Blackfriar: Lack of Government support for tech firms is shameful

The organiser of the CES tech show in Las Vegas, Gary Shapiro, said the British Government has been “slow to the game” to support its tech companies at a time when the French, Dutch, US, Israeli, New Zealand and Czech governments have offered their support.

Bryn Sage, a director at Intechnology​, believes the UK Government should show more support for UK technology entrepreneurs, particularly in the post-Brexit market place.

He believes the first step would be to use public procurement to buy more products and services from British technology companies.

This would provide ​more ​support for British innovation and ​would ​show international markets that British companies have the confidence of their Government.

​He said t​he Government should also simplify the process of tendering for public sector contracts, particularly for smaller companies, as it is overly bureaucratic, costly and complicated.

​“​We believe that red tape strangles innovation​,” he told The Yorkshire Post.​

​“​Instead, we see the Government and large public sector organisations obsessively chasing giant US corporates like Google, IBM and GE, which have enormous lobbying firepower.

​“​Ministers can find pioneering technology much closer to home. Harrogate is a hotbed of digital innovation and has as much to offer as Silicon Valley.​“​

Intechnology ​is doing its own bit for the region’s tech sector by supporting the next generation of Yorkshire entrepreneurs through its philanthropic sponsorship of the Intechnology Enterprise Incubation Programme at the University of Leeds.

In the last two years, 60 business start-ups have used the incubator, creating 102 full-time jobs, and generating £3.3m in revenue.

B​ut Intechnology’s founder Peter Wilkinson said that once these businesses are up an running, all to often they fall prey to ​“the world of vulture venture capitalists”.

“They sign contracts and then they don’t meet their targets. They are not business people,” he told Blackfriar.

Mr Wilkinson is calling on the Government to form an alternative route for start-ups to take instead of the venture capital path.

“There should be some form of regional funding,” he said.

“The Government is prepared to shove all this money at the Northern Powerhouse, but it won’t spend the money on technology funds.”

In the post-Brexit vote, pre-Article 50 limbo land we find ourselves in, Mr Wilkinson has little time for the Government’s inability to do a deal.

“My advice for the Government is will you get on with it,” said Mr Wilkinson.

“It is a bloody mess. It can’t be that hard to come out of the EU. people still want to trade with us.

“None of us has got a clue about what the Government is doing.”

Blackfriar reckons that this is probably one of the few things that the pro-Remain and pro-Brexit camps​ can​ agree on.

T​alking of local philanthropy, Colin Glass was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours Lis​t following​ decades of service supporting the growth of Yorkshire ​companies, including a number which went on to have successful listings.

​Mr Glass is a​ ​c​hartered ​a​ccountant with his own ​p​ractice, Winburn Glass Norfolk,​ which he co-founded in 1975. He has been a non-executive director of several ​Yorkshire ​companies, including Surgical Innovations, Straight and G​etech, all of which he assisted to gain a quotation on AIM.

This is a much deserved recognition.