‘Unite the North to succeed in digital economy’
Call for collaboration and action on skill shortages
BUSINESSES AND local authorities across the North need to collaborate ever more closely if it is to maximise its growing digital economy, it has been claimed.
More than £165m was invested into northern tech businesses in the first three months of the year, the highest level in recent years, with interest from Silicon Valley in expanding into the area increasing. Business and civic leaders told
The Yorkshire Post that the business culture of the North of England was attractive to tech entrepreneurs but added that skills sets are holding progress back.
Speaking ahead of a Tech in the Northern Powerhouse event hosted by accountants KPMG, Dr Adam Beaumont of digital firm Aql, newly-installed director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership Henri Murison and Leeds City Council chief executive Tom Riordan all said that businesses and councils needed to work closer together in order to make a success of this burgeoning sector. Mr Murison told The Yorkshire
Post: “This isn’t about the success of the North. If we are to have a successful economy post-Brexit then we need a North that is really punching its weight.
“This is not parochial self-interest, this is about the whole of the UK. And in digital there are some challenges to competing internationally.
“The Northern Powerhouse approach is the right pitch. Between us we have got the wherewithal to do this for ourselves. What we are seeing is the best collaboration in a millennia. You have to go back a long way to see such a pan-Northern approach.”
Mr Riordan said that he, alongside Manchester City Council boss Joanne Rooney and her counterpart at Bradford Council Kersten England, were determined to work as a cohesive unit in order to further the region’s collective prosperity.
He said: “This is a northern issue, not a city issue. The only way we are going to succeed on this issue is together.
“Leeds and Manchester are closer together than both ends of the Central Line on the London Underground.
“We need to start thinking differently and together. Kersten, myself and Joanne are all really committed to this.”
When challenged if the rest of the North of England’s civic leadership was similarly minded, Mr Riordan said: “There is work to do. We have got to work at it.
“But there are some great links. The different economies are complementary. But there are a few people who need to be convinced.”
The comments were made as the latest Tech City UK report showed that the North was quickly building itself up as an important digital hub and innovation leader. Research shows that Manchester has the second-highest number of people employed in digital businesses, and Leeds has the fifth-highest average advertised salary for jobs in the sector.
Dr Beaumont said that the skill base of the North’s workforce needed urgent attention to sustain this growth.
Mr Riordan suggested tech
The only way we are going to succeed on this issue is together. Leeds City Council chief executive Tom Riordan.
skills should be given the same priority as English and Mathematics in schools.
“The scarcity at the moment is skills,” Dr Beaumont said.
“We have to create an abundance of skills so we are not holding our hands so close to our chests. In San Francisco they have exactly the same challenges with skills. They approached it in two ways. One, grow more skills. The other is to look at the evolving demands of the employee which has gone from ‘I am grateful to have a job’ to ‘I want to make a difference and so I want my company to support my philanthropic interests’.
“In the North we are really philanthropic, we have a great third sector. And that is something we can use to bring people into the North.”
Mr Riordan added: “The next stage of what we do is digital skills. We have got to respond because it is the fastest-growing sector in Leeds now. One in 10 jobs, 3,500 companies. It is about how we make ourselves a place where people not only want to start a tech company but also want to scale it up.”
THE DIGITAL economy has been one of the North’s great success stories of recent years, creating jobs and putting it at the forefront of new technologies.
But more still needs to be done if that success is to continue and be built upon. Closer collaboration between the great cities of the North, and an increased focus on the skills that the hi-tech economy needs hold out the enticing prospect of major economic progress.
This is an achievable aim that should be embraced wholeheartedly by both the public and private sectors. Emphasising tech skills in education will bring through a new generation equipped to both grow the digital economy and enjoy rewarding careers within it.
The North should be both bold and ambitious about its high-tech future. It is within our grasp to develop the skills to create a sector that is not just the best in the country, but world-leading. Our children deserve nothing less.