The North Doesn't Need Another Tech Event

Every few weeks somebody launches a new initiative to support" the technology community".

A new meet-up. A new conference. A new summit. A new thing.

The premise is usually the same - more of the same.

Perhaps.

But after spending years around the technology sector, I'm not convinced support is the problem. And in part that position may change depending on the location. Does Manchester need another tech event? What would one do that al the others don't?

The North is already remarkably well supported. There are accelerators, incubators, investment funds, trade bodies, universities, networking groups, conferences, meetups and advisory firms. Most towns and cities of any size have their own collection of organisations trying to help businesses grow.

Yet founders still spend months trying to find the right investor. Researchers still struggle to find commercial partners. Large businesses still complain they cannot find innovative suppliers or the right staff. Investors still tell the same story about struggling to discover promising companies early enough.

That should strike us as odd.

Because if the problem was a lack of support, surely all this support would have solved it by now.

So, what if the problem is something else?

What if the issue is not that the North lacks resources, but that those resources remain surprisingly disconnected from one another?

A founder in Teeside should not need 2 days out of her/his diary, three introductions and a chance meeting at a conference in Leeds to discover a specialist investor from Manchester. A university spinout in Sheffield should not have to rely on luck to find potential customers. A growing company in Newcastle should be able to discover expertise across the region without spending months navigating a maze of disconnected websites, newsletters and networks.

Yet that is exactly how things work.

We like to talk about the technology ecosystem as though it is a single thing. It's not.

In reality, it often behaves more like a collection of neighbouring villages. Each has its own leaders, events, networks and conversations. Each is productive in ints own way. Each is valuable. Many are thinly disguised promotional tools for their founders. And almost invariably, the routes between them are often weaker than they should be.

Why dos that matter?
Because economies grow through connections: person to person, to town, to city, to corporate, from region to region.

Ideas become businesses when they meet capital and customers. Research becomes products when it meets industry. Talent becomes opportunity when it meets employers.

The connection is where the value is created.

And that is the reason Silicon North exists.