Tri-nation partnership set to boost tech sector
ANEW strategic tri-nation partnership tasked with identifying cross-border growth opportunities to boost the tech sector has been launched.
TechSpark Wales is the brand name of a new collaboration between Cardiff-based tech incubator hub Tramshed Tech and west of England-based TechSpark UK. The new umbrella brand will work with tech and digital companies and organisations on both sides of the Severn Estuary.
And the newly formed not-forprofit grouping has extended its reach to France, by joining forces in an industry-led partner programme with the Paris-based innovation hub St. Quentin-en-Yvelines (SQY). The organisation plays host to the largest innovation campus in France as part of ParisSaclay, the first tech cluster in France. The wider collaboration will identify cross-border growth opportunities for French, Welsh and UK tech sector companies across a range of tech and digital disciplines, from AI and cyber to data, fintech and greentech.
The initiative has the backing of both the UK and Welsh governments, with a formal memorandum of understanding signed yesterday at the UK Embassy in Paris.
Director of Tramshed Tech and a founding partner of TechSpark Wales Mark John said: “We are delighted to see this series of high-level discussions between us finally come to fruition, reflected in both of these new industry partnerships. Over three years in the making, from the earliest discussions between us to the setting up of TechSpark Wales and the final signing of our new memorandum of understanding with SQY – initiated before the onset of Covid – we have been supported in our plans by the Welsh and UK governments.
“We hope we have rewarded their faith in us by being able to demonstrate the resilience and determination of our respective tech networks to grow by working together. Despite the effect of the pandemic, we have continued to build our relationship with our English and French partners, to provide an exciting new platform to help support the development of tech and digital businesses.”