerator that specialised in creating solutions for global distribution centres?”

Mr Grech added: “There’s a very strong heritage of the supply chain mentality here where things are created but there’s also a way of getting those goods distributed as well.”

Mr Grech visited Leeds and Sheffield last week to meet with local enterprise partnerships, high-growth companies and business support groups, including Dotforge.

He said he was keen to share experiences gained from the development of the Shoreditch cluster in East London; the ‘Silicon Roundabout’ is home to one of the largest groups of technology companies in the world.

Tech City UK was set up by the Government to help support the growth of digital businesses and is chaired by Joanna Shields, who has held senior management positions at Facebook and Google. It receives £2.4m a year from the taxpayer.

Tech City UK has formed an alliance of 13 UK cities to share best practice.

Mr Grech said: “We are positioning the UK as a national network of digital excellence so it is not just about London, it is about the rest of the country because we are seeing respective digital strengths in other areas right across the country.”

He added: “Every city has the potential to be a tech city. But also you have to understand that every city has its own DNA.”

Mr Grech listed some key ingredients that cities need to help create successful tech start-ups, including digital skills such as marketing and coding, access to finance and a thriving angel network with specialist knowledge and expertise, supportive local government with an open-minded procurement policy, space for start-ups, universities and educational establishments which allow the commercial exploitation of intellectual property, broadband connectivity and access to markets. Mr Grech said: “The combination of those factors, by and large, can at least foster the right conditions for growth in a cluster.”

He added that broadband is as important as electricity to digital start-ups.

Mr Grech insisted that digital technology in the UK does not start and end in London, citing the M4 corridor and Cambridge as examples.

He said UK start-ups are basing their sales and commercial arms in London to take advantage of the international business traffic while hosting development teams in regional cities to maximise operational efficiencies.

As an example, he said newly floated online takeaway service JustEat.co.uk, which has a stock market valuation of £1.45bn, has just opened a development centre in Bristol.

In a nod to the cost of space in London, he said the capital has seen a strong emergence of co-working areas. There are more than 70 such spaces in London.

Mr Grech said: “It is a very strong sign of understanding and awareness that it can be quite costly to start a business in terms of getting an office.

“This is exactly why co-working spaces have been such a fantastic solution by being able to keep costs low while more importantly being in environment where you can bounce ideas off like-minded people.”

The man behind Tech City UK

Gerard Grech was appointed chief executive of Tech City UK in January, replacing Joanna Shields.

His background is in digital media, web and mobile and has worked for London, New York and Paris.

Most recently, he was head of global marketing at BlackBerry. Previously, he led Nokia’s app store marketing operations, ran the app strategy and portfolio and development team and identified and assessed equity development opportunities for Nokia Growth Partners.

Tech City UK, supported by the Government, aims to “forge partnerships across the ecosystem that provide entrepreneurs with extended reach... champion the digital and technology industry in the UK and internationally... informing policy makers about the needs of the digital entrepreneur... and pilot programmes to increase the growth of digital entrepreneurship”.