Sheffield Digital: Recent Episodes
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As Bravand marks its 12th anniversary, Jilly Cross and Ross Musgrove, the husband-and-wife team behind the brand, have been reflecting on their journey. In a recent blog post, they’ve shared how it all started, where they are today, and where Bravand is headed. We wanted to find out a bit more so we caught up with Ross to ask about three key things: moving up north from London (and the loss of 24 hour bagels), how the current economic climate has affected new business generation, and balancing work and family life with a cat and a dog.
Of 12 years, you’ve been in South Yorkshire for nearly two. How did the move from London impact the business, both good and bad?So, the good stuff first: Being in Sheffield, and more broadly, South Yorkshire, we’ve got a true sense of geographic belonging for the first time and a growing community of people we continue to build relationships with. We didn’t realise we were missing this until we got up here and looked back.
Bad: at any time of day or night I could go into any shop and find Ting in a fridge, and buy filled bagels from Bagel shops. They also sold Chella bread in our local Sainsbury’s…
It’s a tough economic climate; have you noticed changes in the type of work clients are asking for? Are they pulling back on bigger projects or taking more in-house?It’s definitely been tough this year – particularly for new business. Existing client work is what’s kept us going.
We came back from Christmas 2023 and a few projects landed and we thought, “What a fantastic start to the year! If it carries on like this, we’re gonna be busy!”, then new business fell off a cliff.
There was a bit of a blip / uptick around the time of the General Election, then everyone disappeared for summer, as they do. Again, our existing client projects kept us busy over the school summer holidays but, as a business owner, I was questioning why I was paying me a salary (I’m primarily new business) with very little to show for it. Our Delivery Team closed way more deals than I did this year.
Since summer things have really picked up. A combination of being in the right place at the right time and people coming to us. I think the latter is possibly a result of us getting our message out there. People understand a bit more about what we do, and know us a bit better, so they know what to come and ask us for help on. That’s how our business typically grows; retained / repeat business, referrals and recommendations.
And what type of work are you being asked to do?I think on the tech side of things, we’re typically brought in to do something that the client can’t do in-house. They just buy the bits they need from us. For example, a tech company that has in-house developers doesn’t need us for coding, but they might not have User Research, UX Design and UI Design expertise, so they buy that bit in. We create them a design system and hand it over so their internal team has a set of building blocks and standards that they can implement on an ongoing basis.
Some clients might be looking for a quicker, cheaper option, and we tend to miss out there because we don’t compete on price. But with tech specifically (as opposed to the creative stuff), it’s cheaper and easier to work with us than do it yourself. Our largest client is a tech scale-up and they have no in-house dev capability. We’re their team. We’re their fractional CTO and CPO.
How are you and Jilly balancing family life with young children and running a very successful business together, plus your extra commitments such as being a See It Be It ambassador and Jilly’s new role on the Sheffield Digital Members Board?Yeah – life is full! Jilly and I are a husband and wife team. Bravand is 12 and not going anywhere, Fresh Meet CIC will launch properly in Q4 of this financial year, there’s another project / business in stealth mode, we’ve got two young kids (8 and nearly 7), a dog and a cat. There’s some risk tied up in all that!
It’s a challenge fitting everything in, so we run our home a bit like we run a project. Jilly and I are in a similar situation, so on the same page about most things. It’s not a unique situation, but we’re cognisant that it’s not the norm. It’s a privilege.
We’re ruthless with our prioritisation and fiercely protective of our priorities. Each week we sit down and look at what’s coming up over the next few weeks, and plan each week in detail as it comes. We pull in help as and when we need it, and deal with the curve balls as they arise.
Having the right team around you is key in all of this. Knowing the people you choose to surround yourself with have got your back and vice versa, means we’re all empowered to make stuff happen!
It’s great to see Jilly, Ross and the team celebrate this milestone and we’re thrilled to have them as members of Sheffield Digital; in less than two years they’ve already become huge assets to the city’s digital tech scene. Here’s to another 12! Find out more about Bravand in the Company Spotlight and on their website.
The University of Sheffield’s continued success in ranking tables and other accolades puts our city and the wider region in the global spotlight. Local tech employers can help support the region’s reputation by contributing to the QS World University Rankings, which rely heavily on employer feedback.
When the University succeeds, so does the wider regionAwards and success in rankings tables don’t just benefit students and staff, they also benefit the brilliant businesses, organisations and not-for-profits that help make Sheffield such a wonderful place to live and work. A world-leading University attracts the brightest talent to live, work and play in the city, paying into the economy and in many cases, entering the job market upon graduation.
How you can help The QS World University Rankings are one of the largest and most trusted of the global rankings. As an employer in the region, you have the power to shape them.
If you’re involved in hiring decisions within your organisation at any level (or have been previously), you can directly influence the QS rankings. To participate, please provide your name, organisation and email address to qs@sheffield.ac.uk by 11 November 2024.
You’ll then receive an email from the University asking you to consent to take part in the Employer Reputation survey. After agreeing, QS will contact you via rankings@qs.com between February and March 2025 with the link to complete the survey.
Why rankings matter beyond campusThe University of Sheffield consistently ranks among the world’s best, bringing global attention to the city and driving regional prosperity.
These accomplishments not only enhance the University’s reputation, but help attract research funding, industry collaborations and global talent. This, in turn, fuels innovation and ensures that the University remains a diverse, dynamic, and talented community, ready to address today’s challenges while nurturing a pipeline of graduates ready to tackle the challenges of tomorrow.
University of Sheffield reputationIt’s been a positive 12 months for the University of Sheffield in terms of research, teaching and relationships with its many industrial partners and collaborators. The University of Sheffield was named as one of the top 100 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2025. Students voted it University of the Year at the Whatuni Student Choice Awards, and it was named as the number one university in the Russell Group by the National Student Survey (NSS). The QS World University Rankings, which heavily rely on employer feedback, are another key indicator of its reputation.
More information on the QS World University RankingsEstablished in 2004, the QS World University Rankings are an annual evaluation of the world’s top universities featuring 1,503 institutions across 104 locations. These rankings are designed to help students make informed comparisons between leading institutions globally. Using six key performance indicators, QS assesses universities in four critical areas: research, teaching, employability, and internationalisation.
As a reminder, if you would like to participate, please provide your name, organisation and email address to qs@sheffield.ac.uk by 11 November 2024.
If you are still trying to digest the Budget delivered last week by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, here is a brief overview of the salient points for UK tech and digital businesses. This has been prepared and shared by a policy specialist within the UK Tech Cluster Group and the points covered are not localised. The summary covers implications for economic development, digital tech and innovation, as well as some points relating to personal taxes and expenses towards the end.
Scene-settingThe Chancellor’s first Budget focused on dealing with the immediate pressures on the public finances in what will be the last fiscal event of the Financial Year.
The Budget also contained an indicative Spending Review for 2025-26, ahead of a multi-year Spending Review being completed in ‘late’ Spring 2025.
This multi-year Spending Review will be the most significant fiscal event in terms of departmental spending on government priorities for the Parliament. It will coincide with the publication of the Industrial Strategy – to be underpinned locally, by Local Growth Plans agreed by HM Government and local leadership.
Local and Regional Economic Development A Devolution White Paper (expected in December) will set out more detail on Devolution (including Local Growth Plans) and also consider a simplification of structures to support efficiency and respond to the needs of local people. * Trailblazer Deals: Greater Manchester and West Midlands will receive integrated settlements from 2025/26; and a year later, these powers and responsibilities will be extended to Combined Authorities in West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the North East and Liverpool City Region. This is a significant development. * Local Growth Funding: Government committed to ‘reform the local growth funding landscape at Spending Review, rationalising the number of funds, moving away from competitions, and better supporting local leaders to drive growth’. * UK Shared Prosperity Fund to continue at a reduced level (£900m) for a transition year, in advance of wider funding reforms. * Investment Zone and Freeport commitments maintained; with Freeports to be aligned to the Industrial Strategy. Similarly, The Long-term Plan for Towns will be retained and reformed into a wider regeneration programme * Local Government Funding: £1.3billion addition to Local Government in England; additional funding to the Scottish government through the Barnett Formula. * North East: £25million for NECA to remediate the Crown Works Studio site. * Made Smarter:* Funding for Made Smarter Digital Adoption programme to double to £16m in 2025/26, enabling continuation and expansion into every English region.
Research, Innovation and Technology R&D: Confirmation that Government will set 10-year R&D Budgets at the Spending Review (though no detail on design, institutional arrangements or delivery priorities). However, R&D funding has been protected – at least in line with inflation. * Innovation Accelerators in Greater Manchester, West Midlands and Glasgow City-Region are to be extended, though no detail is provided on either additional funding or extension of the model to other areas. * A review of technology adoption will report into the Industrial Strategy. This will focus on highlighting the barriers businesses face in adopting both established and novel tech. This seems to succeed earlier Whitehall interest in a digital adoption review, and is something which tech ecosystem leaders and innovation partners may wish to feed into. * Spin-outs: £40m over five years to support commercialisation and drive more spin-outs from universities through ‘proof of concept funding’; and ‘improvements’ to the support for researchers spinning out. Again, partners may be interested in identifying what good support looks like, to support more spin-outs. * National Data Library: Confirmation that this will be delivered * R&D Missions: At least £25m in 2025/26 for a multi-year R&D Missions programme – though little detail as yet on design or delivery. * Government and Digital Innovation: DSIT to lead as the Digital Centre of Government, on driving tech innovation in public services as well as overseeing £80m investment in the transformation of corporate functions. * Long-term Sectoral Funding: Provided for a series of sectors related to Industrial Strategy delivery; including Automotive; Aerospace; Life Sciences and Manufacturing * R&D Tax Relief: scheme to be retained * Visual affect tax relief:* scheme to be introduced
Wider Business Taxation Capital Gains Tax: To be increased from 10 to 18% on Lower Rate and from 20 to 24% on the Higher Rate; though retaining the levels on residential property. * Employer National Insurance contributions: to increase by 1.2% to 15%, as well as reductions to the secondary threshold and increases to the Employment Allowance; which will collectively raise around £24bn per year. * Corporate Tax: A ‘Roadmap’ was published alongside the Budget, to cap the rate of corporation tax to 25% in the current Parliament. * Carried Interest: This will increase to 32%, which will impact some Venture Capitalists as its reforms are integrated within the income tax framework. * Entrepreneurs Relief* (including Business Asset Disposal Relief and Investors Relief Rates): Remains under review, though rises to 14% in 2025 and 18% in 2026.
Personal Taxes and Earnings Income Tax: Freezes to most tax thresholds retained until 2028 – meaning Government increases revenue through ‘fiscal drag’ as wage inflation moves more people into higher tax bands – though thresholds will increase in line with inflation after 2028. This was a significant announcement, as pre-budget speculation suggested the Chancellor may have extended the freeze. * Inheritance Tax: Freezes to thresholds have been extended by a further two years until 2030, and unspent Pension Pots will now be subject to IHT. There will be tapered and differential rates for agricultural land. * National Living Wage: increases to £12.21 per hour for with a single adult wage level to be phased-in (initially increased to £10 for 18-20 year olds). * Stamp Duty for second homes to be increased from 2% to 5%. * Dividend Allowance: reduced to £500, with individuals then subject to taxation based on their income tax bracket. * Air Passenger Duty: increases to all rates from 2026, including £2 added to short-haul flights and a 50% increase for Private Jets. * Vehicle Excise Duty: increased on all but the lowest emission bands to encourage switch to Electric vehicles. * Mineworkers Pension: transfer of the Investment Reserve to the scheme trustees * Vaping Duty: introduced from 2026 * Non-domiciled tax scheme: to be closed * Private Schools:* Introduce VAT on Private School fees from January and remove their charitable status for Business Rate relief.
You can read the Budget in full here.
Casla is a Sheffield-based agency focused on a simple yet powerful goal: helping B2B tech companies get together with potential customers to meet and talk. Founder Richard Costeloe, moved his venture to Sheffield in 2023, recognising the potential that the city offers to startups. He has since grown his team to three, opened an office at 32 Eyre Street and is bringing together the community of B2B marketers in Sheffield. We caught up with Richard to find out more.
Richard’s journey into entrepreneurship began when he decided to reduce his working week at a large B2B marketing agency in Oxfordshire to four days, dedicating one day to freelance projects. Whilst he enjoyed his freelance work, Richard wanted to build a business, grow a team, and create something secure and sustainable. So, he registered Casla as a company with a clear vision: to help B2B tech and digital companies engage with their ideal clients.
Bringing Casla to SheffieldRichard moved to the Lake District when he transitioned to freelance work, as he had the flexibility to work from anywhere. But as Casla gained momentum, it became clear that Richard needed to be in a city in order to build a team and access a strong business community. He considered cities like London and Bristol (where he had studied), but Sheffield’s reputation as a hub for tech startups, along with its talent pool, ultimately won him over. He reflects,
“It was my mum, who had lived and studied here, who actually said, ‘You know Richard, you should try Sheffield, it would be really good’. I then researched the city and the talent pool, and I came across Sheffield Digital, which I liked. I could see it was a highly rated place for people starting businesses, and this has certainly been my experience so far.”
Today, Casla’s team of three – Richard, Millie and Saskia – operate out of 32 Eyre Street. None of them are Sheffield natives; Richard met Millie at Union Street coworking space, where she was freelancing at the time, and Saskia, a University of Sheffield graduate, has joined on a part-time basis, allowing her to undertake a Master’s degree alongside her work.
Building a B2B communityIn September, Richard launched a meetup series that brings together members of the B2B marketing community for drinks and discussion events. The inaugural event featured panelists from Nimble Approach, Twinkl and Productive Machines, and welcomed over 30 attendees from tech and digital companies operating in the B2B space.
Another event is scheduled for December, and Richard hopes to create a welcoming atmosphere where marketing professionals can share ideas and learn from each other. He says,
“It’s been really nice to get such a good response, after coming to the city as a totally unknown entity and trying to set up this B2B community. People seem to want to get involved and I think that it’s because B2B marketing is maturing and becoming its own discipline. These days there are more sophisticated and specialist techniques employed, so it’s great to support Sheffield marketers and share what we know.”
The art of conversationCasla’s events aren’t just about networking – they align with the company’s ethos of creating real, face-to-face conversations. Richard explains that for many of their clients, these conversations are invaluable. “The companies we work with typically have complex propositions and large deal sizes. So a single lead, developed through a meaningful, face to face conversation, can result in significant returns.”
Casla recently helped a client secure a deal worth over £468,000. This success came after an investment of around £20,000 in Casla’s services – an impressive return on investment. While not every client project yields the same results – Richard describes this particular example as ‘the dream scenario’ – he is motivated by the impact they’ve helped to make: securing steady income, creating jobs and building long-term security for their client.
Richard and his team are constantly monitoring and evaluating techniques, and learning from successful campaigns like this one. They have recently pared down their services based on what has proved successful in the past year and a visit to the company’s website shows their three key offerings: events, outbound services (like LinkedIn InMail) and podcasts.
As a B2B company themselves, Casla follows its own advice. The B2B events and a newly launched podcast are integral to Casla’s efforts to engage with the B2B community in Sheffield through meaningful conversations and connections.
What’s next?As Casla grows, Richard is excited to learn more about Sheffield’s B2B landscape. He’s particularly interested in hearing from local businesses about their marketing challenges and how Casla can help them overcome these obstacles. He’s also on the lookout for guests for the Casla podcast, as he’s eager to share insights and stories from the B2B marketing world.
At its core, Casla is about connection. Whether through events, podcasts or outreach, Richard and his team remain committed to a founding principle: helping B2B tech and digital companies get in front of potential clients and talk. It’s a simple concept but, as Richard has already proven, it’s an incredibly effective one. Find out more about Casla on the website: casla.agency, get in touch at: hello@casla.agency and connect with Richard on LinkedIn.
Sheffield Digital has been invited to participate in the new Pride of Place Infrastructure Board. This is one of three boards recently set up to bring city stakeholders and communities together to provide policy advice to the city over the next six months.
What is Sheffield Pride of Place?Sheffield Pride of Place (PoP) is a business-led forum connecting the private, public and voluntary sectors in Sheffield, to create economic opportunity, address societal issues and deliver long-term transformative change in our communities.
It has been set up by Business in the Community, the national business-community outreach charity, with financial support from Aviva and the engagement of a range of stakeholders including Henry Boot, Mott Macdonald, the University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, Sheffield City Council, Voluntary Action Sheffield, NHS Integrated care partnership and SADACCA.
The PoP Board has launched three stakeholder groups which will focus on key areas of development in line with the City Goals. The three boards will look in detail at:
- The Economy
- Social Mobility
- Infrastructure
How will we input?Sheffield Digital has been invited to represent the digital sector as part of the Infrastructure Board, looking at ways of improving digital connectivity and skills in our communities.
In addition to digital infrastructure, the board is also looking at transport infrastructure and green infrastructure (with co-founder of The Floow, and long time Sheffield Digital member, Sam Chapman among the stakeholders in the former area).
The three boards are operating independently of each other, but there is significant information sharing and opportunity to input into the other themes.
Chris Dymond is representing Sheffield Digital in these fora, which are taking place each month between September 2024 and January 2025, and we will provide a full update once the process is complete.
In the meantime, Chris is keen to hear from members and the wider community if anyone has information or opinions to share at the intersection of the three themes and Sheffield’s communities and neighbourhoods. You can find him on Slack, at our weekly Geek Brekky events, or you can email Chris.
As one of the largest learning providers in the city, The Sheffield College is a vital part of the skills supply chain. In response to feedback from employers, the College has launched a new digital course that combines the academic knowledge of a university level qualification with technical skills applied in the workplace. New staff specialising in fields such as cybersecurity and cloud networking are teaching students and the course has been designed with employers. Here’s the press release with all the details:
A new higher technical qualification (HTQ) to equip students with the digital technology skills that employers need has launched at The Sheffield College.
The Higher National Certificate in Digital Technologies prepares students for a career in the rapidly evolving field of cybersecurity and cloud networking.
Highly valued by employers, the Level 4 qualification is being offered by UC Sheffield which is home to the college’s university level qualifications.
The first cohort of students have just started in September 2024. New staff with industry experience of e-learning, cyber threats and network security, have been appointed to teach the course.
Tina Harrison, Assistant Principal of Higher Education, The Sheffield College, said:
“We wanted to launch a course that aligns with the digital sector and gives our students the knowledge, skills and confidence to work and thrive in that area.
“We have launched the course in response to feedback from employers and want to build on that to showcase the wide range of career paths available to our students.”
HTQs are new or existing Level 4 and 5 qualifications that equip students with the knowledge and skills for specific careers and can lead to a top up degree. They combine the academic knowledge of a university level qualification with technical skills applied in the workplace.
Designed with employers, HTQs are suitable for students progressing from Level 3 qualifications including vocational diplomas, T Levels and advanced apprenticeships.
UC Sheffield offers HTQs in business leadership and management, construction, engineering, and health and social care, that are developed with employers, as well as a range of honours and foundation degrees.
The college achieved a silver rating in the Teaching and Excellence Framework 2023. Run by the Office for Students, the TEF focuses on teaching, learning and students achieving positive outcomes from their studies.
The TEF assesses and rates universities and colleges for excellence above a set of minimum requirements for quality and standards. The ratings reflect the extent to which a provider delivers an excellent experience and outcomes for undergraduate students.
Compared to university settings, college-based higher education students benefit from smaller class sizes, personalised support and lower fees.
To find out more about our UC Sheffield courses and upcoming open days, visit
https://ucsheffield.sheffcol.ac.uk/.
The second annual Sheffield Digital Skills Audit is now live and we need to hear from South Yorkshire digital and tech businesses, and businesses that rely on digital technology. Please tell us about your current and future skills requirements and how well education and training organisations and the region’s available talent are meeting those needs. Our survey takes around 20 minutes and the data we collect will help us provide evidence to influence improved skills provision and policies.
We launched the Digital Skills Audit last year, resulting in the first ever data set focussed specifically on the skills needs of our region’s digital and tech businesses. The results gave us a benchmark to measure change against and we are interested to see how this year’s findings compare.
The Digital Skills Audit is an important part of our ongoing work to help address the digital talent and skills gap that exists in South Yorkshire. With the evidence we gather through the survey, we are able to influence improved skills provision and policies.
After we published last year’s report our Director, Mel Kanarek was asked to contribute to discussions relating to the Sheffield Growth Plan, the South Yorkshire Skills Advisory Board and Sheffield City Council’s plans around bootcamps. So, it really does make a difference.
What’s new this year?To reflect the increasingly difficult economic climate we are operating in, this year’s audit asks questions about changes in the business environment. We’d like up to date insight into hiring freezes, redundancies and reduced investment to help Sheffield Digital and other organisations and institutions in the region provide the best and most relevant support.
Beyond this, the questions we ask are in line with last year’s Skills Audit to help us measure results year on year. The Audit covers a range of topics, from the business you’re working for to skills requirements, education and diversity.
This survey is aimed at businesses and organisations that are either digital
technology businesses or whose operation relies on having staff with digital tech
skills. You will need to know about your organisation’s use of digital technology and the skills that are required, and have knowledge of your organisation’s financial situation and hiring and staff development practices.
The data you provide will be kept completely anonymous and individual data will not be released. We will only contact you to follow up if you have agreed to provide further information.
Like last year, we will use the findings to deliver a summary report which we hope to have ready before Christmas and a full report at the start of the New Year.
You can find out what the 2023 Digital Skills Audit revealed by downloading the report, here.
Complete the Digital Skills Audit
Last week Innovate UK released a new funding opportunity for innovation in the area of AI and education. Sheffield Hallam is keen to hear from businesses in the e-learning space that want to partner on a proposal about the ethical use of generative AI. The deadline is tight – 9 October – and Sheffield Hallam needs to hear from interested companies no later than Friday 20 September.
The funding opportunity, Contracts for innovation: AI tools for education, invites organisations to apply for a share of £994,000 from Innovate UK. It says:
The aim of this competition is to develop tools which use generative AI to support teachers with assessing progress and providing feedback, known as formative assessment. These tools must support high quality education through evidence based teaching and learning approaches. These must align with relevant standards such as the National Curriculum or Early Years Foundation Stages (EYFS). Successful applicants will have access to a quality assured library of educational content and code optimised for use with large language models.
Applicants can work alone or with other organisations. You can find out more about eligibility and the details of the opportunity here.
Next steps?If you are interested in working with Sheffield Hallam on a joint proposal focussed on the ethical use of generative AI in education, please contact Márjory Da Costa-Abreu who is leading on this work.
We are happy to announce that Sheffield Technology Parks (STP) is the latest organisation to become a Regional Partner of Sheffield Digital. The non-profit workspace and tech incubator has sat at the heart of the city’s technology scene for over 30 years and it now plays a vital role in helping tech startups and scaleups to succeed. This formal partnership will strengthen our links with Sheffield’s flourishing startup scene, as well as uniting our efforts to make Sheffield the best place to start, work in and grow digital businesses.
STP is a long standing supporter of Sheffield Digital, having been a Founding Member. More recently, STP’s CEO, Tom Wolfenden joined our leadership team as a director, to help guide our future strategy. Both organisations are working hard to create a robust and sustainable ecosystem in the city, where tech businesses can thrive.
Shared focusSTP is home to 30 businesses with over 200 employees. The organisation manages specialist programmes like the Cooper Project and LOCATE, focussed on progressing early business ideas to startup stage, and attracting inward investment through relocation, respectively.
As the organisation for businesses and individuals involved in Sheffield’ and South Yorkshire’s digital industries, we want to play a helpful role in the journeys of founders, relocating companies, and established Sheffield digital businesses alike. Through our new partnership, we‘ll be exploring how we can support and enhance STP’s programmes and its offer to existing residents.
We’d like to expand the reach of fundamental parts of STP’s support infrastructure, including its regular drop-in sessions with investment, legal, insurance and financial experts. This means that more individuals and companies have access to specialist and trusted advisors who can help them to navigate growth or issues that are hampering their success.
STP is the base for many of the city’s meetups, including Sheffield Startup Meetup and Sheffield Women in Tech (ShfWiT). We’ll be supporting these meetups and their networks in whatever way we can to ensure their sustainability; helping to facilitate speaker lineups and promoting events across our platforms.
Stronger togetherSpeaking about the partnership, Tom Wolfenden comments,
“Sheffield Digital has done an exceptional job of building, representing and championing the digital tech community in the city and broader region. We are keen to support that continued work and enhance it where we can, as a Regional Partner.”
He continues,
“Sheffield is increasingly attracting outside attention and our reputation as a city of innovation is gaining traction. Now is the time for core infrastructure, like our two organisations, the universities, local authority and SYMCA, plus others, to work together for a strong, sustainable ecosystem. By doing that, we can continue to attract and retain talented individuals and exciting companies with potential to create highly-skilled, well-paid jobs in the city, boosting the economy overall.”
Mel Kanarek, Co-founder and a director of Sheffield Digital, added:
“We’ve had an informal working relationship with Tech Parks for many years and I’m delighted to see this put on a more focused footing. We share a vision and ambition for Sheffield’s tech scene and I’m excited to see how we can develop that into concrete activities that will have a long term impact on the success of local tech businesses.”
Find out more about Sheffield Technology Parks and its ambitions for the city, in our Partner Profile.
Business Finance Week 2024 kicks off on 24 September and the opening event takes place right here in Sheffield. In a collaboration with Sheffield Technology Parks, the British Business Bank is hosting ‘Global Sheffield: Broadening horizons, supercharging start-ups’, a breakfast event designed to inspire and inform local tech businesses to scale internationally. The speaker panel features members of our community with real and recent experience of achieving global sales, plus investment and trade advisors.
If you are looking beyond Sheffield and the UK to grow your tech business, this free event shouldn’t be missed. Taking place on Tuesday 24 September, 8:00-10:30am at Kelham Island Museum, ‘Global Sheffield’ will provide invaluable insights into scaling startups and seizing international opportunities.
A panel of Sheffield founders including Melissa Chambers, CEO and Co-Founder of Sitehop will share practical advice and real-world examples from their recent experiences in scaling up and securing investment.
You will also have the chance to meet with trade advisors and investors, who will outline the support available to entrepreneurs with international growth aspirations.
Here’s the full speaker line-up:* Cat Smith, Senior Manager, UK Network Yorkshire and Humber, British Business Bank * Chris Ogden, Founder, Laser Partners * Duncan Payne, Head of Software Engineering, ZOO Digital * Heather Guile, International Trade Adviser, Department for Business and Trade * Mark Roberts, Entrepreneur/NED/Angel Investor, Red Line Foundry * Melissa Chambers, CEO & Co-Founder, Sitehop * Michael Laycock, Investment Manager, British Patient Capital * Stephen Welton, Chair, British Business Bank * Tom Wolfenden, CEO, Sheffield Technology Parks
The event will also include breakfast and plenty of chances to network and pick the brains of the speakers. Spaces are filling up fast so to secure your free spot, book now.
You can find out more about Business Finance Week and the many other events taking place throughout the UK, here.
Earlier this summer we opened applications to our new Members Board and after a careful selection process, we have appointed seven people to represent each level of membership. In addition, we have made a special appointment to link us up with secondary education in the city, plus we are in the process of securing representatives from all our Regional Partners.
The purpose of the Members Board is to give our members and partners a greater opportunity to shape the direction of Sheffield Digital. Our successful applicants all have real passion for the future of Sheffield’s digital industries and bring experiences and insight that will help our organisation to make a positive impact.
Meet your representativesPaul Massey is the representative for Individual members. With more than two decades of experience in the digital domain, Paul currently works as Lead Software Engineer at MoJ Digital, as well as running not-for-profit film studio, 3studio. He pours all of his experience into a number of mentoring roles, including the Sheffield Digital mentoring scheme and working with HMP Humber to mentor prisoners. Paul describes Sheffield Digital as having played ‘a pivotal role’ in fostering the growth and potential of the regional tech scene, and now he is excited to contribute to our future success and strategic direction.
Paul Robinson, a freelancer working in UX Design and Product Management, will represent the interests of his fellow Freelance Members on our board. Paul describes his membership of Sheffield Digital as “life changing” due to the opportunities it has presented and how it has expanded his professional and personal networks. He is keen to develop our offer to freelancers, and has lots of ideas around new resources and support mechanisms. Paul also wants to explore how we could help create better relationships, awareness and opportunities between businesses and freelancers in Sheffield.
Samson Opaleye from Applatch is representing start-ups in the city, driven by the need to ensure that the struggles and unique requirements of local tech entrepreneurs are known to community leaders. He explains,
“Having firsthand experience as a startup founder in Sheffield, I have witnessed the unique challenges and opportunities that small businesses face, particularly in the tech space. Being part of the board allows me to bring a fresh perspective from a startup viewpoint and contribute to shaping an environment that supports innovation, fosters collaboration, and promotes diversity.”
He adds,
“A priority I would like to address is creating a process to help Sheffield-based startups navigate the key factors that determine a successful journey from the idea stage to achieving product-market fit.”
Jilly Cross is the representative for micro-companies just like Bravand, the digital design and build agency she founded in London and moved to South Yorkshire in 2023. Reflecting on her reasons for applying to our board, she says:
“Since our move to Sheffield from East London just over 18 months ago, I have been blown away by the talented, friendly, passionate and collaborative spirit that makes up the Sheffield digital ecosystem. Our Sheffield Digital membership has been instrumental in enabling us to become a part of this city’s wonderful community, feeling right at home in a very short amount of time.
“Knowing the benefits of membership myself, I’m passionate about contributing to a member-led strategic arm of Sheffield Digital to truly represent the association members in any way I can. Personally, I’m particularly keen on how members like Bravand can find, engage and develop younger talent, supporting the Sheffield Digital leaders of tomorrow and ensuring the city remains at the forefront of digital creativity.”
Pierre Drezet from INX is our representative for Small Companies. As a “technology-first innovator and consultant” he has 25 years’ commercial experience combined with an academic background. Pierre is keen to share learnings that stretch back to working in a dot-com era tech PLC to founding start-ups in Sheffield. He has closely observed the evolution of machine learning, IoT and no-code software, and has a deep understanding of how companies of all sizes can develop surging technologies to underpin their business.
Jonny Ripon, managing director of Hive IT, will be representing the needs of other Medium Companies. Jonny has been a long standing supporter of Sheffield Digital and brings “first hand experience of the benefits and challenges of membership and engaging with the Association.” In addition to the 20+ years’ experience he has in Sheffield’s tech sector, Jonny believes in the power of collaboration and maintains good relationships with other non-tech organisations including charities, government and educational institutions.
Sam Chapman from The Floow joins the board as representative for Large Companies. Sam is closely aligned with the goals of Sheffield Digital, explaining:
“Sheffield Digital performs an important role in the region bringing together the digital sector aiding communication, collaboration and representation. I have a shared passion to also support and grow the region’s digital sector which I have long championed.”
Considering priorities he’d like to address in his new role, Sam adds: “I’m keen to encourage better recognition of exemplar organisations and international impact from the region’s digital sector to further encourage regional growth and investment.”
Hannah Chaplin has been appointed to the Members Board in her remit as a Computing and IT teacher at the UTC (and an Individual Member). Hannah is passionate about connecting education with industry to ensure that Sheffield companies are getting employees with the skills that they need to be successful. This drive is rooted in her own experience of running tech companies in Sheffield, where recruitment was a constant pain point.
We are in the process of appointing a board member to represent Enterprise Companies and hope to share an update with you soon. In addition to members, our new board will also have reps from Sheffield Digital’s Regional Partners:
- The University of Sheffield
- Sheffield Hallam University
- Sheffield College
- Barnsley DMC
Next stepsThe first Sheffield Digital Members Board meeting will take place at the end of September and during this meeting we want to establish how members can communicate with their representative. This will ensure that our new board is truly a platform for all members’ voices to be heard.
We are also hoping to welcome our reps to upcoming events, where you can meet with them in person. This includes the next Senior Leaders Dinner and the next Meetup for Individuals and Freelancers. We’ll keep you posted about these once we’ve secured dates.
This is the start of an exciting new chapter for Sheffield Digital and we cannot wait to see the direction that our new Members Board will lead us in. Thank you to all who took the time to apply.
Tom Wolfenden and Emma Marshall become directors of Sheffield Digital.We’re at a pivotal moment in Sheffield Digital’s future as we embed a number of changes to our membership offer and explore and define our strategic direction. With this in mind, we are pleased to share that two well known and respected members of the city’s tech community have joined our leadership team as Directors: Emma Marshall and Tom Wolfenden. They each bring experience, insight and a deep understanding of our membership and wider community.
Emma Marshall is well known to the regional tech community, both from her former senior leadership roles in tech companies across the city and for her recent work as Sheffield Digital’s Company Membership Manager and with Sheffield Tech Parks’ Cooper Project. Along with her decades of experience in business operations and senior leadership, Emma also brings the unique insight that comes from having owned her own company.
“I understand the day to day challenges that are faced by many of our members because I have been there and done it,” explains Emma, “I have founded a business, I have worked in large tech organisations managing people, systems and processes, and I’ve overseen big change projects.”
She adds,
“I career changed into tech when I was 40 and I’m eternally grateful for all the learning and support that I received from my co-workers and partner businesses. I want to use my experience to give back and help shape Sheffield Digital’s strategic focus, making sure it really meets the needs of our members and contributes to the economic growth of our region.”
Tom Wolfenden, CEO of Sheffield Technology Parks (STP), has had a seat on the Sheffield Digital board since 2017 when STP became a founder member. In stepping up to the position of Director, he will play a more active role in managing our organisation and influencing the strategic direction of our work.
Tom is embedded in Sheffield’s tech start-up scene through his work at STP and is keen to ensure that Sheffield Digital is at the forefront of efforts to make Sheffield the best city in the UK to start and grow a tech business.
“As founder members of Sheffield Digital, I’ve always been supportive of the ambitions of the organisation as they align so closely with Sheffield Technology Parks.
“Now, as a Director, I’m looking forward to working on a future strategy for Sheffield Digital, that weaves into the aligned ambitions I fulfil in my other roles across the city, including the Chamber of Commerce, SY Incubator & Accelerator Network and the Sheffield Innovation Spine.”
Tom and Emma join Sheffield Digital’s five founder directors: Mel Kanarek, Chris Dymond, Saul Cozens, Neill Birchenall and Andy Mayer. This Executive Board’s remit will be supported by the new Sheffield Digital Members Board, which will represent individual and company members at every level, ensuring their views are heard in the strategic decision making process.
Director and Co-founder of Sheffield Digital, Mel Kanarek, says,
“We want to ensure that Sheffield Digital is a strong, sustainable organisation that continues to respond to the needs of the local tech community and the role it plays in the regional economy. Emma and Tom bring important skills, perspectives and networks which will strengthen the executive board and make sure we are in good shape for the future development of the organisation. We are all also really looking forward to getting the members board up and running so that the members have a bigger say in what that future direction looks like.”
Business Sheffield is running another series of its successful TechForge Workshops, starting in September 2024. The workshops are designed to support the needs of technology-centred startups and cover different stages of the founder journey including monetisation, creating your MVP and raising funds. Startup and Micro Company Members may benefit from some or all of these sessions, as well as Individual Members who are embarking on, or considering, an entrepreneurial venture. Here’s a quick Q&A with Morgan Killick and Chris Wheater, Tech Scale-Up Advisors from Business Sheffield, to give you the low-down.
Who are the TechForge Accelerator workshops designed for?These workshop sessions are designed to support the needs of technology-centred startups, especially those involving software.
At what point in their journey should a founder access the TechForge Accelerator workshops?The TechForge Accelerator is best suited to founders who are at an early stage – for example you might just have an idea, be working on a prototype (or MVP), or have done some initial trading.
Who delivers the workshops and what kind of expertise and experience do they bring?The workshops are led by us – Chris Wheater and Morgan Killick – we are highly experienced Tech Scale-Up Advisors – both founders who have scaled and exited tech businesses. Between us, we have nearly 50 years’ experience of working in the tech industries, and in our current roles we focus on being a ‘critical friend’ to founders who want to progress their business.
Do you have to attend all five workshops, or can you just attend the one/s that are most relevant to where you are in your journey?You do not have to attend every workshop within the series. You can book into one or more workshops, depending on your needs and the stage of your business. You can read about the different sessions and what will be covered in each on our Eventbrite page.
What kind of time commitment should founders expect to make, in preparing for and attending the workshops, and any follow up work?There is no prep required. The workshops last just over two hours, with the chance to network at the end. Founders will be taking away knowledge and potentially can further develop their business based on what they learn in the sessions.
You’ve hosted these workshops before. What impact have they had on founders who have attended?Many have gone on to commit to their business full time, commission an MVP or even fully launch their startup. Many founders have gone on to obtain grants, investment, incubation space or join other accelerators. Additionally, several are now receiving regular one-to-one mentoring from one of the session leaders.
Can you access the workshops if you’re already involved in another incubation or accelerator programme, such as the Cooper Project?Yes!
Find out more and book on to one or more of the TechForge Accelerator workshops, here.
Founded in 2008 by James (Jamie) Busby and Chris Rawlinson in Sheffield, Ten24 is a trailblazer in 3D scanning and asset creation for games, films and television. With a core team of five and a network of freelancers, Ten24 delivers high-end digital assets to a prestigious list of clients featuring Silicon Valley heavyweights, Microsoft, Apple and Activision, to name but a few. As the company embarks on a groundbreaking project to create an ethical data set of 10,000 3D scanned faces, we caught up with Jamie and Ben Carlin, Creative Producer at Ten24, to find out more about this pioneering Sheffield company.
At its inception in 2008 Ten24 delivered 3D scanning of people, faces and bodies. This capability was something Jamie had been exploring for a while, convinced that the time consuming and costly methods of digital character creation could be improved through 3D scanning, inspired by the tech behind Google Earth.
Bringing on board Chris Rawlinson, former lead character artist at Sumo Digital, the duo combined innovation and artistic flair to make a significant breakthrough in the industry.
“There was a lot of research in this area, so it’s not like we invented it, but we were able to push it along significantly,” says Jamie. He explains: “Production time for a character used to be around two months, when you were having to sculpt the likeness of a famous actor from scratch, for example. We got this production time down to half a day, pretty much overnight.”
The process also brought down costs from around £40,000 to £4,000 for a single character. These significant benefits, on top of Jamie and Chris’s artistic talent, which they applied to make custom modifications of scans – such as zombie versions – made the small company a hugely attractive prospect, as word spread amongst the global entertainment industries.
Heavyweight clientsOver the past decade and a half, Ten24 has contributed to nearly every major game featuring human characters. Their impressive client roster includes tech giants like Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Sega and Activision.
They have worked on high-profile projects such as Netflix’s “Love, Death & Robots,” scanning numerous celebrities for the show, and legendary actors Michael Caine, Colin Firth, Taron Egerton and Sofia Boutella were scanned by Ten24 for Kingsman: The Secret Service.
Ten24 scanned many of the world’s famous boxers for Steel City Interactive’s ‘Undisputed’.The company holds a significant stake in Steel City Interactive after coming on board with the successful e-Sports game “Undisputed”. The boxing game features many of the world’s boxing superstars, with Jamie noting, “We’ve scanned every boxer in the world pretty much, here in Sheffield in our little office.”
Diversifying The 3D Scan Store, Ten24’s online platform, offers a vast array of scanned assets for sale. This store provides high-quality, ready-to-use digital scans that cater to various creative and commercial needs.
“We realised that we could do less of the demanding bespoke projects that involved travel and onsite scans. We scan stuff here, and put it online for sale,” says Jamie.
Example assets from Ten24’s 3D Scan Store, all of which are informed by trends in the games and entertainment industries.The assets in the 3D Scan Store are informed by Ten24’s constant research and development. He adds, “We just look for trends to see what people want, and then we’ll go and make that. All the big games companies and filmmakers, as well as the indie filmmakers, are buying scans from there.”
The Sapiens projectTen24’s latest venture, the Sapiens project, is funded by an Innovate UK Smart Grant and aims to create an ethical and GDPR-compliant dataset of 10,000 face scans.
The team predicts many uses for the data set, including AI training, game character creation and human-machine interfaces. Significantly, they want to create a diverse and inclusive dataset that will enhance representation in games.
“Diversity is something that’s really missing in the games industry,” says Jamie. “There’s a lot of unconscious bias because it’s primarily an industry run by white men, so the output in games is that everyone’s just, you know, a white, muscly man, or maybe a skinny white girl.”
This goal will influence how the team onboards participants for the project, as Ben explains:
“When we start to do the scanning in Sheffield I’m sure we’ll find that we have higher numbers in some demographics than others. So it may be that we do targeted advertising campaigns to raise awareness of the project amongst certain ethnic groups, or even take this to other parts of the UK to increase representation.”
Ten24 is starting trials for Sapiens late this summer in Sheffield. Participants are paid for a 15-minute scan session, contributing to a potentially groundbreaking data set that could underpin advancements in human-machine interfaces for the next 20 to 30 years. Potential applications include self-driving cars, robotics and medical technology.
Additionally, the project will set an ethical standard for AI training data collection, prompting what Jamie hopes will be a step change in how big tech companies are collecting data and training it. He says,
“The way that we’re going about this means we have a data protection officer, everything is GDPR compliant and we’re just being transparent about where the data is going and how it’s being used. So we’re hoping that this promotes a better approach to training AI.”
Ben adds, “Hopefully, this will promote a really healthy conversation around AI and the potential uses for it. There’s going to be lots of people who just don’t want to be scanned and be in a data set. And that’s absolutely fine. But there’s going to be lots of people that might.
“So the idea is that we get it down to under 15 minutes per person when they come in, they see the model release and they’re informed. It’s a decision that they have to make themselves, as opposed to us trying to sell it to them. That’s the difference, they choose whether they want to do it.”
For more information about the Sapiens project or to book a scan session, visit sapiens-booking.com. For inquiries, contact sapiens@ten24.info. You can stay up to date with Ten24 on X and check out some of their work on the website: ten24.info.
In January 2024, Unspun Digital officially launched, spinning out from Impelling, a well-established IT services company. While Impelling set out in 2012 to provide both IT and web services, the focus inevitably shifted more towards IT. This prompted the need for a distinct entity dedicated to web development, leading to the birth of Unspun. Ed Hardie, co-founder of the new company and director at Impelling, shared more about Unspun and how things are going seven months in.
“IT just got bigger and bigger and that’s where the money was,” explains Ed, reflecting on the motivations for launching Unspun. “People were coming to us and saying, ‘You look like an IT company. Are you sure you can do websites?’ We thought it would be better to spin everything out, allowing each company to have a stronger, clearer message.”
Ed’s passion for websites teamed with the creative and technical skills of Neil Carpenter, underpin the new company. Neil, who expanded his skills in graphic design to include web development whilst at Impelling, was integral to the web services side of the business for over a decade. “Neil was brought on at Impelling as a graphic designer as he’s a really talented artist,” Ed recalls, adding, “He went from showing an interest in the web and teaching himself to code, to pretty much running that side of things single handedly. And now, he’s way better than me!”
Ed and Neil’s complementary skills form the foundation of their successful client engagement strategy. “We go to all customer meetings together. I ask questions to understand what they want, and Neil absorbs it all. When the client asks, ‘What now?’ we assure them we’ll deliver a design they’ll love, and Neil nails it first time, every time.”
Unspun founders, Neil Carpenter (left) and Ed Hardie (right).Early successUnspun kicked off the year with a big project that has kept Ed and Neil busy, delaying their ‘official’ launch and marketing efforts. Ed says,
“It means that financially we’re off to a good start because we’ve done this huge job. But now it’s time to focus on marketing, letting people know that we’re here and getting more work in.”
Based in Catcliffe on the edge of Sheffield and Rotherham and operating throughout the UK, Unspun targets complex web projects requiring bespoke functionalities such as online payments, booking systems and secure logins. Initially, the duo are hoping to make an impact in the training sector, where they already have a long standing client and their expertise aligns well with requirements.
Keeping things simpleWhilst keen to tackle the complex, the company’s approach is anything but. A core value of Unspun is simplicity. Ed explains the philosophy behind this: “When scoping out a web project, I always think ‘It’s just a website’. Even with complex elements like booking systems and custom checkouts, or if it needs to integrate with HubSpot, it doesn’t need to be complicated.”
He shares an example of this approach in practice: “A client wanted to add a section to their website to share jobs. While other providers missed it, we asked if they had an existing recruitment platform, which they did. So it was as simple as linking it up to pull through this information. We solve the problem but we try to do it in the easiest way possible.”
Finding the simplest solution comes from listening to the client with an open mind, says Ed, and really getting to know their business.
“You can have a chat on a personal level and not go in there with the mindset that you need to engineer something. We ask how they do things already, and then we fit the website into that system rather than just trying to replace everything. That’s definitely something we have been guilty of in the past, and have learnt from.”
Growth and doing goodWhilst the immediate focus is on business development, Unspun hopes this will lead to team growth. Ed outlines their ambitions: “We would like to hire at some point, ideally someone younger who we can teach things to. A dedicated sales function would also help us to scale up, but the priority is to get enough work to afford that person first.”
The company wants to maintain a manageable size, prioritising quality and strong client relationships. They take pride in long-term client engagements, visiting customers to address ongoing needs and, often, simply to catch-up.
Unspun is also committed to community involvement and supporting initiatives that they believe in. Ed wanted to join Sheffield Digital because he likes the motives behind our organisation, explaining: “I don’t really want anything out of it. Sheffield is close to my heart and technology is close to my heart, so an organisation that brings the two together and promotes tech within Sheffield is a good thing.”
Unspun recently launched a competition to build a free website for a local charity. “We wanted to use this bit of quiet time to do something good, get exposure, and show what we’re about,” says Ed. And whilst the initiative was designed to have one winner on a ‘first come, first served’ basis, Ed and Neil were quickly convinced to partner up with two worthy charities, showing that they really are just two nice guys, doing what they love doing. We’re thrilled to welcome Ed and Neil to Sheffield Digital with their new venture and we’re looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Unspun. Find out more about the company on the website: unspun.digital and stay up to date on LinkedIn and X.
In March of last year we announced a plan to make 2023 a “year of talent and skills”, with a focus on activities to help address the talent and skills gap for the region’s tech businesses. For 12 months we had an unrelenting focus on this area; carrying out research, increasing access to information and existing systems and infrastructure, and loudly amplifying the great work of others. We put out calls for volunteers, best practice and opinions, and the community has responded. So, what impact has Talent23 (T23) delivered? And what’s next?
A busy year of activityWhen our team sat down to assess T23 earlier this year, we weren’t really sure where to start. We knew we’d never solve the talent and skills gap, not least in the space of twelve months, but we could all agree that the campaign felt successful.
There is a shared sense that change is happening and we have anecdotal evidence that our focus on this topic has encouraged people to re-examine their recruitment and upskilling practices. The collaborative efforts of our members and partners are proving to be part of the solution to a complex and long term problem. Together, we’re seeing a way forward and we would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this campaign so far.
Here are the activities we did under the banner of T23:
Showcasing best practiceWe shared some brilliant stories that showcased partnerships between businesses and different education / training organisations in the city.
- Recruiting from Developer Bootcamps – Hive IT has recruited two members of its team from developer bootcamps, so they shared some useful insight and advice about the process. Plus, we heard from Ben Atha, founder of The Developer Academy who explained how this type of training works.
- Helping T-Level students kick start their careers – The Sheffield College and Verticode told us why industry placements are helping to keep talented young people in the city’s tech ecosystem.
- Opening doors for refugees – BJSS shared their experience of supporting Voluntary Action Sheffield’s New Beginnings Project, helping refugees to develop their digital skills and prepare to apply for jobs in our tech sector.
- Connecting employers to the future workforce – See it Be it (SIBI) in Sheffield demystifies the tech sector by facilitating meaningful employer engagement in schools. The Curve told us about the work they are doing with local schools through SIBI.
Sharing different career paths into techWe asked the question ‘How did you get here?’ to people working in Sheffield’s digital industries, ranging from software apprentices, to startup founders.
The majority of these interviews are on our podcast but we also shared stories on the blog and over on our YouTube channel.
Creating a benchmarkDuring September and October of 2023, we conducted our first digital skills audit and this gave us the first piece of data focussed specifically on the skills needs of our region’s digital and tech businesses. Just under 50 companies responded and while this is a fairly small sample, it was broadly representative of the region’s digital and tech sector.
The results gave us evidence to back up what we really already knew; however, the real value will only come after we’ve done the research again – now we have a benchmark that we can measure change against. You can read the report here.
Helping people to develop careers in techThe Sheffield Digital Mentoring Scheme goes hand in hand with T23. It is there to help people progress their careers in the digital industries, and to open up the industries to more people who may have felt excluded.
Since launching back in 2021, over 60 people have signed up as mentees and more than 50 have volunteered on the scheme as mentors. We’ve seen mentees take the plunge into new careers, develop ideas into successful startups, and develop skills, confidence and clarity around the direction they’re heading in.
The scheme continues to go from strength to strength and we have regularly profiled mentors and mentees on LinkedIn to promote the scheme and demonstrate the help that is out there for people looking to develop a career in tech.
Widely promoting opportunities in the region’s digital industriesThe Sheffield Digital Jobs Board was used by over 50 companies during T23 to share almost 230 roles in the region’s digital industries. Our members’ roles are all advertised in the Sheffield Digital newsletter, received by more than 1000 subscribers and we promote roles on LinkedIn, X and to our Slack community. First-rate opportunities exist right here in South Yorkshire and we are committed to promoting them as widely as possible in order to attract the best people to our digital industries.
Has Talent23 made a difference?As a direct result of the past 12 months’ T23 activity, we have seen:
- Greater engagement between local tech employers and schools and colleges. ‘See it Be it’ has joined our Slack community, creating a dedicated channel where they can share volunteering opportunities, and members of the team have been a regular presence at our events, such as the AGM.
The same goes for The Sheffield College’s T-Level team, who are meeting more tech leaders face to face at our Senior Leaders Dinners. Sometimes, just getting people in a room together can make all the difference. - After we published the Sheffield Digital Skills Audit Report, our Director, Mel Kanarek – who is the driving force behind our work in this area – was asked to contribute to discussions relating to the Sheffield Growth Plan, the South Yorkshire Skills Advisory Board and Sheffield City Council’s plans around bootcamps. This was a brilliant opportunity to represent Sheffield’s tech sector at the decision-making level and make sure that the views, experiences, and needs of employers are heard in the digital skills debate and throughout policy making.
- T23 gave us a platform to make what companies are already doing visible. Braveand, Paper and Nimble are just some of the companies who are working to make careers in tech more accessible through engagement with schools and colleges, and interviews with employees to share their routes into tech. We’ve shared this activity, turning abstract ideas into tangible examples that others can follow.
- For our team, undertaking T23 has given a sharp focus for our activity and our messaging, helping us to deliver greater impact and specific support to our community.
It’s a challenge to do something that’s hard to measure; effective change in this area will not happen overnight (or over a year), but if we don’t attempt it, nothing will change. Crucially, the small steps we’re seeing taken in the community show us that our work can be a positive catalyst for change.
What next?There is plenty more to be done and T23 has given us some good foundations to continue addressing the talent and skills gap that exists in the region’s digital industries.
The direction in which we take this work will be guided by our new Members Board, but some ideas we have include building on the progress made in linking the sector with schools and colleges, focussing more closely on universities. This may involve exploring student and graduate placements, and helping our members to get involved in university careers fairs, so that talented students know what opportunities exist in Sheffield, and can meet face to face with employers.
Sheffield’s tech startup scene is an exciting place to be right now, with lots of young companies either setting up here or moving into the city to be part of a connected, supportive and ambitious ecosystem. We’d like to explore how this might impact the talent and skills gap. We’re confident that this new wave of diverse entrepreneurial founders could help to attract, inspire and retain tech talent in our city.
So, for now, watch this space and keep telling us your stories – we want to hear what you are doing to help tackle the talent and skills gap, what has worked well and not so well – we can all learn from each other’s experiences.
After a none-too surprising election result, we end the working week with a new Labour government in place. But beyond the headline promises and policies around the cost of living crisis, the NHS and taxes, what can we expect from Keir Starmer’s party when it comes to our industry?
We have looked at what digital economy publications and pundits were saying in the build up to the election about Labour’s approach to tech, summarising the key points for you. To clue yourselves up further and get a clearer idea of what to expect, take a look at our sources list at the bottom of the post.
What to expectTechnology is not one of Labour’s five key missions, however as Tech UK pointed out it does run “horizontally” through all the party’s commitments.
On Industrial Strategy and Economic DevelopmentLabour plans to create an “Industrial Strategy Council”, and bring forward a new Industrial Strategy that will include a specific sector deal for AI with potential for additional sector deals in other technology verticals.
The party also plans to make it easier to build laboratories, digital infrastructure, and gigafactories (to accelerate transport electrification) by removing some types of planning and procurement regulation. The plan is to create a “Regulatory Innovation Office” to help update current regulation, speed-up approval times, and help coordinate cross-cutting regulation across government.
There is a renewed push to deliver gigabit fibre and 5g across the whole country by 2030.
Funding for this infrastructure may be boosted by a new “National Wealth Fund”, which they plan to have attracted around £7bn by the end of the next parliament.
On taxation, they have announced a “Roadmap for Business taxation” and pledged not to increase Corporation Tax in order to provide more certainty to businesses across the duration of the next parliament.
Labour has also pledged to reform the Business Rates System, which is likely good news for high streets but perhaps less so for online retailers (it’s hard to argue that reform of these taxes, which are collected locally but administered centrally, is not long overdue).
There’s a review of pension investment to provide more capital into industry, along with reform of the British Business Bank to help more small firms outside London to access finance.
Perhaps the biggest change we’ll see locally is the manifesto commitment to increased devolution and the prominence given to “Local Growth Plans”. Keir Starmer advocates a “full fat approach to devolution,” aligning industrial strategy and investment with regional priorities. As more money for economic development, infrastructure, skills, health and social care are devolved from central to regional governments, the opportunities for us as a tech community to work with local and regional stakeholders to bring in investment should increase. (This is why our Regional Partnerships are so important, and why you should consider joining the Membership Board to have a say in what we work with them on!).
On Digital, Tech and Innovation As mentioned above, there’s a commitment to ensure the Industrial Strategy supports the development of AI, and removes planning barriers to new Data Centres & telecoms infrastructure.
There’s a pledge to create a National Data Library to bring together existing research programmes and help deliver data-driven public services.
Tech also features strongly in Labour’s plans to ‘fix the NHS‘, including using AI to speed up diagnostic services, for instance.
There’s a push to extend funding durations, with multi-year funding settlements for local authorities, and ten-year key budgets for key R&D institutions. These are aimed at reducing ‘wasteful’ competitive bidding and initiatives that can’t deliver scale or sustainability within the current funding windows.
This is alongside an effort to simplify the public procurement process and provide a mission-driven approach, in order to support innovation and reduce micromanagement.
There’s a big push to support universities in creating spin-outs, following last year’s Independent Spin-out Review.
Regarding cybercrime and online safety, there are commitments to ban sexually explicit deepfake content; the focus on using technology to keep pace with modern threats; further development of the Online Safety Act; and working with tech companies to combat fraud, among other harms.
On Skills and InclusionThey are looking to merge Job Centre Plus and the National Careers Service, and combine this with more devolved funding for local partnerships to get more people into work (particularly those with long-term health conditions).
Establish a new organisation called “Skills England” to oversee the national post-16 skills effort, and coordinate business, training providers, unions, and government to ensure a highly trained workforce fit to meet the requirements of the Industrial Strategy and Net Zero Targets.
Devolve adult skills funding to Combined Authorities, extending the Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) that we consulted two years ago. Our T23 work should feed directly into this process, to ensure professional digital skills are included in these plans and funding requirements.
There are pledges to transform Further Education colleges into specialist “Technical Excellence Colleges” which will work with businesses, trade unions and local government to provide young people with better preparation and access to high skilled local employment needs.
Reform to the Apprenticeship Levy to create a more flexible Growth and Skills Levy with Skills England overseeing the qualifications accreditation process. This should make funding available for more than just apprenticeships, which could be very good news for tech companies.
As outlined in David Blunkett’s 2022 report “Learning and skills for economic recovery, social cohesion and a more equal Britain”, Labour’s post-16 skills strategy will aim to improve regulation and standards, make it easier for young people to access higher education and to move between different institutions. Whether it will address the gaping holes in current higher education business models remains to be seen.
And finally, the party has also indicated a willingness to work with (Sheffield Digital member) Good Things Foundation to help people on low incomes facing digital exclusion by donating old government IT equipment.
I’m sure there are more policies that will make an impact on our digital tech and media ecosystem over the course of the next five years, and please drop a comment if I’ve missed something major out, or join in the discussion on LinkedIn or Slack.
Our sourcesWe’d like to thank Danny Dickinson at Sunderland Software City who provided a list of key pledges that informed this list, and all our partners in the UK Tech Cluster Group (UKTCG) who have been discussing these issues over the last few months.
Tech UK, the industry-led lobbying organisation, broke down the manifestos from Labour and other main parties, comparing them to their own “Seven Tech Priorities” paper.
Raconteur, the UK business media platform, covered the “key manifesto takeaways for tech leaders”, looking at Labour, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems and the Greens. They also provide a ‘tech industry response’ with quotes from several business leaders.
Computing, the industry magazine and media platform, published individual articles looking at each of the main parties’ manifestos and asking “What’s in it for tech?”. Here is their coverage of the Labour Party.
The Financial Times published a huge amount of election coverage and analysis, of course, but among it all is this piece that specifically looked at Labour’s plans to reform government planning and procurement processes to “…make it easier for Big Tech groups to build critical infrastructure such as data centres…”.
Finally, the Open Rights Group conducted a live Hustings on “Digital Rights in the age of AI”, chaired by Timandra Harkness with Cllr Jack Lennox, who is the Green Party’s spokesperson for Culture, Sport and Digital Inclusion; Viscount Jonathan Camrose who was the minister for Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property; Tim Clement-Jones who is a Liberal Democrat peer and former Chair of the House of Lords Artificial Intelligence Select Committee. Well worth a watch or listen!
Sheffield Hallam University has extended the range of digital subjects it offers a degree apprenticeship in, and has a pool of strong candidates looking to find a suitable employer and join one of the five courses available in September. Whilst taking on an apprentice is a big commitment, we think the funding available and the opportunity to shape your next employee so early in their career, are reasons that all employers should consider it.
Degree apprenticeships are now offered at Sheffield Hallam in the following digital subjects:
- Software Engineering
- IT Consultancy
- Data Analytics
- Creative Digital Design
- Digital User Experience (UX)
What are degree apprenticeships?Degree apprenticeships were introduced by the UK Government in 2015 to provide a way for school leavers to develop skills ‘on the job’ and earn a small wage, like a traditional apprenticeship, but also learn the theory and depth required for a fully fledged undergraduate degree accredited by a UK university.
This scheme was introduced alongside the “apprenticeship levy”, which requires all employers with an annual payroll greater than £3m to pay into the levy in order to help fund new apprenticeships, including degree apprenticeships. So, apprentices can be supported by this fund whether the employer that supports them pays into the levy or not.
As we reported at the time, Sheffield Hallam University was one of the first to offer degree apprenticeships in digital subjects, and the programmes have been expanded and refined a great deal over the years.
The apprentices work full-time and attend university on block study over three years while working towards their degree.
What’s the deal and how do I apply?The exact format of the university based study depends on the subject and course. As it’s over three years, taking on an apprentice does require a significant commitment, especially by smaller employers, but given the levy fund and the opportunity to shape the development of a young professional from an earlier age, the cost vs risk equation is one that we think most local tech employers should consider.
(We would love to hear from employers who have used this scheme recently – please get in touch and let us know your experience!)
For non-levy payers, the course fees are:
- 95% government funded if the apprentice is 19 or over at enrolment.
- 100% government funded if the apprentice is under 19 at enrolment (which many of these candidates would be).
The employer has to cover the salary, which could be the current apprentice minimum wage (£6.40 per hour), but SHU’s recommendation is to go above that in order to make it less likely that the apprentice withdraws. Their recommendation is £15k-16k per annum as a starting point.
Plus, if the apprentice is under 19 at enrolment, the employer will receive a £1,000 incentive which is paid in two instalments: £500 after 3 months and £500 after 12 months.Interested employers should contact Employer Partnerships Manager, Joe Hockney at Sheffield Hallam University: j.hockney@shu.ac.uk, and he will provide CVs. Ideally prospective candidates should be interviewed before the end of July in order to get them successfully onboarded before the start of teaching.
The Sheffield DM meetup started life in a pub, sparked by an unmet need for local marketing folk to connect, share and learn. More than five years on, the monthly meetup is thriving and the annual conference, Sheffield DM Summer, has become a flagship event for the city, attracting marketers at all stages of their careers, from across the UK. Now in its third year, Sheffield DM Summer 2024 takes place on Thursday 18 July and we’ve secured a 25% discount for the Sheffield Digital community.
Organised by the full-service digital agency Evoluted, Sheffield DM events offer unique opportunities to learn, socialise, and become part of a welcoming, inclusive digital marketing community. Originally starting with a local focus, Sheffield DM now attracts attendees and speakers from all over the UK, thanks to its organic growth fueled by word-of-mouth and social media coverage.
Now in its third year, Sheffield DM Summer continues to grow. The inaugural event in 2022 saw 100 attendees, last year it drew 250, and this year, organisers are aiming for ticket sales of over 300.
Scheduled for 18 July 2024 at The Wave (The University of Sheffield), this year’s event promises to be both relaxed and jam-packed with insightful sessions spanning the entire digital marketing spectrum.
A stellar lineupExpect to hear from industry leaders like the Head of SEO Communications at Wix, the Global Search Lead at Jaguar Land Rover, and the Editor of Hitched. Topics on the agenda include audience insights, paid media, AI, and much more. The event is carefully segmented into different tracks, ensuring you can easily find the sessions that are most relevant to your interests, whether that’s PPC, SEO, or another area of digital marketing.
Organisers are expecting more than 300 attendees at this year’s Sheffield DM Summer.Who should attend?Sheffield DM Summer attracts a diverse range of attendees, from business owners and department heads to managers and junior-level digital marketers. This event is ideal for anyone looking to gain actionable insights and real-world examples from industry experts. Each session includes ample time for audience questions, and the speakers are approachable and available for discussions during breaks.
Learning at every levelSheffield DM prides itself on facilitating a valuable exchange of knowledge, ensuring that all attendees leave with new strategies and connections to drive their digital marketing efforts forward. Whereas those working on the delivery side of things can immerse themselves in subject specific talks, for leaders, the event offers significant value through peer networking and the chance to share challenges and solutions with others facing similar issues.
A headline event for the citySheffield DM Summer is a key event in the digital industries calendar, attracting the city’s digital marketing talent and an increasing number of visitors from across the UK. Evoluted is doing a remarkable job of spotlighting Sheffield through this event and showcasing the city’s vibrant tech and innovation scene. And there’s a lot more to come from the talented team, they recently launched ‘Nottingham DM’ and have plans to expand to other cities soon.
In a recent podcast, we spoke with Giorgio Cassella, Managing Director at Evoluted. Giorgio shared the origins and evolution of Sheffield DM and described what attendees can expect at this year’s summer conference. You can listen to our conversation here.
Be part of itIf you work in digital marketing, at any level, or simply want to expand your knowledge and understand how it can impact your business, don’t miss Sheffield DM Summer 2024. Grab yourself a 25% discount on tickets using the code: SHF-DIGITAL. Buy your tickets here. We’ll see you there!
Photo credit: Jason Goodman on UnsplashWe recently revamped the Sheffield Digital membership offer and, as part of that, we announced a new members board. The purpose of this board is to give our members and partners a greater opportunity to shape the direction of Sheffield Digital. Applications are now open to join the new members board, read on to find out what you need to do.
Why are we introducing a members board?Sheffield Digital has been running for nine years and, thanks to the support of our members, has become an important part of the regional tech scene. We want the organisation to evolve in a way that best meets the needs of our members and the regional tech ecosystem.
To help us do this, we are re-organising into two boards: an executive board and a members board. The executive board is made up of our six directors who will continue to be responsible for the legal and financial aspects of the company and oversee the day-to-day operations.
By creating the new members board, we want to develop the strategic governance of the company, asking member representatives to provide strategic input to the organisation and influence its direction.
Who can join the members board, and what will they do?The members board will be made up of representatives from every category of membership and you can see the breakdown of how it will be constituted in this Information Sheet. So, if you are a member of Sheffield Digital, you can apply.
Representatives on the members board will be speaking for the membership as a whole, not just for themselves. The board will meet three times a year (every four months), and its focus will be on how to address issues through action – we don’t want it to be “just another talking shop”.
You can find out more about the role of representatives on the members board, here.
How you can join the members boardApplications are open now until Sunday 7 July 2024. If you would like to be considered as a representative for the members board, please send your expression of interest by email to Mel Kanarek (mel@sheffield.digital). Tell us why you are interested in joining the members board and what you hope to bring to the organisation, remembering that your role will be to represent the interests of all members in your category.
Please read through our Information Sheet before applying, so you have all of the details.
We’re really looking forward to launching the newly formed members board in September. If you want to discuss the role before putting yourself forward, please contact Mel (via email or Slack) to arrange a time for a chat.
Applications close on Sunday 7 July 2024.
Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) has supported Sheffield Digital since our foundation in 2015, and was in fact a Founder member of the organisation. Throughout this time, we have worked together on a huge range of initiatives, from promoting degree apprenticeships to local tech businesses, to supporting the establishment of the new Institute of Technology, and most recently, the inaugural Digital Skills Audit. As well as all of this, Hallam has been instrumental in helping to shape our work and direction through its seat on our Board. So, both organisations agree that now is the time to make things ‘official’!
Sheffield Hallam University is becoming a Regional Partner of Sheffield Digital, in addition to its permanent status as Founder Member. Through this partnership, we will work together on a defined set of agendas all year round, which we’ve agreed will focus on these areas:
- Outward Communications & Messaging
Improving communication about the university’s teaching, research and business support offers to the local digital technology community.
- Inward Communications & Messaging
Helping students and faculty members to understand what Sheffield Digital offers, what the local tech ecosystem looks like and highlighting opportunities to get involved in local tech industry activities.
- Networking & Engagement
Identifying and engaging relevant people within the University to participate in industry and policy networking opportunities.
- Policy & Strategy
Collaborating on strategic policy efforts around local and regional digital socio-economic development.
- Careers
Supporting careers efforts and engagement across the University.
- Entrepreneurship
Supporting new entrepreneurs in engaging with the local tech ecosystem.
Reflecting on the move to become a Regional Partner, Dr Alexandra Anderson, Associate Professor in Enterprise at SHU, said:
“Having worked with Sheffield Digital for almost a decade, we have first-hand experience of their impact on driving the region’s digital ecosystem. Their work aligns completely with our commitment to place as a Civic University, supporting those entrepreneurs seeking to grow and scale their digital business and be a key part of organisations’ supply chains in the region and beyond. We’re delighted to now formalise our partnership with Sheffield Digital.”
Sheffield Digital Director, Chris Dymond, added:
“It’s great to have Sheffield Hallam Uni on board as a regional partner, as well as a founder member. Not only does it provide a platform for us to initiate more collaborations, it is also part of a wider, incremental but significant, transformation of Sheffield Digital as an ecosystem organisation, almost exactly nine years since our incorporation.”
With many successful collaborations behind us already, we’re thrilled to have SHU join us as a Regional Partner. We look forward to bringing you future updates as our work together develops.
The annual Children’s Media Conference (CMC) is back in Sheffield from 9-11 July 2024. Established in 2004, this is the only gathering in the UK for everyone involved in developing, producing and distributing content to kids – on all platforms. As longterm supporters of this landmark event, Sheffield Digital is delighted to offer our members a discount on tickets.
The CMC welcomes delegates from across the world, working in film, TV, radio, interactive media, games, licensing, toys, book and magazine publishing, the arts and culture sector and educational media.
With the usual packed agenda featuring high-profile keynotes, workshops, sessions, videos and networking, this year’s CMC promises to be the best and most cost-effective way of meeting people in your industry to share relevant insights and information.
What can you expect to see at CMC 2024?Keynotes include musician, broadcaster and philanthropist, YolanDa Brown OBE, and award-winning co-founder and Creative Director of Cartoon Saloon, Nora Twomey. This year’s ‘SkillBuilder’ workshop is focussed on storytelling and creating inspiring and empowering content for children around climate change.
The International Exchange returns to Sheffield in person for 2024 and is designed for anyone looking for international sales, partnerships or project funding. The International Exchange will bring together a wide range of broadcasters, co-producers, funders and investors from across the world, keen to meet those providing content and services.
We’re delighted to see the return of the CMC’s ‘Playground’ which, for 2024, will be in the form of an interactive character hunt across 15 locations in Sheffield for children and families. Taking place just before the Conference (3-30 June), The Urban Dwellers / Playground AR Character Hunt is totally free for children and families to enjoy as they explore fantastical augmented reality artworks and animated installations from legendary steel-city artists TADO and Lisa O’Hara.
How to get your discounted ticketsIf you are a member of Sheffield Digital – at any level – you can benefit from a £150+VAT discount to the CMC. This means you’ll pay £440+VAT for a full conference ticket rather than the standard rate of £590+VAT. Simply email our Membership Manager, Emma Marshall on emma@sheffield.digital who will provide you with a promotional code to use on the CMC’s booking page.
For everything you need to know about the CMC 2024, visit the website: www.thechildrensmediaconference.com. You can also access a goldmine of interesting and useful video content on the CMC’s YouTube channel, including footage from previous events and promotional content for this year’s conference which will give you a feel for what to expect.
Sheffield Digital is changing. Thanks to the support of our members, we have been able to create a stable, credible organisation which has helped to bring together South Yorkshire’s tech cluster and raise its profile across the country. Now we want to do more for our members by improving and expanding our services, benefits and reach.
Since we launched in 2015, the digital ecosystem in Sheffield has made huge strides forward. Whilst there’s always work to do to make things even better, the city is now home to a vibrant and exciting tapestry of digital businesses and supporting services with real passion and expertise in the tech sector.
As the association for businesses and individuals involved in the region’s digital industries, Sheffield Digital’s remit has grown alongside our industry. Whilst our mission remains the same – to help develop the best possible environment for setting up, working in and growing digital businesses – the ways that we will do this are evolving.
Aligned with this is an increase in membership fees, to help us deliver better support and services to the digital community.
We have written to all of our members to tell them about these changes and explain what this means for them. This has also given members the opportunity to ask questions and to give feedback on the changes.
We’ve been really pleased with the response from our membership, who have been largely supportive and enthusiastic about our plans.
Changes to our membership offeringWe are making changes to every level of membership and this includes introducing new categories. Traditionally, we have offered Company Membership ranging from ‘micro’ to ‘enterprise’ level, and Individual Membership. We have now expanded our membership categories to include ‘Freelancers’, ‘Start-ups’, and ‘Tech-departments’ of non-digital companies. This is so that we can provide better, more tailored and relevant support to businesses and individuals at different stages of their journey.
We have always offered a unique set of benefits to members at every level and now these benefits are increasing. We have introduced an online searchable Company Directory, in which company members can be listed. Job listings will now be an exclusive benefit for members only, with vacancies being shared in our fortnightly newsletter and on LinkedIn.
Company members at all levels will have the opportunity to join a new Members Board that we are setting up to allow members more input into Sheffield Digital’s direction and activities, and we are introducing opportunities to have direct input into regional policy development.
Individual Members will continue to receive exclusive benefits including free access to our Mentoring Scheme, an invitation to our AGM, and the opportunity to attend dedicated meetups for Individual Members.
The new membership categories for ‘Freelancers’ and ‘Startups’ offer Individuals the chance to switch to categories that offer more benefits including a new Freelancer Directory coming to our website, and exclusive access to Associate Sponsors’ services.
All membership levels and benefits can be found on our Membership Page.
Changes to membership feesAs you probably know, Sheffield Digital does not receive any funding – we rely on our members, partners and sponsors to cover our operating costs. So, to support this additional activity, the cost of annual membership is increasing. This is the first time we have increased our membership prices since we launched nine years ago. We are determined that Sheffield Digital remains accessible and provides excellent value to our members. The new prices fairly reflect the increased cost of operating in the current economic climate, as well as the enhanced support and services we are delivering.
You can see prices over on our Membership Page.
Want to know more about Sheffield Digital membership?If you are already a member, we hope you’ll have seen our emails sent to you throughout March and April, detailing these changes and what they mean for you. If you have concerns about the price increase, or you would like to know more about the new membership categories, please contact our Company Membership Manager, Emma Marshall. If you aren’t yet a member but would like to know more, please take a look at our Membership Page where you’ll find details on categories, benefits and prices.
A new report, published on 24 April 2024 to mark the inaugural UK Tech Week celebration of tech ecosystems across the UK, shows that South Yorkshire’s tech sector saw record levels of home-grown startup activity and attracted more tech company relocations than ever in 2023.
The report, published by South Yorkshire Combined Mayoral Authority, and titled South Yorkshire: Investment & Innovation in an Emerging Tech Ecosystem, reveals that:
- A record 617 tech startups were formed in South Yorkshire in 2023, more than ever before and an increase of a fifth (18 per cent) from 2022. Combined with falling tech failures, which declined for the second year running, South Yorkshire experienced a net gain of 88 home-grown tech companies last year, with growing numbers of active tech companies in every major urban area.
- There are at least 4,588 tech companies in South Yorkshire today – more than ever before. The region is a major centre of cleantech innovation and home to significant business activity in software development, life sciences, data, bioscience, advanced materials and photonics.
- An influx of tech companies from outside South Yorkshire is bolstering the tech sector. Analysis of businesses registered at popular tech locations in South Yorkshire found that 29% were previously based outside the region and that 2023 was the busiest year yet for relocations.
- Tech Welcome Grants totalling £130,000 have helped 29 companies specialising in high-value activities such as robotics, data analytics, and cyber security establish their first facilities in South Yorkshire and supported the creation of more than 140 jobs worth a combined £6.1 million a year.
- Investment in tech companies based in South Yorkshire has been more resilient than elsewhere in the UK. Data from analysts Beauhurst show South Yorkshire’s tech startups secured funding totalling £209 million between 2019 and 2023. Although tech investment in South Yorkshire declined by 38 per cent between 2022 and 2023, this was a less profound decline than the 54 per cent reduction in overall UK tech funding reported by Atomico last year.
Tracey Johnson, Project Director at TECH SY, comments: “South Yorkshire’s tech sector is growing in significance and success, expanding despite headwinds and challenges in the global economy, and outperforming many other ambitious locations in attracting the talent and investment needed to turn great ideas into even better businesses. This report underscores South Yorkshire’s emergence as a dynamic tech hub, fueled by innovation, talent, and a supportive community.”
Sheffield Digital Director, Mel Kanarek, adds: “The region’s tech startup scene is picking up fantastic momentum and this report reflects that, with impressive numbers to back up what we are all witnessing.
“The narrative of our region is becoming stronger and clearer. Soon, people will no longer need to ask ‘Why South Yorkshire?’, because the reasons for starting a business here are widely understood and acknowledged at national and international level. The investment opportunities, infrastructure, community collaboration and support, research and innovation, and talent that we have means that any tech startup can thrive in South Yorkshire.”
Visit https://www.theseam.digital/post/south-yorkshire-s-tech-sector-achieved-record-levels-of-startup-activity-in-2023 to download a copy of South Yorkshire: Investment & Innovation in an Emerging Tech Ecosystem report.
In 2015, geologist Francis Cram and his colleague decided to cast a light on the opaque world of global gas and oil. They recognised that a dearth in accessible data in the energy sector was hampering organisations worldwide in their attempts to move to sustainable energy sources. As a result, MapStand was born and Francis and his team set about building a global data set that would empower businesses to navigate the energy landscape. We spoke to Francis about his move to Sheffield, the company’s holistic approach to data mapping, and the ways that COVID-19 impacted the direction of travel for MapStand.
Inspired by regular conversations between colleagues on mapping, data and a lack of transparency in their field of oil and gas, London-based MapStand was just gaining traction after its first product launch in December 2019. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Forced to adapt swiftly, MapStand pivoted.
“When the apocalypse hit we had to really rethink things! We were not a sustainable business at that point and we couldn’t raise the money needed in February and March when COVID hit” says Francis Cram, Co-founder and CEO of MapStand. “We did a review of the business and realised that we probably needed to pivot straight away in order to survive this. We totally changed the focus of the business, making energy transition the main focal point of the data that we build.”
Co-founder and CEO of MapStand, Francis Cram.MapStand secured shareholder support to realign the company and move forward in this new direction. Reduced in size, the team shed its physical office in London to become a fully remote organisation, a move that coincided with changes in Francis’s personal life. He explains,
“When we knew there could be a lockdown, my wife and I realised that we were going to lose our main source of childcare. So, we went to stay with my in-laws in Castleton for a few days, expecting it to be over quite quickly. We were there for ten weeks and we just had the best time ever.
“When we went back home, life just wasn’t the same anymore. I was commuting to London and thinking to myself: ‘what the hell are we doing here?’. We got our house on the market and moved up to the Peak District as quickly as we could. It’s been magic every single day. I have to pinch myself. It’s just absolutely awesome.”
Rebuilding a business in SheffieldAs Francis and his family settled into their new life, MapStand approached a new ‘growth cycle’. In addition to private investment, Mapstand also secured South Yorkshire’s Tech Welcome Grant, which meant the team could invest in a physical office space in the region.
“I knew it was really important to build a base again where we could more easily train people, rebuild a company culture and bring some new energy into the business.” says Francis. “It was a risk in a sense, setting up in Sheffield. We do quite niche work and finding the people that we need is risky, it’s actually the keyrisk to our business.”
So far, it’s proven a risk worth taking. MapStand moved into Sheffield Technology Parks in February 2024 and has already made two permanent hires. The company is also teaming up with two students from Sheffield Business School throughout April to carry out project work.
“Straightaway we’ve been able to engage with the Universities and I’m hoping we can access high quality graduates to support our growth. We’d like to be part of their education too, to get them primed and ready for industry,” explains Francis. He adds, “There are lots of people not going down to London to find the big jobs, they’re actually looking for a good lifestyle up here. Sheffield is not a second rate city by any means, it’s an absolute first rate city with high quality people living here.”
Informing innovative energy transition pathwaysMapStand has carved out a unique business proposition, mapping data sets of energy infrastructure with a sharp focus on facilitating the transition towards sustainable energy solutions.
From researching the power grid and renewable power generation to analysing projects pivotal to decarbonisation, MapStand’s integrated data sets, accessible via an interactive platform, enable companies to navigate the evolving energy landscape with greater clarity and understanding.
Central to MapStand’s success is its unique, holistic approach.
“Our product is unique in the market in the way it integrates the full spectrum of energy infrastructure, from oil and gas through to renewable energy. And that really enables us to explore the different pathways that energy transition will take.”
This includes exploring innovative solutions such as repurposing existing energy infrastructure – such as offshore oil fields or gas pipelines – for carbon capture and storage or hydrogen transport.
Looking ahead, MapStand is committed to further integrating itself in the city and through membership of Sheffield Digital the company is already benefiting from the lively events scene and vibrant Slack community. The team has ambitious plans for future fundraising and expansion, and we are looking forward to seeing MapStand grow and deliver meaningful change to the energy sector.
Find out more at: mapstand.com.
The Developer Academy has been commended by Ofsted for its approach to preparing learners for work, following a New Provider Monitoring Visit earlier this year. These positive results came shortly after the training provider announced it had pulled important funding into the region, designed to improve data science skills in manufacturing.
The Developer Academy will deliver ‘Data Science for Industry’ training bootcamps from May, after a successful bid from a Department for Education (DfE) funding round was confirmed in January.
These bootcamps are designed for employees of manufacturers to develop hands-on Data Science skills for use in their day-to-day roles. The funding means that 90% of the course costs are covered by DfE, hopefully making them an accessible option for smaller, ambitious manufacturers.
“Our data science bootcamps serve as a catalyst for manufacturing businesses seeking to transform their operations,” said Ben Atha, Founder and CEO of The Developer Academy.
”By enabling employees to analyse data effectively, and derive actionable insights, we empower them to optimise processes. Identifying cost-saving opportunities, streamlining supply chains, and making better-informed decisions for their employers. The potential impact on manufacturing businesses is tremendous.”
Sheffield’s ‘high-quality employability programme’On the back of this good news, The Developer Academy shared feedback from its recent Ofsted Report which revealed two ‘significant’ and one ‘reasonable’ progress scores.
The report emphasises the high quality of education and skilfully designed curricula developed in partnership with employers. It identifies the embedded “high-quality employability programme”, and leaders that are “very responsive to the rapidly changing needs of the sector”.
Inspectors praised the provider for instructors who provide “consistently high-quality teaching” and “swift and effective support” allowing learners to progress swiftly, with the majority of students going on to secure employment.
Neil Bizzell, Director of Education said: “This feedback from Ofsted recognises our high quality, industry focussed technical education. It highlights our learner centred approach and the value of our embedded careers support in helping our students find work. It is a testament to the hard work and expertise of our team of instructors and support staff’.”
Inspections of Skills Bootcamps began last April after a thematic survey by Ofsted highlighted weaknesses in some areas of existing provision.
Ben added: “The feedback in our report is fantastic to read. We’re a learner focused provider. Our focus has always been on getting learners into jobs they love. To be recognised for the quality experience we’re building, helps us to keep driving this industry forward.”
The Developer Academy offers full-time Skills Bootcamps for key digital skills with a focus on securing employment for students. It is currently offering courses in Data Science, Software Development and Games Development. Visit the website for more information: thedeveloperacademy.com/
To find out more about the new Data Science bootcamps for manufacturers, go to: thedeveloperacademy.com/data-science-for-industry/
Last month saw the return of the Sheffield Digital Showcase, an event for anyone working or interested in the city’s tech scene and a chance to find out what exciting projects are happening. We heard from companies including BOW and MOPO who spoke on a wide range of topics, from the role of battery swap tech in fighting climate change, to building a universal software for robots.
Hosted at Sheffield Technology Parks, the seventh Sheffield Digital Showcase was held on Tuesday 19 March 2024. The event included four lightning talks and an interview hosted by Chris Dymond from Sheffield Digital, followed by food, drinks and conversations.
It was a busy, friendly meetup and attendees were keen to chat and make use of the networking time before and after the talks. Following this success, we are really pleased to share that there will be more Showcase events throughout the year and, if you missed last month’s event, you can watch all of the talks over on our YouTube page.
Here’s a quick summary of who took to the stage with links to their videos:
- Lightning Talk 1: Katie Steele, Founder of Cheribim – ‘Data for hard problems’. Watch now.
- Lightning Talk 2: Jono West, Co-Founder at MOPO – ‘Fighting Climate Change in DRC using Battery-Swap Technology’. Watch now.
- Interview with Daniel Camilleri, Founder of BOW. Watch now.
- Lightning Talk 3: David Dixon, Co-founder and CEO of Future Greens – ‘Circular Urban Farming’. Watch now.
- Lightning Talk 4: Dan Rawley, Marketing Manager at Evoluted and lead organiser of Sheffield DM – ‘Sheffield DM: From pub to powerhouse’. Watch now.
Speak at our next ShowcaseThe next Sheffield Digital Showcase will take place towards the end of June. We love having variety in our lineups and showcasing work that people might not expect to be happening here; projects that are unique, innovative and delivering impact.
So, what are you working on? If you would like to be considered for an interview or a lightning talk at our next Showcase, please get in touch by emailing your details and a short description of what you’d like to showcase, to: emma@sheffield.digital.
UK Tech Week is a new initiative that aims to shine a spotlight on the tech innovation, expertise and talent that exists across the nation and to showcase the vibrant technological ecosystem that spans the UK.
Partnering with a number of established tech events, festivals and organisations, UK Tech Week will launch on Monday 22nd April followed by a 3-day collaborative celebration of tech all around the UK.
Between 23rd and 25th of April 2024, the numerous tech clusters all around the country will be hosting a wide variety of tech events under the UK Tech Week umbrella, which will provide a platform for promoting these events and the regional groups to a wider national audience.
Spotlight on Start-UpsEven though it’s pretty short notice, we wanted to make sure that Sheffield and South Yorkshire were properly included, so Sheffield Digital and Ampere.Events are combining our resources – and we need you to get involved too.
We want to pay special attention to the amazing people, businesses and gatherings that make up our region’s tech start-up scene. There have been so many success stories recently and this feels like a great opportunity to make sure that the rest of the country knows that Sheffield and South Yorkshire are fast becoming a powerhouse of startup activity.
Founded by local tech entrepreneur Peter Hopton, Ampere is a founder-focused events and acceleration organisation based in South Yorkshire, running frequent ‘by founders, for founders’ events. Ampere is committed to empowering community, collaboration and growth to strengthen our entrepreneurial ecosystem and assist founders to achieve excellence. Its mission is to raise the ambition ceiling of our region by establishing a network which sparks on our culture of sharing and collaborating, bringing together founders and entrepreneurs to collectively share experiences, learn from failures and celebrate successes.
How to get involvedAmpere is already planning some events on 23rd April, plus one of their famous parties to wrap things up on the 25th. That leaves plenty of time free on the 24th and 25th for anyone who would like to run something under the UK Tech Week banner. We’ve already had offers of free event space so, if you have an idea for something you’d like to do, please get in touch with Nick Dytczak Midworth at Ampere.
Events will be added to Ampere’s event calendar and Sheffield Digital’s event calendar, and we’ll keep you posted through our social feeds and the Sheffield Digital newsletter. All the events will also go on the UK Tech Week event calendar, to make sure the rest of the country can see what’s happening here.
Meanwhile, Sheffield Digital will be working on ideas to create content that really highlights the people and businesses that are setting the regional start-up scene alight. If you have a story to tell, even if you think we already know about you, please get in touch with Mel Kanarek so that we can make sure you are included.
To sign up to the Ampere closing party on April 25th or one of the two events they are running on April 23rd go to https://ampere.events/events/.
We’ll be publishing more information as the plans for UK Tech Week develop, so please look out for our updates.
The TechVision Society at the University of Sheffield means business. Established in September 2023 to connect students with real-world experience and industry leaders, the society already has more than 100 members. We spoke to founder Vivek Choradia, a final-year Computer Science student, to find out what the society does and what it needs from Sheffield’s tech businesses to help them bridge the talent and skills gap facing our industry.
TechVision Society was set up to address the challenges students face in identifying specialisms and securing roles within the tech sector. With an impressive membership of 105 students, including those from diverse fields like law, medicine and engineering, the society has already built partnerships with global giant IBM and Sheffield-based The Curve.
Vivek’s frustration with the lack of industry-based projects and exposure to workplace insight during his studies prompted him to start TechVision Society. He found himself unsure about the different roles in tech, what would be right for him, and what different roles may entail, saying, “I really wanted to meet people who were doing these roles themselves, and to find out what the jobs looked like, and the impact they make in a company.”
Vivek’s vision was to offer exposure and access to the professional world of tech, not just for computer science students but for anyone interested in the transformative power of tech. He explains,
“This isn’t just for those studying in tech-related subjects; we have had law and medicine students joining because they understand the role that tech plays in their industries and how innovation will change healthcare and legal in the future.”
Vivek’s professional and focussed approach has helped the society secure funding from private sector sponsors such as The Curve and IBM, as well as various sources within the University. This financial support enables them to execute projects, market events and strengthen connections with businesses.
More exposure to tech in the ‘real world’TechVision Society focuses on projects that encourage members to apply their technical skills to real-life scenarios, covering subjects like robotics, AI and UX.
While project leads are highly skilled senior students, they lack exposure to industry practices. This is where businesses can play a crucial role, collaborating with project leaders to design relevant projects that provide valuable experience for students, not to mention allowing employers to shape the skills that graduates will bring when they enter the workforce.
Monthly lectures on specialist topics, such as User Research and User Experience, add to society members’ education. Guest lecturers from industry can significantly contribute to the professional development of students, with events drawing crowds of around 50 members each time. In addition, the active Q & A sessions provide a unique opportunity for businesses to showcase their expertise and interact with the next generation of tech employees.
Upcoming opportunitiesIn April, TechVision Society will host a Project Showcase, offering project teams a platform to showcase what they have been working on for the past year and providing businesses with an opportunity to connect with proactive and talented individuals who are soon to enter the jobs market.
The society is actively seeking more businesses to participate in their work, either by volunteering as a mentor on the current projects or by giving TechVision members an opportunity to conduct a new project within your business. The Project Showcase is a perfect opportunity to find out more about the society, and explore how you can support the students. Find out more and register your interest here.
TechVision Society is also keen to secure guest speakers for next academic year. Vivek emphasises the society’s commitment to showcasing the significant role of women in tech, stating, “We would particularly like to engage a female guest speaker, as our society is diverse and inclusive, so we want to represent this through our lineup.”
For those interested in collaborating with TechVision Society or participating in the Project Showcase, you can connect with them by email: techvisionsoc@sheffield.ac.uk. Stay updated with the latest developments by following the TechVision LinkedIn page and Instagram page.
BOW Robotics (BOW) wants to revolutionise the robotics industry, unlocking potential for developers, businesses, and households worldwide. The Sheffield startup has created a universal software that can control any model of robot, irrespective of the manufacturer. We spoke to company founder, Daniel Camilleri, who revealed the ‘lightbulb moment’ that started it all (clue: it took place in an aquarium), why now is the time to make waves in robotics, and just some of the ways he sees robots impacting our day to day lives.
From frustration to innovationBOW was founded in March 2020 by Daniel Camilleri, who was frustrated by the limitations of robot programming he’d experienced during his PhD at the University of Sheffield. After spending years working with and configuring a specific robot, he realised he had to rewrite his code from scratch when a new model was introduced. He says,
“It took me three months to learn the new model and realise I also had to reengineer my existing code for the new model, and I thought ‘Hang on, surely I’ve taken a wrong turn here, this shouldn’t be so hard’, but everyone that I asked said ‘no, this is how it is, you just have to suck it up.’ ”
This is a global industry-wide challenge as, currently, even robots from the same manufacturer typically use different software. And it’s hampering growth on a grand scale. Forbes reports that as of 2021, the robotics industry had seen an investment aggregate of roughly $20 billion from VCs alone but, despite this, major players in the robotics industry are struggling, with nine high-profile robotics companies declaring closure in 2022.
Daniel explains,
“Manufacturers cannot keep up with the demands of software production every time their robot is configured to perform a new task. They spend lots of time and money engineering code, and end up going out of business. This is why we haven’t seen robotics progress as much as it should.”
Adding to this, there is a small pool of robotics talent globally, with the majority of software developers finding themselves ‘locked out’ of the industry.
“As of 2023, there were 26.3 million known developers and, of these, only 150,000 can program robotics because there is a lack of consistency and transparency in the industry,” Daniel emphasises.
Recognising the significant gap in the market and its hindrance to global robotics industry growth, Daniel left his PhD to pursue a solution.
A universal language for robots“I was actually in an aquarium in Chicago when the ‘lightbulb moment’ came. I’m looking at all the fish and thinking that they have different bodies, but are controlled by the same grey matter, the same nervous system. So, I have to find a way to link up all of the different ‘bodies’ to one universal language.”
Daniel likens BOW’s software to the Android of robotics, offering a universal language that can be applied across diverse manufacturers, similar to how Android operates on various smartphone brands.
Underpinned by neuroscience and psychology, BOW’s software is designed to equip robots with the ability to achieve objectives rather than simply performing a task. In addition, robots can be controlled remotely from anywhere in the world, equipping them for vital tasks such as bomb disposals, handling nuclear materials and performing medical procedures in hazardous conditions.
Daniel believes robots will play a crucial role in the service industry, outstripping manufacturing – where the focus for UK robotics has traditionally been – in the next five years.
Addressing concerns about job displacement, he notes that the integration of robots into industries such as social care can augment humanity rather than replace it. He says,
“The current standard of social care being delivered is not good enough, because there is a labour shortage. Robots can augment humanity, so people can still talk to their doctor, or a relative, or a psychologist through a robot, without them having to physically be in the room.”
Daniel also envisions robots entering our personal lives, explaining:
“I’d like to see a robot in every home, performing tasks such as cooking and cleaning. Giving time back to people.”
Starting up in ‘hard mode’Starting up in the UK comes with its challenges, as the social acceptance of robotics, legislative complexities and investment restrictions pose hurdles to scaling.
“There’s a drive for the UK to become global leaders in science and technology. However, we’re finding that what politicians are saying is different to what the funders are saying, and we know it will be hard to achieve what we need to really scale in the UK.”
Nevertheless, BOW is determined to navigate what Daniel describes as “starting up in hard mode”. Operating out of Sheffield Technology Parks, BOW has found a home amidst a vibrant and growing robotics community, providing a conducive environment for cutting-edge research and development.
“Being in Sheffield is strategic for us. The presence of the AMRC, robotics departments of two universities, and Sheffield Robotics means there’s a lot of research happening here, making it an exciting place to be,” says Daniel.
The commercial release of BOW’s pioneering software is coming this Spring and we’re thrilled to have Daniel joining us at the next Sheffield Digital Showcase event on 19 March. So, why not join us, BOW and a range of robots to hear from Daniel and see the product in action before it is commercially released to the rest of the world? Book your spot here. You can stay up to date with BOW on the website: usebow.com and on LinkedIn.
Sheffield AI was launched in response to the rising trend in large language models like ChatGPT. The meetup founders, James Charlesworth, Courtney Kyle, Steve Roberts and Dan Koseoglu, wanted to build a community of like minded people to share experiences and look ahead at future developments. Just six months later, these events are attracting audiences of almost 100 people. We caught up with James and Courtney to find out what you can expect from Sheffield AI.
Tell us about Sheffield AI – what is it, who is it for, and how long has it been running?James: The meetup began with a mailing list in summer 2023 and we had our first event in September 2023. The rapid increase in popularity of large language models, in particular consumer-focussed LLM applications (primarily ChatGPT) led us to want to bring a community together in Sheffield to share experiences and thoughts for the future.
We primarily target the tech community in Sheffield and the majority of our mailing list is made up of software engineers, product managers and designers. However the meetup is open to anyone with an interest in how AI is being used to build the next generation of software solutions.
How did the organisers come together to create this meetup?James: Through conversations with Dan Koseoglu of Affecto Recruitment, we realised the implications of AI reached far further than simply SaaS products and touched all industries in some way, including recruitment. We thought it would be beneficial for folks in Sheffield to have a place to meet and discuss advancements.
What can people expect at your events?Courtney: Engaging topics from diverse perspectives, and an audience from all types of backgrounds. It’s been really interesting to chat with other attendees to learn how they’re applying AI in fields like education, law and IT.
James: We try to put on two talks, one that is technical and one that is more accessible for a non-technical audience.
What were your key principles when setting up the events? Have these changed or developed at all as you’ve gone on?James: We really wanted the events to feel sociable. There is a (perhaps valid) paranoia around AI that it will replace the human element of conversation and collaboration, and we wanted to remind people working in this field that human interaction in person is still the most important driver behind innovation, no matter how smart ChatGPT and the like can seem.
Meeting up with other people, hearing real stories and keeping the human element alive is extremely important. We wanted to create a source of inspiration that can never be replaced by a chatbot, and that can only happen by getting real people in a room together.
What are the biggest challenges you have come across in organising and running the Sheffield AI events? How have you dealt with them?James: Finding speakers is a challenge. Since LLM usage in software products is still an extremely new practice, it is hard finding verified “experts” who have extensive experience implementing these technologies and would be confident sharing at our meetup. As such, we encourage folks to speak primarily from passion and any experience they have, as opposed to only seeking out speakers with years of experience in machine learning. We also want to bias towards speakers who are based in Sheffield and the surrounding towns and cities to keep the event feeling local to this area.
What is attendance like at your events? Do you get a lot of regulars returning, or are there new people all the time?James: Our second event was attended by almost 100 people, 60% of whom were coming for the first time.
Sheffield AI is hosted at Hideaway.Why do you think it’s important for people to go to meetups, what are the benefits professionally and personally?Courtney: It’s incredibly valuable to learn from others’ experiences and perspectives, and great to connect with folks in the local community. I always leave meetups with new ideas. And of course, from a professional standpoint, you never know the doors that may open when you meet new people!
What do you think of Sheffield’s meetup scene? Are you a fan of any other meetups?Courtney: Product Tank for great product-centric talks, Front-End Sheffield is relevant for engineers and designers, and Anomaly Life Drawing if you like flexing your creative muscles.
What are your plans for the next Sheffield AI?James: We will continue to host at Hideaway for as long as we can since it is a beautiful venue with a very sociable feel, and great food! We have sponsorship secured for the rest of 2024 and are planning four events per year.
How can people find out more?Visit https://sheffield.ai and sign up to our mailing list to hear about future events and get onto our AI-curated newsletter.
(L) Professor Steve Haake from Sheffield Hallam University and (R) Professor Tim Chico from The University of Sheffield.The programme will bring together patients, healthcare professionals, researchers and industry to develop new ways to use digital information and technologies to improve healthcare. It offers a fantastic opportunity for digital businesses in the region to explore how they might be involved in creating new data-led healthcare products and services. The programme will operate through three calls, with applications for the first call open from 1st to 15th of February.
What is the SY Digital Health Hub?The South Yorkshire Digital Health Hub (SYDHH) is a joint project of the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University, supported by funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The Hub’s purpose is to tackle healthcare inequalities and transform how patients are treated in South Yorkshire.
The Hub’s Innovation Pipeline programme is focused on improving population and individual health by co-creating novel technologies that gather daily life data and fuse this with routine NHS health and social care data. The programme aims to create a community of practice, involving patients, carers and clinicians as well as researchers and technologists who will work together to address key problems faced by people in South Yorkshire.
Patient and public engagement is key to the programme. Initial work with a “Citizens’ Jury” has identified the following priority health conditions and groups:
- Mental health and people living with mental health conditions.
- People living with long term health conditions, particularly high blood pressure, diabetes, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
- Individuals identified at higher risk of particular conditions, such as through family history.
- People who are terminally ill.
- People living with disabilities.
While this list is not exclusive, any ideas should be problem-focused, involve some aspect of data and address an unmet health need.
The Citizens’ Jury also made some important recommendations around principles and priority aims around innovation in digital health. You can read those recommendations here.
How will the Innovation Pipeline programme work?The programme will be problem-led; the aim is to create teams of people who will work on developing solutions, rather than on developing or applying existing solutions. Each wave of the programme will operate in two phases. The first phase involves selecting problems, forming teams around them and then providing intensive training to support the team in developing and testing their concept. The second phase involves a funding panel, where teams will pitch their concepts for further development. The expectation is that most of the funding will be in the £10k-£20k range, with a few at £50k and the option for larger amounts for exceptional ideas. Support and training will continue after the funding panel and those teams that were not successful in the panel will be helped to look for funding from other sources.
The timetable for the first call is:
- Sandpit applications open 1st Feb – 15th Feb
- 4th March – in person sandpit
- April – concept testing with PPIE
- June – funding panel applications
Some additional notes:Mel Kanarek attended the webinar for the launch of the Innovation Pipeline and the information in this blog post comes from that and from the SYDHH website. The webinar was recorded, you can watch it here and read the programme FAQs here. We also recommend keeping an eye on the SYDHH website for news of when the sandpit applications open. In the meantime, Mel is trying to arrange a meeting with the Hub team to discuss how the Sheffield Digital community can engage with their work.
Sheffield Digital member, Razor has announced a new “strategic alliance” with a leading provider of verticalised comprehensive IT solutions, Fulcrum IT Partners (Fulcrum). Razor says the acquisition will enable them to reach new verticals on a global platform, whilst continuing to “redefine the standards of technological innovation within the industry”. Here’s the official press release, issued by Fulcrum and Razor.
Fulcrum IT Partners Announces Strategic Acquisition of Data Innovator RazorSignificant Move to Empower Data-Driven Strategy and Drive Innovation Across Verticals.
Fulcrum IT Partners (“Fulcrum”), a leader in delivering verticalised comprehensive IT solutions, announced its acquisition of Razor, a pioneering firm at the forefront of data and artificial intelligence technology.
Alongside Razor, Fulcrum is acquiring two related entities, REYT and Nimbitech. These acquisitions are a key step in Fulcrum’s commitment to creating a data-focused ecosystem, representing a significant enhancement to its technology portfolio. This acquisition underlines Fulcrum’s commitment, through its innovation incubator Fulcrum Labs to deliver data-driven outcomes to its customers.
Razor’s integration into Fulcrum brings together deep vertical expertise with cutting-edge data-driven solutions, highlighting Fulcrum’s commitment to elevating customer experiences through innovative technology. The acquisition strategically positions Fulcrum to utilise back-office data to drive revenue and deliver better outcomes for customers.
This collaboration is set to accelerate the way Fulcrum utilises data, bridging the gap between back-office infrastructure and front-office solutions. Razor’s expertise in data intelligence will augment Fulcrum’s existing technology solutions, offering a differentiated advantage in the marketplace.
Gareth Davies, President of Fulcrum Labs & EVP of Managed Services, Fulcrum IT Partners says,
“The acquisition of Razor signifies an exciting step forward for Fulcrum. Allowing us to leverage AI and data analytics to augment and enhance our existing service offerings whilst bringing new innovative solutions to market.”
Fulcrum, with Razor will be launching a suite of informatic platforms focused within the manufacturing, retail logistics, and healthcare verticals, augmenting data with machine learning to bring insights to operational technology. The acquisition of Razor unlocks the ability to work towards developing Private Generative AI-as-a-Service enabling internal efficiencies and a differentiated access to customers whilst ensuring the privacy of corporate data.
Jamie Hinton, CEO, Razor, adds,
“Joining forces with Fulcrum allows us to scale our innovative approaches to data and AI on a global platform. Our shared vision for a data-driven strategy and the global scale that Fulcrum has will unlock new potentials in technology advancement and customer experience.”
About Fulcrum IT PartnersFulcrum IT Partners is the parent company of an expanding portfolio of established and successful IT solution companies in the UK, Canada, and the U.S., with proven expertise in cybersecurity, cloud, consumption-based IT and managed services. Fulcrum is dedicated to using technology to deliver better business outcomes to vertically focused industries through its breadth of expertise and longstanding relationships with respected industry partners.
The European firm has taken a majority investment in the Sheffield-based digital consultancy.
We are really excited to share the news that two Sheffield Digital Company Members are creating a powerful new partnership, through Razor’s acquisition of 50% of Nimbitech. Here’s the press release with comments from both CEOs, Jamie Hinton and Nick Stewart from Razor and Nimbitech respectively. We’re looking forward to hearing more about the deal in the future and how the companies will be working together.
Sheffield-Based Razor Expands its Group Portfolio with Acquisition of NimbitechRazor is thrilled to announce its latest strategic expansion through the acquisition of 50% of Nimbitech, a leading player in Power Platform solutions. This partnership marks a significant step forward in the commitment of the Razor Group to delivering cutting-edge technology services, further solidifying its position as a powerhouse in the industry.
Nimbitech’s renowned expertise in Power Platform aligns seamlessly with the Razor Group mission to provide innovative, comprehensive technology solutions to its clients. This strategic move amplifies the group’s ability to cater to an even broader range of client needs, harnessing the power of Microsoft’s Power Platform to create tailored applications that streamline processes and drive efficiency.
Jamie Hinton, CEO of Razor Group, expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration, stating, “We are beyond excited to welcome Nimbitech to the Razor family. Their proficiency in Power Platform is exceptional and complements our existing strengths perfectly. Joining forces allows us to offer our clients an extended array of services, ultimately enabling them to achieve their business goals more effectively.”
Nimbitech’s reputation for delivering high-quality Power Platform solutions has garnered them a strong client base. The acquisition by Razor Group opens up new avenues for Nimbitech’s growth and innovation.
Nick Stewart, CEO of Nimbitech, shared his thoughts on the partnership, saying, “Joining forces with Razor is a remarkable opportunity for us. Nimbitech’s company culture is at the core of its founding, this is something that Razor not only understands but is aligned with in its approach. This collaboration unlocks a wealth of possibilities for us to enhance and diversify our service offerings. We’re excited to contribute our expertise to the wider Razor Group portfolio and explore synergies that will undoubtedly benefit our clients.”
This new partnership will see Nimbitech move into Speedwell Works alongside the wider Razor Group, giving access to a wider management team, support services and development resource.
As Nimbitech embarks on this new chapter as part of the Razor Group, clients can look forward to an even more comprehensive range of technology solutions backed by a combined wealth of experience and innovation.
Last month, Chris Dymond attended another meeting of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) Business Advisory Group. In this post, he shares the main takeaways from each presentation and his own views about what this means for the tech sector. Read on for more details on the state of the regional economy, nuclear energy
Following the wrap-up of TEAM SY in June 2023, new data published this month shows that the number of tech startups formed in South Yorkshire increased by 18 per cent following the launch of the project in October 2021. TEAM SY has supported almost 300 digital and tech start-ups to explore new ideas, new markets,
Earlier this month, Chris Dymond, one of our Directors, jumped on a train up to Newcastle for his annual geek holiday/pilgrimage to the Thinking Digital Conference. This was the 14th time it’s been held in person, always in the same iconic venue at The Sage in Gateshead. In this post, Chris shares some highlights and
Whilst you might not be looking for digital skills training in your business, could you benefit from up-skilling yourself or your team members in other areas? Opportunity Sheffield, alongside a range of regional partners, offers the ‘Advancing Digital’ programme to support productivity, growth and new ways of working to businesses in South Yorkshire. Financial Management,
Did you know that after four or more encounters with employers, young people become 86% less likely to be ‘not in education, employment or training’ (NEET)? Initiatives like ‘See it Be it in Sheffield’ (SIBI) bridge the gap between schools and colleges and local employers, making sure that every young person in the city has
Last year we shared some useful information from Shorts about updates to the Research & Development (R&D) Tax Relief Scheme, relating to what and how you claim. From 1 April 2023, qualifying R&D expenditure has been extended, however the rates of R&D relief have been reduced. From 1 August, there are new reporting requirements in
The end of an employment relationship can be a stressful time for both the employer and employee, regardless of how it comes about. After receiving several enquiries from members relating to issues such as redundancy and settlement agreements, we asked our Associate Sponsors and employment law experts, Bhayani Law, to offer some advice. This guest post, written by Lindsey Gaimster, Director & Head of Employment Law, covers some of the most common situations arising before and during termination. We’ve also signposted to other helpful resources at the bottom of the page.
ResignationsIf an employee wishes to leave, they should inform the employer in writing and state how much notice they are giving before their employment will come to an end.
To determine the right length of notice, the starting point will be the contract of employment. This contract should state how much notice the employer and the employee should give each other and these amounts of time could be different.
There may also be a separate notice period if the employee is still within their probationary period. If there is no contract of employment, there is a statutory minimum that each party must serve:
- If an employee has worked for less than a month then they do not need to serve any notice
- If they have worked for over one month then they will need to give at least one week’s notice.
- In some circumstances, an employee may leave without giving any notice. This could be a breach of contract and you may wish to seek advice as it could be a sign that the employee is looking to bring a claim against the Company.
RedundancyA redundancy situation can arise when a workplace is closing or moving to a new location. More commonly, it happens when there has been a reduction in work or less people are required to carry out the work.
Before any redundancy process starts, the company should create a full business plan to ascertain:
- which areas of the business are affected
- how many employees are affected
- how many redundancies will be needed.
The company should also consider any ways in which redundancy can be avoided.
Once the company knows the number of redundancies needed, they will start a consultation process. There are slightly different processes depending on whether the number of redundancies needed is more or less than 20.
Provided that a fair consultation process is followed, an employee who is made redundant will be entitled to their notice period, any accrued but untaken holidays and a statutory redundancy payment, if they are eligible. An employee with more than two years service is entitled to a statutory redundancy payment which is calculated based on their length of service, age and weekly pay. The current maximum statutory redundancy payment is £19,290.
Settlement agreementsA settlement agreement is a legally binding contract which mutually brings the employment relationship to an end. They can be used in a variety of situations but often arise when there is a dispute between the employer and employee.
The settlement agreement sets out the terms of the exit but also ensures that the employee cannot bring any claims against the company. Often a sum of money will be offered to the employee on a tax free basis alongside any contractual rights they already have.
Settlement agreements are complex documents so you should take legal advice before it is offered. There are many benefits to using a settlement agreement when used in the right way and in the right situation.
General exit adviceRegardless of how the employment relationship ends, here are some of our top tips to manage exiting employees:
- Consider whether it is right for the company for the employee to work their notice, or to consider other options such as a payment in lieu of notice or garden leave. The available options may be dependent on the contract of employment.
- Always conduct an exit interview. It might be a bitter pill to swallow but understanding why an employee is leaving could help you retain staff in the future.
- Plan for the exit by drafting a list of company property the employee has and deciding how these be returned. Remember to put in place measures to change passwords and access to systems.
- Remind the employee of any restrictions contained within their contract of employment. This includes: confidentiality, intellectual property, restrictions on where an employee can work after they have left, if they can contact clients and customers, or whether they can work with or employ your other employees.
Helpful resources* ACAS website: Acas gives employees and employers free, impartial advice on workplace rights, rules and best practice. * Acas templates for employers: example letters, forms, policies and HR documents * Bhayani Law webpage: Redundancy and handling redundancies * Bhayani Law webinar: Safe exits – Settlement agreements and the exit process * Bhayani Law webpage and video: What are settlement agreements?
Need more information?If you have questions that are not covered in this post, please let us know by emailing our Company Membership Manager, Emma Marshall. Bhayani Law is very happy to offer more help to our members either through a podcast episode or a webinar, which addresses your questions – so tell us what you need to know and we’ll get this organised. All questions sent to us will be handled with complete confidentiality.
Developer bootcamps provide short and intensive training to people with some or no experience of coding, preparing them for entry level tech roles. Employers can expect to recruit enthusiastic people from varied backgrounds with a range of different skills and experience. This approach has worked well for Hive IT who have two bootcamp graduates in their team, including software tester, Nusrath Mohammed. We spoke to Nusrath as well as Liz Hnat, Delivery Director at Hive and Ben Atha, founder of The Developer Academy to find out more about this recruitment pathway.
Bootcamps are short, sharp and intense. According to Liz, this makes tech training accessible to more people from different backgrounds and with different lifestyles. By doing so, she hopes this can broaden the field for recruitment in our region, explaining:
“Nusrath, a busy mum of three, would not have considered a three year university degree in computer science – how would that fit into her life? But she was able to make the time to complete the bootcamp. They are integral for meeting different lifestyles and cultural needs, and where people are in their life.”
Nusrath completed her training with The Developer Academy remotely, and now works from home. This flexibility was one of the reasons she was drawn to a career in tech, explaining: “The possibility of an exciting career while having a great work-life balance appealed to me the most. A few of my personal goals like encouraging my own girls and other women from diverse backgrounds to consider a career in the tech industry, also led me onto this incredible journey.
“Women like me, especially from ethnic minorities, hold professional degrees but often choose to be ‘stay at home mums’ due to the family logistics, cultural priorities and complex childcare duties. Bootcamp provided this unique opportunity to start an amazing career while not having to compromise on any of those.”
Liz adds,
“Tech has quite a narrow field for recruitment. We talk about trying to be more inclusive, equitable and more diverse yet we struggle to achieve some of those things because we’re recruiting from a mainly male, white and privileged pool of people.
“If we want to achieve those things and to truly become more diverse, we have to find different avenues. Bootcamps are one of the ways we can diversify rather than doing the same old, same old.”
Students can complete their training remotely with The Developer Academy
Work-ready graduatesSince launching in 2019, over 1000 people have trained with The Developer Academy and 85% of these have successfully found roles.
Ben and his team work closely with local employers to shape the curriculum, ensuring that students graduate with up to date technical skills and are ready to hit the ground running. He explains,
“Employers can expect passionate, eager to learn graduates who are capable of working on your live code and projects from day one. They often have a number of transferable skills, come from a wide range of diverse backgrounds and can offer alternative ways of thinking and working.”
Nusrath felt that her training prepared her well for her first role in tech, explaining:
“The bootcamp had a good balance of remote collaboration, fast-paced self learning and live, code along lessons. We would often work in groups, review and explore existing code in a variety of tech stacks, create projects and talk about them to an audience with technical and non-technical knowledge.
“As a software tester at Hive IT, I do something similar but for real clients and in different coding environments. I test every piece of functionality created by experienced developers on my team and report any bugs found. This involves understanding the functionality by asking the right questions, inspecting the code, reading about it then testing it manually and with automated tools for a number of test cases.
“The tutors at The Developer Academy highlighted the importance of soft skills like problem solving, good communication and willingness to learn. These are key skills for my role at Hive.”
Another of Hive’s bootcamp recruits, Kat, used to be a teacher and has brought the ‘alternative ways of thinking and working’ that Ben refers to. Liz explains: “Because Kat is used to teaching young people, she has an ability to translate complex information to different audiences, which is really important in our work and communication with clients.”
In both cases, Nusrath’s and Kat’s passion and eagerness to learn have proven a perfect match for Hive’s commitment to staff development. Liz says,
“We love to teach and both of the people we’ve hired from bootcamps have shown such energy and enthusiasm for learning and development.
“As this is their first experience in tech, they are moldable, so we can help them to grow and develop in a way that fits with what we need at Hive, and what they need as individuals. Being able to contribute to this is the most rewarding thing.”
Are bootcamp graduates right for you?Can all tech companies provide a good working environment for people who have trained at a bootcamp? Based on her experience Liz thinks that bootcamp graduates will thrive in workplaces where helping each other is a natural part of the culture. She explains,
“Helping your graduate doesn’t have to mean sitting down with them for four hours every week. Just being available and open and saying ‘if you have any questions just ask me’, or doing a screenshare for half an hour. It’s just being part of a team.
“We’ve also tried to give our bootcamp recruits the opportunity to work in a way that suits them best, so we find out how they like to learn, how they like to work, and how we can support them to do that best. A different, more corporate organisation might not work as well for them in this respect – but equally it might work better. It really does depend on the individual and their own learning and working style.”
The Developer Academy encourages its students to think about their preferred style of work and what kind of company they’d like to work for, before applying for jobs, which helps to manage expectations on both sides. Ben explains,
“We work with the students a lot on the type of company they want to work for, the type of work they want to do, and the type of lifestyle they will enjoy. Some want to work with companies doing good things, some want to focus on back end or front end, some want to work on really complex systems or have lots of variety.”
When it comes to creating a good environment to integrate a bootcamp graduate, Ben offers some advice: “As with any graduate, they will need to have support as imposter syndrome is prevalent. Offering some form of academy style programme, whereby the first one or two months is focussed on how the company works and you develop the graduate’s technical skills before they work on live code, has encouraged many of our students to apply for roles over those who do not offer this. However, this isn’t the case for all of our graduates.”
Demonstrating that you offer progression routes is also key to attracting and retaining bootcamp graduates, according to Ben. He explains,
“Having a planned development programme, which shows what is required to reach mid, senior and beyond is so valuable. Showing what is possible within your company is a surefire way to see your new recruits thrive.”
How to engage with bootcamps when you’re recruitingHive doesn’t exclusively target bootcamps when recruiting, but when a position becomes available Liz just lets The Developer Academy know and they will promote the vacancy amongst its graduates.
So it’s a simple step to getting your vacancies in front of bootcamp graduates, but if you’re not doing it, you’re missing out on great potential, as Liz explains:
“You’re missing an opportunity to find really talented people with more enthusiasm than some of those who have been around in the sector for a long time. It’s a huge potential workforce.”
If you would like to take some more proactive steps to engage with The Developer Academy, you can meet students during online engagement events, a good way to introduce your company and find out more about students.
You can also mentor students, offering one hour a week to work with two to three people to help them develop their technical skills and provide useful insight on how to find a job, what will be required of them, and how they can network. This raises your company’s profile, whilst also contributing to the future tech workforce overall.
If you’re interested in either of these opportunities, please email Ben Atha to find out more information.
Returning for a third year, Games Careers Week celebrates diverse pathways into a career in games for young people of all backgrounds, through events, media, diverse developers, and online activities. Organised by The National Videogame Museum (NVM), the week brings together organisations, individuals and educational institutions to showcase excellence and celebrate one of the UK’s fastest growing industries, which has a market worth of over £7 billion. For companies that would like to get involved, the NVM has provided a resource pack showcasing examples of events that you can organise, host or promote. Read on for more details.
Games Careers Week will not only encourage and inspire young people’s passion to enter the industry but will also help parents understand the credibility of a career in games (with nearly 21,000 people employed in the games sector in the UK in 2022 – a 25% increase on the previous year).
For 2023, The NVM alongside partners Into Games, Grads in Games, NextGen Skills Academy and Women In Games, will deliver activities, events and resources throughout the week while encouraging studios and educational institutions to participate with their own activities in this week-long national festival.
What’s happening?The NVM will host a “Why do Videogames Matter?” symposium on 21 June in collaboration with Leeds Trinity University where academics and industry speakers will debate this provocation.
On the 22 and 23 June the NVM will host a careers fair to showcase alternative pathways into the games industry. Students will be invited from high pupil premium schools, SEND and alternative FE providers to explore different careers and take part in STEM based workshops (created by the NVM’s award winning learning team and NextGen Skills Academy). All of this will be available for free with the help of co-sponsors Boneloaf, a Sheffield based indie game studio.
Into Games will organise activities aimed at FE students to help them build confidence in developing their portfolios and ambassadors from Women In Games’ global programme, will create and participate in activities aimed at young people.
How to get involvedAny organisation, school, university or games studio can participate in Games Careers Week to inspire young people, parents and teachers to discover careers in games.
The NVM has provided a resource pack showcasing examples of events that institutions can organise, host or promote. No matter the size of the event, Games Careers Week highlights how a little can go a long way in someone’s life. Studios could host game jams, provide expert talks or studio tours, while educational institutions can take part in online courses or design videogames using Scratch or Twine.
Events will be added to the Games Careers Week website in the weeks leading up to 19 June.
Stacey Jubb, Head of Learning at the NVM says: “Games Careers Week is an opportunity for us to celebrate the fantastic range of careers in the games industry. We are excited to be hosting a two day career fair at the NVM which will showcase alternative pathways into the industry, give students opportunities to take part in workshops, speak to industry professionals and experience our interactive museum. If you are wanting to embark on a career in games but not sure how or where to start, our careers fair is the place to be!”
For more information about Games Careers Week, visit the website: gamescareersweek.org and to find out more about the National Videogame Museum, based here in Sheffield, visit: www.thenvm.org.
This month Sheffield Digital Co-director, Mel Kanarek attended the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) Business Advisory Group to represent the region’s tech sector. Here are some of the main points of interest including an update on the government’s ‘Investment Zones’ (of which South Yorkshire is one), details of a very exciting aerospace start-up coming to Doncaster and information about Northern Gritstone’s vision to create the Sillicon Valley of the North.
Economic updateLewis Adams, Corporate Policy Officer at SYMCA, presented a review of the Spring budget and his key points were:
- Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are now being wound down, however as Sheffield City Region LEP is already well integrated with SYMCA there will be less impact in our region than others.
- South Yorkshire is one of the 12 Investment Zones announced by the government as part of its ‘levelling up’ initiative. Going live in 2024/25, the focus is on supporting businesses to make investment. Whilst the proposed plans for South Yorkshire’s Investment Zone aren’t ready yet, Andy Gates from SYMCA said they would be able to give an update soon.
- The local economic picture is starting to show the impact of uncertainty caused by inflation. This is affecting business decisions around investment and hiring, with unemployment levels creeping up.
- Whilst energy prices are starting to fall, the biggest concern is inflation along with interest and business rates.
- Dan Fell, CEO of Doncaster Chamber, commented “South Yorkshire is badly in need of a win. How do we get the message out to build confidence?” No one had an answer to this, other than to note that it’s a question everyone’s been asking for years. SYMCA’s policy team is exploring areas of growth including digital, advanced manufacturing and culture.
Mel’s take: The Investment Zone opportunity is very interesting and definitely relevant to our sector and the continuing development of South Yorkshire’s digital cluster. The key will be making sure that we are considered within the planning. As soon as we hear more from Andy Gates and his team, I expect we will be asking the Sheffield Digital community for your views – but feel free to get in touch if you have thoughts now.
The issue of “how do we get the message out” is something I’ve been hearing ever since I moved to Sheffield (30+ years ago!). As I see it, the problem is that people get hung up on trying to figure out what the message should be, although we have seen some excellent work by Mark Mobbs and his team at Sheffield City Council. My take on it is quite simple – make a proper investment into marketing expertise and resource for the region because, apart from going to MIPIM, that’s something we’ve never done. We have no shortage of great stories to tell – just no resource for telling them.
Introducing Hybrid Air VehiclesHybrid Air Vehicles is an aerospace start-up that is about to set up their production base in Doncaster. Their product, Airlander, is a modern take on the airship and its technology means it provides a 90% reduction in emissions compared to like-for-like large aircraft. Hybrid Air Vehicles aim to be a replacement for regional aircraft (20-30% of their market) and surface transport (60-70%). They want to have a prototype produced in Doncaster in the air by 2025 and to have aircraft in service by 2027.
The start-up expects to create around 1200 highly skilled, well paid jobs in the region and they want to be an inspiration for the region, particularly for young people.
Tom Grundy, CEO of Hybrid Air Vehicles, spoke at the meeting and explained that the start-up secured £7m as an investment loan from the region. He also said that the region had done a good job of attracting them and creating positive conditions to set up here. The company will bring additional inward investment which they are hoping to have in place by the middle of this year.
Mel’s take: this is a very exciting development and one I can’t believe I’d missed. It is bound to create opportunities for our region’s tech businesses. Tom was interested to hear about Sheffield Digital and said that he would like to understand more about the region’s tech capabilities and how we could support their operation. I’ve made contact and hope we’ll have more information to share before too long.
A presentation from Northern GritstoneThis followed on from Andy Hogben’s presentation at the last SYMCA meeting about The University of Sheffield spin-outs.
Duncan Johnson from Northern Gritstone spoke, sharing these key points:
- Universities in the North of England are very good at research – Leeds, Manchester & Sheffield are world-leading – but the challenge is turning that excellence into world-leading businesses.
- The importance of place – the role of investment in catalysing a whole tech ecosystem in the North; Northern Gritstone wants to create the Silicon Valley of the North.
- Duncan emphasised the need to attract human capital to the region and he described infrastructure as ‘patchy’ across the North, saying that the AMRC is amazing but we need to talk about it more – it’s still a “best kept secret”.
- They have raised £250m so far and will end up at £350-£400m. They have already leveraged 4 times that much with other investors, and have an impressive list of co-investors.
- SYMCA are backing the fund, as are the other Combined Authorities in Manchester & Leeds, plus South Yorkshire pensions.
You can have a look at Duncan’s presentation here.
Mel’s take: Northern Gritstone has already invested in South Yorkshire companies Iceotope and Opteran , and most recently in Phlux. Duncan is absolutely right that having a strong investment offer is a vital part of building a vibrant innovation ecosystem and he also mentioned the importance of community. If you are interested in making connections with any of Northern Gritstone’s companies, let us know and we’ll try to broker introductions.
AOBA quick update on Doncaster airport – they are still fighting to re-open it, there is private sector interest, support from the local authority and a possible use of the compulsory purchase order process. They are creating a fighting fund and a project team.
Share your viewsDo you have questions or feedback about anything covered in this meeting? Is there something you’d like us to raise at the next Business Advisory Group meeting? Please email us on comms@sheffield.digital.
Team SY and the Digital Media Centre (DMC) are bringing together creative minds from across the region to innovate and develop solutions for a more sustainable future. This free three-day event from 19-21 May is open to those who have a GreenTech idea they want to explore further, and to those who want to get involved in a sustainable project.
What to expectTaking place at The Hallam i-Lab in Sheffield, ‘Give it a go GreenTech’ is an opportunity to explore innovative ideas, build disruptive solutions, learn new skills, and connect with like-minded people.
There will be industry expertise and coaching support throughout as you come up with a prototype for your product or service. At the end, you will pitch your ideas to a panel of industry experts, for a chance to go home with a prize.
This is a themed event that focuses on finding new and innovative solutions for problems centered around the 17 UN Sustainable Development goals. These include sustainable cities and communities, climate action, and good health and well-being. Solutions can be technical or non-technical and you’ll build a basic design or Minimal Viable Product in 48 hours.
Give it a go GreenTech is a great chance to find co-founders, team members, and collaborators for your GreenTech initiative or startup, to gain new skills and experience, and to meet experts in sustainability.
Must-know detailsDate: Friday 19 – Sunday 21 May 2023
Location: The Hallam i-Lab Aspect Court (Floor 6) Pond Hill Sheffield S1 2BG
Price: Free
Spaces are limited, for more details and to book click here.
We are excited to announce that Northern Value Creators is the latest company to join Sheffield Digital as an Associate Sponsor. The specialist coaches focus on developing great people skills and showing tech leaders more human-centered ways to lead their teams. They have already worked with a number of Sheffield tech companies and we are looking forward to learning more through regular Q&As, events and Slack discussions – just a few of the ways they’ll be supporting our community.
Northern Value Creators was founded by husband and wife duo, Simon and Amanda Cookson in 2016. They have 20 years’ combined experience of working in tech and education – including managing multi-million-pound digital transformation projects and building the UK’s first digital bank. Along with the many positive experiences, in that time they saw how toxic a work environment can become when leadership isn’t right.
Northern Value Creators was founded in 2016 by husband and wife duo, Simon and Amanda Cookson.
Believing that tech is a great sector to work in, they set out to make it even better by promoting the value of people & leadership skills as equal to technical knowledge.
Now, Northern Value Creators is a team of professionally qualified coaches who work with tech organisations across the north of England and beyond, thanks to the uptake in remote working.
In Sheffield, they have worked with companies such as Hive IT, Tutorful, Evoluted and The University of Sheffield. As the city where they launched, Simon and Amanda’s ‘heart and soul will always be in Sheffield’. That’s why, as they focus their business development towards ‘community and generosity’, they have chosen to become an Associate Sponsor of Sheffield Digital, and to share insight and expertise to help make tech a better place to work.
We are especially pleased to have Northern Value Creators join us just as we embark on Talent23 (T23) – a year of activities to address the talent and skills gap for the region’s tech businesses. The company’s work is so closely aligned with our objective for T23, we are really pleased to have their support, expertise and knowledge to strengthen the campaign.
You can find out more about Northern Value Creators in our brand new Sponsor Spotlight, where Simon and Amanda share more details about their coaching approach and the type of issues they help people in tech to overcome in order to thrive as great leaders. Read now.
Sheffield Digital is working on a plan to make 2023 a “year of talent and skills”, with a focus on activities to help address the talent and skills gap for the region’s tech businesses. We know we can’t fix everything in a year and this needs to be a long-term effort, but we hope that we can work with the Sheffield Digital community to make some positive progress in the short term too.
Ever since we set up Sheffield Digital, and even before then, tech businesses have been telling us they have a problem with talent and skills. This problem has multiple facets, including:
- A mis-match between the skills of people coming into the market and the needs of local businesses.
- A chronic lack of diversity in people coming into the sector.
- Difficulty recruiting mid and senior level talent.
- Education and training options (such as apprenticeships) that are difficult for businesses (especially small and micro ones) to take advantage of.
- No visible pipeline of future talent and no obvious plan for creating that pipeline.
- No clear pathway for people to discover and prepare themselves for careers in digital tech.
We have also found that, when we talk to educational organisations and to policy makers, there is insufficient data about the talent needs of businesses or about the local digital jobs market from both a business and individual perspective.
What can/might we do about this?It’s important to acknowledge that there is already some great work going on. Many businesses are providing work placements and internships, going into classrooms to work with young people, getting involved in shaping courses and providing student projects. Recently, we’ve also seen a few businesses set up their own training initiatives, either in-house or in collaboration with further education. But there is a significant overhead for businesses to do this kind of work and that can make it difficult for smaller organisations to get involved.
Within the ‘Talent23’ (T23) campaign, we would like to focus on a selection of achievable initiatives that will make it easier for businesses to build on their existing activities or get involved for the first time. We want to include as many businesses as possible and help businesses to work together and see that they are part of a wider talent ecosystem in the region. Anything we can do will benefit all of us in the long term, as well as providing more opportunities to more people.
Ideas and how you can get involvedHere is our initial list of ideas and how businesses can get involved. If you’ve got other ideas or suggestions, please let us know by emailing Emma Marshall.
Better data – skills audit and training provision auditYes, this will probably involve another survey, but we feel it’s really important to start collecting some robust data in a way that we can repeat year on year. This will help us to explain what businesses need to education and training providers and policy makers, and will help identify trends and highlight areas to concentrate on. We’ll probably do something similar to Manchester Digital’s Skills Audit, provided we can find a way to keep it simple to run.
Employers’ forumWe get a lot of requests from education for input from businesses, and we expect that businesses get a lot of requests too. To save having to reach out to a new group of people every time and to help create continuity, we would like to set up an Employers’ Forum from our membership made up of people particularly interested in the skills agenda and willing to give time to feed into initiatives, speak to education and training providers etc. Dave Forrester from Siemens (formerly Lightworks) has offered to lead on this, so if you would like to be involved, please get in touch with Dave.
Share best practiseSeeing examples of what other people are doing is a great way to inspire people to take a first step or try something new. We’d like to start collecting and sharing stories about what companies are already doing to address talent issues. We will be reaching out to our members to find out what you are doing but please don’t wait to hear from us. If you have examples you can share, please let us know.
Schools engagementWe want to make it much easier for businesses to help inspire the next generation of talent by engaging with schools in our region. In Sheffield, we plan to work in collaboration with the team at the City Council that runs the See It Be It campaign. Our objective will be to provide a simple way for businesses to find out what schools need, make a connection that is right for them and create experiences that work well for both the business and the students. Once things are running smoothly in Sheffield, we will explore similar connections with the other local authorities in the region.
Help you take the next stepIf every organisation in our membership reached a little bit further down the talent pipeline, it could make a huge difference to the depth of skills that students and graduates enter the jobs market with. So we’ll be running a campaign to encourage businesses to take the next step in engaging with the talent pipeline, and supporting them to do so.
Work with policy makersWe know that policy makers at both the local authority and combined authority levels are interested in digital skills and in supporting the growth of the region’s tech industry. We will continue to foster strong relationships with them so that we can feed in your views and help them to understand our industry and its needs, and so that we can keep you updated on their plans.
What next?T23 will run from March 2023 to March 2024. Our next steps include creating a content plan for the year ahead with input from our partners and Associate Sponsors, and to begin work on the skills and training provision audit.
By the end of our campaign, we hope the legacy of T23 will include a number of initiatives that continue to run, growing the talent ecosystem and continuously providing more opportunities to more people. This success depends on pro-activity from our members, so please don’t hold back in telling us your ideas for T23, and participating in any ways you are able – this is all about paving the way for a strong talent pipeline that will benefit us all.
Women in Digital Innovation (WIDI) is on a mission to grow, empower and support women led digital innovation businesses. At a pilot event in Sheffield on 29 March, the network will provide a space for women in digital innovation, across various disciplines and sectors, to exchange know-how, talk frankly and get help to take the next steps in growing their business. Here are more details about the event from the organisers, Innovate UK KTN.
About the networkWomen in Digital Innovation (WIDI) is working across the Yorkshire, Humber and North East region, to provide an ecosystem of support for women led digital innovation businesses. This ranges from business start up support to investment readiness, and providing a safe space to speak, nurture, and inspire each other.
WIDI was born out of a passion to give women in digital innovation a place to exchange know-how, talk frankly, and get help to find the right knowledge and information to help them take practical steps to building their dream.
About the eventThe Women In Digital Showcase will take place on 29 March at Sheffield United Conference Centre, 09:30-17:00. It will showcase entrepreneurs who have been there and done that, who can offer advice and be an inspiration; celebrating diversity of thought and building connectivity between different regions and industries.
The speaker line-up will feature ‘powerful, unstoppable women’ who will share how they overcame the most difficult obstacles in their personal and professional lives.
Who is this event for?Women, those that identify as women and non binary people that have either started their own digital business, are growing their business or who simply have an idea and want to understand how they can develop it.
You can find more information about the Women in Digital Innovation Showcase and register your place here.
After a successful launch last October, our event for senior leaders in the digital industries is back. Taking place on 22 March at Blend Kitchen, it’s an opportunity for those working in leadership positions to meet and speak with others facing the same challenges and making similar decisions on a day-to-day basis. All over a delicious three course dinner in a great setting! Tickets are selling fast but there are a few spots left for company members (and those who are thinking of joining Sheffield Digital, too).
We created the Senior Leaders Dinners because leaders of our company member organisations told us they wanted a space to reconnect with the community (following the pandemic) and to meet others in similar positions, facing the same issues. Our first dinner was a sell-out and the feedback told us that this type of meetup filled a gap in the events calendar.
So, on 22 March 2023 we are delighted to be opening the doors at Blend Kitchen once again to Sheffield’s senior leaders in the digital industries.
What to expectThis is a unique opportunity to meet other leaders within the region, form friendships, partnerships and collaborations, and to build your network in an informal and friendly environment.
Sheffield Digital has companies of all sizes in our membership so you can expect to meet leaders of large teams and leaders of micro-organisations. There’ll be people who’ve been doing it for years as well as those who are new to this leadership game – perhaps start-up founders or those who are newly promoted.
This means that you can come with questions and you’ll get answers from those who have been there and done it. And if you’ve reached a stage in your career where you’re ready to give back – this is a perfect space to pass on some wisdom and inspire others.
Hosted at Blend Kitchen, you can most definitely expect to feast upon a delicious three course meal. As the place where ‘good food does good’ you’ll also be supporting a brilliant social enterprise with all ticket proceeds going to Blend Kitchen.
The evening is also your chance to hear about our Talent23 campaign which we are officially launching in March, all focused on talent and skills in the digital industries. Directors of Sheffield Digital – business leaders themselves – will be at the dinner and are there to listen to your feedback about our organisation and what you need from your membership right now.
Who is it for?Unsure whether it’s for you? This event is for company decision makers; not just directors or founders, but people who influence policy, lead a team or teams of people, and understand what is happening in the Sheffield tech eco-system. This is a Sheffield Digital Members’ event, however if you are not yet a member but are interested in joining us, this dinner might be a great place to see what it’s like to be a part of the community, so get in touch with us to discuss your place.
The important bitsDate and time: Wednesday 22 March 2023, 18:00-21:00
Place: Blend Kitchen, 197 Ecclesall Road, Sheffield S11 8HW
Ticket price: £27.00
How to book: Please email Emma Marshall to secure your spot.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Pendo arrived in Sheffield in 2019 when the US company acquired product feedback specialists, Receptive. Since then, it has grown the Sheffield team from 10 to almost 50, an upwards trajectory that looks set to continue. We caught up with Hannah Chaplin, who co-founded Receptive and is now the Sheffield Site Lead and Product Marketing Principal for Pendo, and James Charlesworth, Pendo’s Senior Engineering Manager, to find out how the company’s culture and recruitment strategy is underpinning its success.
Pendo is a SaaS company which brings product analytics, in-app guidance and feedback together in one product management platform. More than 8,700 companies use Pendo to provide ‘better software experiences’ to 700 million people every month. Pendo launched their Feedback and Roadmaps products when it acquired Receptive’s product feedback platform.
Now valued at $2.6 billion, Pendo has eight offices around the world and around 900 employees. Sheffield is home to one of the company’s R&D teams including product managers and designers, and front-end and back-end engineers.
Rapidly transitioning from a 10-person start-up to being part of a global scale-up sounds challenging, but Hannah is pleased with the way that the two cultures have come together. She explains,
“I feel like we have retained a lot of what made Receptive a good place to work. One of the things I really liked about Pendo was how their culture was similar to ours. We both believed in putting the customer first and within the office, we both had a strong culture of respect, trust and supporting each other to achieve great things.”
Pendo’s Sheffield office is one of only two in the UK (the second is in London) but the team have felt included and valued as part of the global team from the start. Hannah says,
“Pendo is very invested in the Sheffield team and they have given us all so many amazing opportunities. We never feel forgotten or separate from the head office due to regular visits and plenty of Zoom calls.
“One of Pendo’s co-founders, Rahul Jain, is the General Manager of the Feedback product and we have worked together since the very start – he sent me the original LinkedIn message back in September 2018! The support from the business and being so connected to a co-founder has proved to be a winning combination.”
James credits the culture at Pendo – its approach to ‘treating people as humans, not numbers’ – as one of the key reasons behind the company’s high staff retention rates. Pendo takes diversity and inclusion seriously and has various ‘Affinity Groups’ for employees, as well as hosting global wellness days for the team. James comments,
“We work in a creative industry and if you want to get the most out of creative people, then you have to treat them as human beings, not like a production line.
“You have to give your employees freedom and just show that you care about these people and respect their lives outside of work. Then you get the most out of them. It’s actually a very practical business decision more than anything, but it works so well.”
Employees are also given structured career frameworks to show them how they can progress in the company. The different routes offered at Pendo take into account the different personality types of people doing similar roles, as James explains:
“I’m on a Manager Ladder, so now I’m a senior engineering manager and I have a whole career mapped out ahead of me which is very predictable, with things to work towards.
“Engineers can be on the management track or the IC Track (the Individual Contributor Track), and that’s really good because it means that software engineers don’t have to be promoted to managers in order to progress in their careers. I’ve been at some places where you feel like you have to go from being a senior engineer and then a manager, and that’s the only next step. But it’s not for everyone. Pendo is not like that, and I think that comes from a more global perspective.”
According to James, Pendo firmly believes in Sheffield’s tech talent and sees the city as a great place to find high quality product managers and software engineers. Given that the team in Sheffield has grown from 10 to almost 50 employees in less than four years, Pendo is obviously doing something right to find and attract these talented people.
James is very heavily involved in recruitment and he describes Pendo’s strategy as ‘growing people for the long term, not for short term wins.’ What this means in practical terms is hiring at entry level, often straight out of university (including internships) and being prepared to invest in people and their training.
“If I’m hiring software engineers, I don’t consider the programming language somebody knows as a factor, because if somebody’s smart and you’re prepared to invest in them, then we can teach them the programming languages we use. If we hire smart engineers and we give them enough time, they will learn with us and then that will pay off in the future.” James explains, adding:
“We’re not in it for quick wins. Our recruitment strategy has really just been showing people what Pendo can offer. We have a lot of people that have been to uni in Sheffield and want to stay, so we give them a reason to stay.”
James is a mentor on the Sheffield Digital Mentoring scheme. Based on his own experiences, he wants to help more people into the tech industries, showing them the possibilities that exist.
“I strongly believe that so many people are capable of being things like software engineers or product designers, if they’re just given the opportunities and they’re reinforced with the belief they can do it. I’m largely self taught as a software engineer, I did an engineering degree, but I’ve taught myself all the coding that I know now. I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I didn’t have people telling me I can do it, showing me the path and encouraging me to get into it.
He adds,
“We have software engineers here that didn’t go to university and they’re some of the best engineers that I’ve worked with. So I know there are people out there who just need some guidance and they can create great careers for themselves in the tech industries.”
As someone who studied in Sheffield, left to work in London, and then came back again, James understands the benefits of living and working in the UK’s ‘largest village’. This was another reason for him to become a mentor. He says,
“It’s a very people-focused tech scene, everyone knows who everyone is. And that’s not true of places like London; you won’t see the same people twice even if you go to the same sort of events. I know the names of so many people from the Sheffield Digital Slack that if I bumped into them in the street, I’ll say hello. There’s a real community here where people help each other out.
“I know that at some point, the people I mentor now…. our paths will cross again. It could be next year, or it could be in five years time. If I was in London, I’d never see them again!”
We’re excited to see Pendo’s continued growth in Sheffield. If you’re currently studying at university and are interested in joining Pendo, check out their Sheffield-based internships either in Product Design, or Product Management.
You can find out more about Pendo on the website: pendo.io and stay up to date with them on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Sheffield Digital is now a member of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) Business Advisory Group and our Co-director, Chris Dymond attended a meeting earlier this month. Read on to see what was covered, including the regional economic update and information about spinout companies from The University of Sheffield, a proposed high tech food growing hub, the Business Resilience Strategy and an inclusive recruitment campaign. We’ve provided you with a brief overview of each topic with Chris’s comments, and relevant links and contact details where we have them, so you can find out more.
Economic UpdateDelivered by Lewis Adams, Corporate Policy Officer at SYMCA, this update covered the Prime Minister’s new year pledges, employment and the labour market, energy, inflation, exchange rates, interest rates, economic growth, industry and business, and consumption. Lewis’s key takeaways were:
- Inflation seems to have peaked
- South Yorkshire’s labour markets continue to tighten…
- …But prospects look good for jobseekers
- Businesses are less confident.
If you’d like to find out more on the topics covered in Lewis’s presentation, take a look at SYMCA’s Data and Intelligence Hub where you can access local economic data relating to South Yorkshire.
Chris’ take: Given that we work in a very high productivity industry, these figures are also a measure of how much more headroom there is for digitisation, upskilling and new tech business growth across the region.
Spinouts from The University of Sheffield (TUoS)Andrew Hogben, Head of Impact and IP at TUoS, explained how funding and a change of policy in 2017 helped the University to increase IP-commercialisation, with TUoS now creating approximately seven spinouts every year. He also spoke about Northern Gritstone – a collaboration between the Universities of Sheffield, Manchester and Leeds which invests in IP-rich, fast growth businesses in the North of England (the majority of which will be university spinouts).
Andrew’s focus is now on keeping these spinouts in Sheffield and integrating them into the local ecosystem. Since the meeting, Chris has arranged a meeting with Andrew to discuss how Sheffield Digital can help.
You can see Andrew’s presentation here.
Chris’ take: This is great progress from TUoS and Northern Gritstone, and we’re looking forward to helping them integrate their spinouts and startups into the local community, business support infrastructure and wider talent pool, as well as introducing them to new early stage startups.
Preparing for business resilience support for South Yorkshire businessesMaz Mumtaz from SYMCA spoke about developing a specific strategy for business support agencies to assist their clients/members in the difficult economic climate. Maz referred to the most pressing challenges that are affecting businesses now, including rising energy costs, increased borrowing costs and recruitment challenges. He also presented a comprehensive list of potential interventions that could be deployed by business support agencies, and asked for feedback.
The interventions include an energy brokerage service to help businesses find alternative and more competitive suppliers, better promotion of local/national supply chains to help companies that are struggling with international suppliers, a business resilience coaching programme for business owners/leaders, and business planning and strategy support.
We intend to work with Maz to provide a way for our membership to see the proposals and express their views, before the next meeting.
Chris’ take: There are a lot of potential interventions in the proposal, but we need to open up the review and see which ones are most relevant to businesses in the digital sector.
The FeedAMillion food growing hubMartin Howarth, Professor of Food Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University and Director for the National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering, introduced the proposed high tech food growing factory in Sheffield. The ‘FeedAMillion’ food growing hub will help to generate new food supplies and improve nutrition locally through the use of new technology and vertical farming in Sheffield. In Martin’s presentation, he explained that the impact of poor diet and unhealthy weight in Sheffield is far-reaching, contributing to the development of chronic ill health and economic inactivity. The proposed vertical farming campus is designed to grow healthy food using local renewable energy sources and Sheffield based technology, so there’s likely to be some great opportunities available for our community.
You can email Martin on m.howarth@shu.ac.uk if you’d like to know more and we’ve asked for more information about the potential to get involved and collaborate on this project, which we’ll share with you.
Chris’ take: This is a very exciting initiative and it’s impressive to see such a major consequence of the investment that SHU has made in the National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering, and the potential it has for positioning the region at the forefront of industrial-scale vertical farming, which I think will be a major industry in the 21st century. Please get in touch with Martin to see if there’s an opportunity to get your business involved if you have relevant skills, investment or technology to offer!
Inclusive RecruitmentCaroline McConnel from Business in the Community shared their Inclusive Recruitment campaign ‘Opening Doors’, designed to promote and improve access to disadvantaged groups, helping to ‘unlock untapped talent’. This includes disabled people, refugees, black, Asian, mixed race and other ethnically diverse people, and younger and older people. Caroline also provided a number of links to useful resources, which could help you to be more inclusive in your recruitment:
The Opening Doors campaign: www.bitc.org.uk/openingdoors
The Race at Work Charter: www.bitc.org.uk/race-at-work-charter-signatories
Unlocking the labour market crisis – talent across the generations (this is a recorded workshop): www.scci.org.uk/about/toolkits-resources/age-friendly-employer-workshop
Chris’ take: It’s great to see these resources in one place! We didn’t know this existed, but really want to promote it to our community and I’d like to be able to offer back some best practices for inclusive design and recruitment from our own industry, please get in touch if you’d like to help with that!
Share your viewsDo you have questions or feedback about anything covered in this meeting? Is there something you’d like us to raise at the next Business Advisory Group meeting? Please email us on info@sheffield.digital.
Last autumn, Mina announced that it had become B Corporation (B Corp) certified. The global B Corp movement sets a standard for businesses who want to ‘do good’ through their actions towards the environment, their employees and the impact they make in their local community. In this interview with Mina Co-Founder and Managing Director, Chris Dalrymple, he tells us about the process, why it took longer than expected to achieve certification, how its impact is already being felt, and he offers advice to other businesses that are considering becoming a B Corp. This is an abridged version of the interview with Chris, you can hear it in full on Episode 75 of the Sheffield Digital podcast.
For anyone who hasn’t come across your company before, please can you give us a quick reminder about what Mina does?Chris Dalrymple, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Mina
Mina’s co-founders came together to solve a problem: as a lot of businesses migrate to electric vehicles at scale, how do they pay for the charging of those vehicles? So, we’re a B2B SAAS start-up that basically makes it really easy for businesses to manage payment for charging electric vehicles, especially at drivers’ homes, or in public.
Last autumn, Mina became B Corporation Certified (or B Corp for short). For anyone who hasn’t heard this, can you explain what it means?B Corp is a certification managed by B Lab, to show that a business is balancing purpose and profit. It doesn’t mean we’re a non-profit or a charity; we’re a business, we want to grow, we want to make profit, and that’s not a dirty word. But we also want to balance that with a sense of purpose.
Loosely, it’s around environmental purpose and that is core to us, given the type of product that we have. It’s about people and the workforce as well, and it’s about community and the local economy, and the positive impact that you might have locally.
It works like a scorecard, a set of self-certification questions and you have to hit a certain score to qualify – I think it’s 80 – from around 200 questions. Providing you do, and you can evidence this, you get the B Corp certification, joining a list of lots of other businesses globally, like Patagonia, Innocent Smoothies and other famous brands who are all part of that same movement.
What inspired your company’s decision to apply to become certified?Mina was an opportunity to do things as I’d wanted to do for a while; things around the culture of the organisation, the ways of working, the trust that we put in our team members and how much we empower our team.
As we started to talk about culture a little more and what kind of business we want to have, I started to research B Corp. I’m quite a data-driven person; I like numbers and dashboards and KPIS. I suppose this was a way of taking something fairly intangible – the idea of being a good business – and making it quite data driven and giving us focus on the right things. As I started to talk about it internally with team members, people were quite excited about it, so we decided to take the plunge.
How long did this process take from start to finish?From thinking we should do it to actually getting the certification, it was probably two years. It was a pretty intense process! Not that you’re continually working on it for that period, but there’s a process of going through different bits of the certification, submitting it and waiting for an analyst. So there’s a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. But yeah, it was end-to-end two years, so it’s not something to take lightly.
Did you expect it to take that long?We thought it’d be a few months but to be fair, I got the sense that we were one of quite a few businesses trying to do it at the same time, and they have limited resources in terms of analysts. So I feel like we applied at a busy period but they do give you an idea as to how long it will take on the website, so it’s worth checking that out.
Can you tell us what the main steps involved in the application process are?You don’t have to pay any money at the beginning or commit to anything in the short term. You fill in an impact assessment which is roughly 200 questions tailored to your business type and size across lots of different areas of the business. You have to score more than the 80 point threshold, and you have to make a legal commitment, so you have to amend your Articles of Association as a business to say that you’re balancing profit and purpose.
You submit all this for assessment and you’re then assigned an analyst (this is the bit for us that took quite a long time). They will ask you to upload proof in each of the key areas, but only one or two questions in each. That might be a policy on parental leave, for example. They might knock your score down slightly based on what they see. So I think we went from 98 points to 96 points, but providing you’re over 80 points, you pay your fee and that’s it, you’re certified as a B Corp.
You have to recertify every three years and at the end of each year, they encourage you to create an impact report. So it’s not one of those things where you get the badge and you leave it there. You keep on top of things beyond that initial certification, but this is good. It’s really important that the standards are high.
You’ve said on your website that becoming a B-Corp represents your commitment to goals outside of shareholder profit. Can you tell me a bit more about these goals, and how this certification aligns with Mina’s mission?Our vision is zero emissions from road transport and our mission is about the part we play within that, by having a strong product that ultimately encourages businesses to add more electric vehicles to their fleet, meaning we can actually get more diesel and petrol vehicles off the road, because it’s easier to make that conversion. So there’s a really strong alignment with our vision and mission and being a B Corp.
Also, one of our values is care and it might sound generic or wishy washy but we take it really seriously. We care a lot for the community and for the people who work for the business, and we support and help them to grow. We don’t take them for granted. We have a really flexible working environment, people can work from wherever they want and we have flexibility on working hours. I’ve got kids myself, so I know the pain of school runs and after school activities and having work sit around that is really important.
Signing up to be a B Corp just brings these things a bit more front of mind and it raises the bar for things that we should be doing as an employer, and as a local business. It’s to have that alignment, and a balance with making profit; because we don’t exist without making money.
Since becoming certified, have you felt the impact on any areas of the business?The pride of the people that people work for us. I think people want to be in businesses that do good, so it’s a nice stamp to really show that’s the case. I think it helps focus as well. If you’re joining a B Corp then you know that these things are important, so hopefully it has an impact on your day-to-day decisions because you know you’re part of a business that is very clear about its aims and goals.
From a recruitment point of view it makes quite a big difference. Some of the early employees said the fact that we were going through the B Corp process was quite a significant reason for them joining the business.
And I think generally in terms of the brand and our reputation, it’s been enhanced by the fact we have become a B Corp. We’re working with some big businesses in the UK like Openreach, OVO and Coca Cola, and considering how ethical a supplier is – it’s increasingly becoming part of the decision making process for companies.
How do you make sure that being a B-Corp is something that remains integral to the business, as opposed to just throughout the application process? How is Mina managing that?It’s a good question. You’ve got to keep pushing these things. The certification is designed to stop you leaving it to one side because you have to recertify and you are meant to upload a yearly impact report.
Our challenge is going to be making sure that it’s reflected in all our policies and in things like our KPI reporting and our board updates. Generally when we’re talking about the progress of the business, we need to keep in mind those metrics that reflect those B Corp sensibilities.
We report regularly on a fairly wide-ranging team survey covering mental health, flexible working, job satisfaction and those kinds of things. We talk about those numbers regularly, and we make sure that we’re scoring highly and we address those things where there’s maybe a drop in scores. So I think it’s about extending this to make sure the environmental factors are also reflected.
Something I would recommend to other businesses is during the certification process we did have someone – Ruky – responsible for being the point person and making sure things were progressing. I think that’s pretty essential in the run up to getting your certification, you need one person who is responsible for it.
After you have it though, it needs to sit with your founders. It just doesn’t stick unless it’s believed in from the very top of the business.
If another company is reading this and thinks that becoming a B-Corp is something they’d like to achieve in 2023, what are the first steps they should be taking?Have your point person. I think that’s really key, somebody who carries it throughout and is responsible for making sure that it progresses.
You can test the water with this process by signing up and going through some questions to see where you are now. You don’t have to pay anything and you don’t have to submit anything straight away, so you can just sound out what B Corp is asking you to do. It’s not a quick process, it might take you an hour to go through that first time, but it’s a really good way of understanding whether it’s for you.
I wouldn’t necessarily say becoming a B Corp is easy, but with a concerted effort, you know you can be a business that balances profit and purpose, it doesn’t have to be one or the other.
We’re really happy to answer questions, either myself or Ruky who did a lot of the work for us, so please feel free to get in touch either through the website or you can find us on the Sheffield Digital Slack channel.
Useful linksListen to this interview in full on Episode 75 of the Sheffield Digital podcast:
To read more about the global B Corp movement, visit the website: www.bcorporation.net/en-us/
To undertake the initial free assessment that Chris refers to (the B Impact Assessment), go to: https://bcorporation.uk/b-corp-certification/how-to-certify-as-a-b-corp/bia-overview/
To find out more about Mina, visit the company’s website: https://www.mina.co.uk/ and follow Mina on Twitter for the latest company updates: https://twitter.com/EV_mina
The Sheffield & South Yorkshire Incubator & Accelerator Network (SIAN) has launched a new platform to help entrepreneurs and start-ups find co-founders. The Network wants to increase opportunities for businesses and individuals to meet and join the region’s thriving start-up scene. Now live in BETA, you are invited to take a look around the SY Co-Founders platform and offer feedback to help the team make improvements.
The SIAN is a region-wide network of incubators, accelerator programmes, investors and local authorities working together to make South Yorkshire an accessible, thriving economy.
A big challenge for any startup is finding the right founders to work with on a new venture, and members of the SIAN are reporting that this is a particular issue in our region.
The South Yorkshire Co-founder platform has been developed to address this. Local entrepreneurs and businesses can post opportunities for interested individuals to join them as a co-founder. Individuals can also post a bio of their skill sets, experience, availability and equity/remuneration expectations.
Once registered, businesses can see the individuals and vice versa.
To try this out, head to www.sycofounder.com. The SIAN team would love to hear your feedback on the platform, particularly on any issues you experience so they can continue to make improvements. Please email hello@sheffieldincubatoraccelerator.network to share your thoughts.
Sheffield Digital has joined the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) Business Advisory Group. We will represent the tech sector in discussions about issues that are important to the region’s economy. Group members are asked to share intelligence which informs the delivery of the region’s Strategic Economic Plan and Renewal Action Plan, so we will be engaging with you to ensure your voices are heard and we will feed back regularly about what is discussed.
Chris Dymond, Director of Sheffield Digital, is our representative on the Business Advisory Group, and will attend meetings every eight weeks. Other group member organisations include the region’s Chambers of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses, MakeUK, the CBI, SY Community Foundation, the trade unions, Sheffield Property Association, the Cutler’s Company and representatives from the third sector.
Members will inform, assist and enhance the work of the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and the Mayoral Combined Authority (formally known as the Sheffield City Region) by providing in-depth and specialist business intelligence.
Through our involvement, we will make sure that the digital industries – and the wide range of businesses working in them – are heard and considered in the delivery of the Strategic Economic Plan and Renewal Action Plan. This includes areas such as business growth, skills programmes and investments in digital and physical infrastructure.
How will we involve you?To be your voice at this level, we will offer two-way communication between our membership and the Business Advisory Group. After each bi-monthly meeting, we will feed back to you the areas that were discussed with particular attention to things that directly affect the sector, and we will let you know what we contributed.
Using channels including Slack, a dedicated newsletter for senior leaders of our company members and direct communication we will ask for your input, to help us influence the Group’s discussions.
If you are a senior leader and a company member of Sheffield Digital (or would like to be) and don’t want to miss out on our updates or the chance to have your say, please contact emma@sheffield.digital so that we can add you to the relevant mailing list.
Since launching our Mentoring Scheme back in March 2021, we’ve matched 24 participants and now have 16 mentors available to work with new applicants. As we reach the end of the year, it’s a good time to consider how things are going and what we can improve on next year. Sarah Lister, who manages the scheme, shares some of the feedback she’s had, the changes we are making and what we need from you, whether you’re already on the scheme or thinking about getting involved.
Sarah Lister manages the mentoring scheme
Over the past year I’ve been working closely with mentors and mentees to make sure they feel supported in their roles, to answer questions, and to stay informed about how things are going with our matches. It’s been great to receive positive feedback and suggestions for improvement, which we’re putting in place in 2023.
FeedbackJames Charlesworth, mentor, told us:
“The Sheffield Digital mentorship scheme has been extremely valuable and fun. As a mentor on the scheme, I have really loved meeting up with and helping people who are just starting out in their career in tech.
“Being faced with the insightful opinions and questions of mentees has made me reflect on my own role, and my own growth as an engineering manager. The tech industry is like no other, and interviewing for a job in software development or associated discipline is truly unique so I’m glad I’ve managed to point a few people in the right direction and help them out.
“Hearing that someone I mentored has landed their first job as a software engineer is such a rewarding feeling, and I am incredibly emotionally invested in the success of everybody I’ve met through the mentorship scheme!”
One of our mentees said:
“It’s a great opportunity that the mentorship provides and access to an experienced professional is so valuable when you are looking at the industry from the outside in. I’m very grateful that I was able to use the service and grateful for the time offered.”
Changes we are makingMentors have been asking for more guidance, resources, and opportunities to meet each other. I’m responding to this by putting together in-person guidance sessions so that mentors can understand how I’m running the scheme and what to do if any issues arise. The first of these will take place on Wednesday 25 January 2023, 12-1pm at the Sheffield Technology Parks, and you book a spot here.
This will also be an opportunity to ask questions and to meet other mentors. I hope that it will provide clarity about the scheme, encourage more people to participate, and add value to the experience. If there is enough interest, I’ll also be introducing an in-person meetup for mentors to offer each other peer support, to discuss challenges and to network.
There will be social events for mentees to meet other people in our individual membership community who are changing careers or learning new skills, for example. Individual members who are thinking about joining the scheme will also be able to attend so that they can find out more about it by asking questions and listening to others’ experiences.
I’ve decided to extend participation in the scheme to twelve months instead of the original six months, as most participants have been working together for longer due to holidays and other commitments.
There will of course always be the option to drop out sooner, so don’t be put off if you don’t think you can commit to 12 months at the outset. There is plenty of flexibility, I just ask for clear communication for things to run as smoothly as possible.
What we need* More mentors to sign up, particularly people with leadership skills and business owners with experience of generating new leads. The minimum commitment is one hour per month with your mentee, either in-person or online. You don’t have to be a Sheffield Digital member to join. Read our guidance for mentors here. * More mentees to sign up as we have an extremely talented pool of mentors who are waiting to volunteer their time towards supporting you. You need to be an individual member to join the scheme, which costs £5 per month and includes other community benefits. Read our guidance for mentees here and you can find information on joining membership here. * A monthly commitment from both mentors and mentees so that the scheme runs smoothly and effectively. Gaps are sometimes unavoidable, but regular contact can really help with momentum and motivation. This is working better now that I send out regular emails to both mentors and mentees asking how things are going, but sometimes I don’t receive a response. * Clear and complete sign-up forms to help me with matching mentees to suitable mentors. The more information that I have, the better the matches will be. Please take your time and consider what you will most value by taking part.
Whether you’re looking for a new challenge in 2023 and think you’ve got something to offer as a mentor, or you’d like the kind of support and guidance a mentor can offer, why not get on board with the scheme next year? You can sign up as a mentor here, and as a mentee here. If you have any questions about the scheme, please email me: sarah@sheffield.digital.
Earlier this year the Home Office launched three new visa routes to support immigration and to help UK businesses grow. The Scale-up Route, launched in August 2022, is designed to offer more flexibility to tech scale-ups that want to recruit workers from overseas. We’ve gathered some of the key details from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and employment law specialists at both BRM Solicitors and Bhayani Law have given us some expert opinion on the advantages and potential pitfalls of the Scale-up Route.
The Scale-up Route – who is it for?This route can be used by UK businesses that hold a Scale-up sponsor licence. To qualify for a licence the DCMS says a business must “meet the published definition of a scaleup, which can be verified through checks with HMRC”. You can check the criteria on pages 10-11 of this document.
Whilst the new route does look to be a good way for rapidly growing tech businesses to attract and recruit international talent, some small businesses may be disappointed. Georgia Jeonney, Trainee Solicitor at BRM Solicitors, explains,
“The scale up route has been introduced as an alternative to the usual skilled-worker route, with the added benefit of there being no immigration skills charge and a streamlined application process.
“There are however concerns that many businesses, particularly start-ups and others who may have looked to take advantage of the Scale-up Route, will not meet the definition of a scale-up business as they will need to show that they have achieved growth of 20% or more for the last three years and have at least 10 employees at the start of the 3-year period.”
More flexibility but a warning to employersIndividual visa holders must be employed by a qualifying Scale-up sponsor company for six months in a graduate level role with a minimum salary of £33k.
After this six month period, the visa holder is able to move roles either within the same company, or they can move to a new company, with or without a Scale-up sponsor licence.
This is a big advantage to employees, who are not bound to a particular role or company beyond six months. It can also be of benefit to the employer, as they can move a talented individual into different parts of the business. However, it might also be a pitfall of the new route, as Lindsey Gaimster, Director & Head of Employment Law at Bhayani Law explains,
“A key difference to other sponsorship routes is that after six months the employee is free to move to a new role within the existing company or find work elsewhere. This gives increased flexibility for the employer but also means they may face more competition to retain the talent they have invested in.
“Well drafted contractual provisions for notice periods and post-employment restrictions will be essential for employers looking to protect their businesses.”
The right route?The DCMS has acknowledged the difficulties our sector has had in navigating the immigration system, and has published a customer journey map to help guide you through the different options, and find the right route for you.
The flexibility that the Scale-up Route offers to visa holders and to employers will hopefully give Sheffield’s growing tech businesses a boost by attracting more talented international workers to our city.
In line with what our employment law experts have advised, we recommend getting to grips with the criteria first to make sure you can qualify as a Scale-up sponsor. Keep that six-month clause in mind when planning the role and remember, whilst there’s a risk you could lose the employee when this time is up, the new route also means there will be more visa holders in the market looking for new roles once they’ve completed their initial six-month commitment elsewhere.
More information about the immigration routes can be found on GOV.UK and you can get in touch with James Usmar (james.usmar@dcms.gov.uk) or Ruphina Ochanda (ruphina.ochanda@dcms.gov.uk) if you have questions and/or concerns.
On Thursday 24 November, I attended the inaugural South Yorkshire Tech Summit, organised by The Seam (Barnsley’s digital campus) and held in the new Cinemax at the Glass Works in Barnsley. The event had an interesting mix of content and included the launch of a new Tech Welcome Grant in the region and a report on the South Yorkshire Tech 100.
The event opened with a short address from Oliver Coppard, the South Yorkshire Mayor. We know that Oliver is pro tech and digital and understands its potential in the region, and this was echoed in his remarks. He closed by saying, “This is South Yorkshire’s first Tech Summit but it will not be our last. If we get it right today, our city region can lead the next revolution as it did the ones that came before.”
Putting aside the fact that every region in the UK would like to claim to be “leading the tech revolution”, this gave an indication of what I think the event was actually about: what is South Yorkshire doing to “get it right” and what else needs to be done?
The first area of focus was a discussion of the importance of improving inclusivity and diversity in tech entrepreneurship, in the form of a conversation between Emma Obanye and Alison Partridge. Emma is managing director of OneTech, which is a semi autonomous organisation within Capital Enterprise that connects under-served founders to opportunities in the UK tech and digital start-up ecosystem. Alison, who helped set up OneTech, is a consultant who specialises in inclusive enterprise, entrepreneurship and economic development in European and UK cities and regions. They shared their own experiences as well as their observations on the benefits and challenges of developing a more diverse ecosystem.
Next, I joined a panel discussion on “the regional tech ecosystem”, chaired by Emma Obanye. My fellow panelists were Laura Bennett, one of TEAM SY’s ‘super-connectors’; Tanya Suárez, CEO of IoT Tribe; Tero Kyckling, a senior advisor from Business Tampere in Finland (Tampere has an international reputation for its thriving tech and start-up scene) and Alison Partridge. We had a wide-ranging conversation, each bringing our own perspective to what makes a strong regional ecosystem, how we saw the current situation in South Yorkshire and what else needed to happen.
We then heard about the new Tech Welcome grant which is designed to attract more start-ups to South Yorkshire. The Tech Welcome Grant is a South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) funded initiative, which will provide grants of £5k to £10k to businesses new to South Yorkshire and start-ups from outside the area to relocate here and create jobs in the region. It is a trial project which will combine with the start-up support available through TEAM SY and the variety of start-up accommodation available across the region.
Continuing on the start-up theme, Darren Balcombe, Deputy CEO of Capital Enterprise, presented the key findings of TEAM SY’s South Yorkshire Tech 100 report. Based on data from Beauhurst, the report shows that the region’s tech start-ups secured equity funding totalling more than £52.6m in the first ten months of 2022. This is 42 per cent more than in all of 2021 (£37m) and 129 per cent up on the £23m recorded in 2019, when Beauhurst started tracking investment activity in the region. While this is encouraging news, Darren said, “There is a lot to be proud of in South Yorkshire’s tech economy, but plenty of work to do to turn its emerging start-up scene into a strong, self-sustaining engine of innovation and growth. South Yorkshire is home to several market-leading tech companies and thousands of start-ups that need investment to scale and create new jobs faster.”
The report takes a broad view of tech, including bio-tech, health technologies and industrial and manufacturing tech as well as digital. It also takes a broad view of the term “start-up” as it covers companies founded since 2000, many of whom would be better described as scale-ups and beyond. But it does do an interesting job of highlighting the size and variety of South Yorkshire’s technology industry and of positioning the region as somewhere credible to build a tech business.
Next, Ceri Batchelder, another of TEAM SY’s super-connectors, hosted a series of interviews and videos spotlighting some of the start-ups currently participating in TEAM SY programmes. You can see a brief film about some of them here.
Finally, and picking up nicely on Darren’s comment about the need for investment, the keynote speaker was Gary Stewart, managing director of Techstars NYC powered by J.P. Morgan. Gary is the former CEO of Wayra UK (an early-stage corporate fund and accelerator powered by Telefonica/O2) and has worked with numerous partners to “democratise entrepreneurship” in the UK. Gary took us through a whirlwind set of slides to describe his lessons learned from “levelling up” entrepreneurship across the UK and the world. My take away from Gary’s talk was that the most important thing for any entrepreneur and any region looking to build a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem is . . . money. If initiatives and programmes aren’t backed up by investment, they won’t work.
Which brings me to my overall thoughts about the event and our regional tech start-up ecosystem. The event was an enjoyable and occasionally thought-provoking celebration of the progress that is being made and the people who are behind it. However, it left me wondering, “What’s next?”.
One of the concerns I raised during the panel discussion was about what would happen when the current funding for TEAM SY finishes. A great deal of the success of TEAM SY’s many programmes is down to the hard work of the people involved in delivering the accelerators and connecting the participants into the regional ecosystem. If all those people end up out of a job, who will maintain the ecosystem and keep the connections flowing? Who will make sure that the start-ups who come here continue to be supported and therefore want to stay? It is not just the entrepreneurs who need investment; the ecosystem does too.
My second concern is around the thing that I think start-ups need just as much as investment: skills and talent. All of these exciting new tech businesses that are coming to the region to take advantage of the support available, need talented people to work in them. The competition for talent is only going to increase and I feel that our region still lacks a coherent, long-term plan for addressing the skills challenge and ensuring that opportunities are open and accessible to as many local people as possible.
It will be interesting to see if the Summit happens again and, until then, what progress is made on the ideas that were discussed. But it was good to see people getting together to hear about South Yorkshire’s tech start-up ecosystem and to recognise the amazing work that has been done so far. I’ll add my own recognition to that, with applause for the indomitable Tracey Johnson in Barnsley and TEAM SY’s team of super-connectors and accelerator supporters: Laura Bennett, Ceri Batchelder, Samantha Deakin Hill and Pippa Hedley-Takhar.
Sarah Lister joined the Sheffield Women in Tech (ShfWIT) ops team this year to help amplify their purpose and to support their community through the Sheffield Digital communication channels. She recently attended her first in-person ShfWIT event, The Founder’s Journey, which shone a spotlight on female founders in the city. In this post, Sarah gives us an overview of each speaker and tells us more about the event and ShfWIT, which is looking for new volunteers to join the team.
Just 4% of UK tech startup founders are women and under 17% of all active companies are led by women. The Founder’s Journey event set out to shine a spotlight on female tech founders in Sheffield, to inspire those who are considering their own venture, and to provide honest insight into the highs and lows of the founder’s journey. Three courageous women shared their unique and relatable experiences, then joined a panel to respond to questions from the audience. Here are my highlights from a superb event warmly hosted by Anna Bollinger, Founder and Director of international award-winning digital agency Appt.
Dash Tabor, Founder & CEO of TUBRDash’s key messages were about celebrating your wins and understanding your why. She explained that the ‘why’ behind her becoming a founder has changed over time, but that ultimately she wants to build a better life and support her mum in the future. I think this is a grounding reminder for anyone working towards something they care about, because sometimes the day to day challenges can obscure the bigger picture.
I really appreciated Dash’s openness with her audience. She didn’t cover up the challenging realities of being a woman working in tech and of starting up a business. It was refreshing to hear about the hardships and how she’s learned to be comfortable with ‘no’ and sometimes being the only woman in the room. It’s admirable that she has chosen to take the hard way forward, and she is proving that she can do it.
We’ve recently published a Company Spotlight on TUBR, where you’ll find out more about Dash and what the company does. Read now.
Anna Parkin, Managing Director at Kids Plant Trees As a fellow nature-lover, I was really excited to hear Anna’s story about starting a social enterprise to help more kids find joy in their local green spaces by planting trees and developing a positive relationship with nature.
The key takeaway for me was that if you care deeply about something, then you have to take action to feel less helpless. It’s such an empowering message! I enjoyed hearing about how she is taking positive action in her work, alongside raising three children with her husband and following on from a different career path in journalism and content strategy.
Anna’s talk left me thinking about how I can take action towards the things that matter to me through a positive community approach, and about the parallels between planting trees and starting a business or social enterprise – primarily that they need good foundations.
Elizabeth Shassere, Founder & CEO of TextocracyElizabeth’s main theme was about saying yes to new opportunities: “Just start, just ask, just turn up.” She shared her remarkable journey towards becoming an entrepreneur after 20 years of working in the public sector.
Elizabeth demonstrated that you don’t have to be a ‘techie’ to be an entrepreneur, because you can find other people to work with you on your idea. Her openness and courage to share ideas at pitch and startup events in Sheffield, eventually led to the creation of her business, Textocracy.
This talk highlighted the exciting opportunities available in Sheffield, the fun side of becoming an entrepreneur, and a strong message that you don’t have to do it all on your own.
Finances, funding, and finding balanceEmma Marshall from the ShfWIT ops team and host Anna Bollinger joined the panel of speakers for a lively 30 minutes of questions from the audience. Questions ranged from asking about business finances and funding, to how the panelists find balance in their busy lives.
The energy in the room was warm, welcoming, and open from start to finish, the perfect recipe for people to connect in meaningful ways.
Like the sound of this?Do you like what ShfWIT are doing? Could you help make it even better? They are looking to expand their team of volunteers and there are lots of ways in which you can help, be it running events, tech skills or supporting and sharing their message. Everyone is welcome to help and they would particularly love to hear from people from underrepresented communities in tech. Please email shfwit@gmail.com for more information or to put yourself forward to join the ops team. You can find out more about Sheffield Women in Tech here.
Verticode exists to help start-ups and innovators get their Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) to market at a fraction of the cost and far quicker than traditional methods. Co-founders Sam Crosher and Tom Green have used smart tooling to make the process more accessible, creating an end-to-end solution for planning, building and iterating on MVPs. Since launching in August 2022, Verticode’s Sheffield-built solutions are enabling innovation and helping bring ideas to life, across a range of different industries. We found out more from Tom, Verticode’s CEO.
Born out of frustration at the barriers faced by founders and innovators trying to get MVPs to market, Verticode uses a proprietary automation toolkit to accelerate the software development process. Effectively, they make it cheaper and faster to get a software product into the market for testing. Customers can pay up to 90% less than some development agencies may charge, and Verticode can build products in days rather than months.
These features are designed to solve the problems of company founders, as well as innovators working within larger organisations. Tom explains,
“If our founder customers can’t find a technical co-founder or they don’t have funding to hire a development agency, we bridge the gap so they can validate their business concept and put together a compelling case to technical co-founders or go and raise funding to build a complete product.
“Our commercial clients face the problem that traditional development time is long and unviable for simply testing a new product idea. Our accelerated development means we can help them get something into the market in days rather than weeks. This means they don’t waste time or resources on a product before validating its commercial value.”
These are challenges that were encountered by both Tom and Sam, who met through a co-founder connecting website and quickly saw that they had a similar vision and goals.
Sam, working as a developer, had built many MVPs for corporate and personal clients, and realised that the use of smart tooling could make this process accessible to aspiring entrepreneurs, not just those with a large cash backing. Tom had previously spent months trying to find technical co-founders or being offered unachievable quotes from development agencies, a painful process he describes as “crippling” for many founders.
The pair believe their product enables innovation, rather than stifling it. They want to help bring people’s ideas to life, and are well aware of the huge responsibility that comes with this.
“As with most businesses, the challenge has been (and probably always will be) getting customers to trust us with their ideas and dreams,” explains Tom. “People are very attached to their ideas and being tasked with bringing them to life is a huge responsibility – we don’t take it lightly.
“We focus on ensuring our customers feel confident in the Verticode process and certainly don’t separate clients from their money before they are happy with their product.”
Often their customers don’t initially believe what Verticode’s technology can do, and Tom describes how their reactions can be “quite overwhelming” when it delivers exactly as promised.
One customer said to Tom: “I have to say, it feels surreal. I’ve been pulling my hair out trying to do this for over six months. You guys are a huge asset to the startup community.”
Part of an exciting ecosystemFrom their office at Site Gallery, Verticode wants to build its presence in Sheffield and make the most of the focus on start-ups, innovation and technology in our region. Tom comments,
“We find the Sheffield ecosystem to be so enabling and equally, we find it exciting to be in a city with so much growth in the innovation and technology space.”
Tom and Sam want Verticode to be a key contributor to this space, and are confident in their offer.
“More than anything else, we want founders and innovators in Sheffield to know that there is now a way to get a software MVP into the market without spending months looking for a co-founder or parting with huge sums of money at development agencies.”
Beyond Sheffield, plans for 2023 include helping the next generation of entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life by hosting a range of MVP-focussed activities at a student accelerator in Manchester. The team is also looking to work with regional accelerators across England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, to share their expertise and spread their MVP message.
And, being innovators themselves, Tom and Sam are continually developing their own product. You can expect to see a new machine-learning enabled ‘building assistant’ in the new year, as well as other tools to help make the build process even faster and smoother for clients.
To find out more about Verticode visit the website: verticode.co.uk and to get in touch, email: hello@verticode.co.uk.
Company and individual members, plus supporters and friends of Sheffield Digital came together last week for our Annual General Meetup. Held at the Showroom Workstation in Sheffield, we were very happy to see more than 80 members of the community join us at our first major in-person meetup since 2019. In this post, we’ll give
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Sheffield Digital is looking for a company membership manager to join the team on a freelance, part-time basis. We want to strengthen our relationship with our company members to better understand their needs, provide more value to them and connect them more closely with each other and with other key organisations and initiatives in the city. If you’re enthusiastic about Sheffield’s digital industry, enjoy making connections between people and businesses, and are good at gathering, analysing and communicating information – this could be the role for you!
Sheffield Digital currently has 77 company members and 82 individual and freelance members, plus a variety of sponsors and partner organisations. Our new company membership manager will be responsible for engaging with the organisation’s company members in a way which builds value, awareness and engagement, and for building relationships with companies who are not yet members.
This will be across different locations and platforms, on and offline, around the city. Ideally you’ll be based in or near Sheffield, and you’ll know the city well. You’ll also be able to work as part of a virtual team and be confident with remote working, and using online collaboration tools.
We think this new role will add a lot of value to our company members, to Sheffield Digital and to the city’s digital industry as a whole. We are looking for somebody who shares our enthusiasm and wants to help make sure that Sheffield Digital grows and responds to the needs of businesses.
Whilst we know that not everything will happen right away, a few of the key objectives for this role are to:
- Curate our knowledge of our company membership, prospective members and key contacts (in Capsule & MapMe).
- Ensure our company members know what we offer, how to access services and understand how to leverage value for themselves.
- Identify and approach companies in Sheffield who would be a highly valued addition to our membership because of the work that they are doing and the opportunities they are offering to the community (jobs/apprenticeships for example).
- Communicate policy and strategic information from Sheffield Digital board members and other stakeholders to members.
You can find the full job specification here. This is a freelance role which we expect to require between 10 and 15 hours per week, beginning on the 1st March ideally. Our budget for the role is around £1000 per month.
Please take a look at the job specification and if you are interested in this contract, send your application to mel@sheffield.digital, no later than 5pm on 11th February 2022. If you’d like to have a chat about the role first, you can get in touch with Mel via email or Slack.
We are looking forward to hearing from you!
South Yorkshire is one of eight “Trailblazer” regions in the UK which have been granted Government funding to pilot “Skills Accelerators”. These incorporate a Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) and a Strategic Development Fund (SDF), with the aim of helping to “reshape England’s technical skills system to better support the needs of the labour market and wider economy”.
In South Yorkshire, the LSIP is being led by Doncaster Chambers, in partnership with the Chambers of Barnsley, Rotherham and Sheffield. Evidence provided by employers about their skills needs, as well as engagement with skills providers, will enable the skills system to be more responsive to local challenges and opportunities, and better equip learners to begin or extend their careers.
The SDF pilots are being led by Barnsley College (in partnership with a range of South Yorkshire skills providers) who will fund projects to meet local skills needs including those identified in the LSIP. The pilot will explore how skills providers and employers can work together to respond to local skills needs far more effectively.
You can learn more about the programme here: sy-skillsaccelerator.co.uk/.
The Digital Tech and Media industries will play a crucial role in our region’s economic future, and therefore Sheffield Digital has been invited to join the Skills Accelerator Programme to amplify the voices of our sector, and ensure that our collective requirements and ideas are included in the LSIP.
Time is short to produce our response, with the initial submissions to Government scheduled for the end of March. In order to contribute effectively, we have laid out the following timetable
- Monday, January 10th
Engage the Sheffield Digital community and membership by: + Introducing the South Yorkshire Skills Accelerator and its purpose and highlighting the programme’s micro-site. + Sharing the link to the SYSA employer survey. + Publish the open “Draft LSIP Response” document and invite local digital tech & media employers to contribute. + Advertise the Skills Accelerator Interactive Workshop on the 18th (see below). + Advertise the Digital Tech & Media Industry Skills Summit on the 24th (see below). * Tuesday, January 18th – 09:30-12:30
The South Yorkshire Chambers are hosting simultaneous interactive workshops in Sheffield, Doncaster, Barnsley and Rotherham, for employers to express what support they need to develop their workforces and foster future growth and development. This event is not digital tech & media specific, but it is another opportunity for you to make your voices heard and to learn more about the wider LSIP and SDF schemes. * Monday January 24th – 11:30-13:30
Sheffield Digital will be hosting an online Digital Tech & Media Industry Skills Summit in order to discuss the issues, challenges and potential remedies raised in the Draft Response document, and flesh it out further. * Monday, January 31st – 12:00Closing date for this open response document – we’ll close for edits at noon on the 31st and this will form our main contribution to the LSIP which will be prepared by the Skills Accelerator partners for submission to Government in March.
Here, then, are the four things you should do to contribute: 1. Now: Fill out the SYSA’s Employer Survey. 2. Now: Read and contribute to the open “Draft Response” document. 3. Jan18: Attend the nearest SYSA Workshop to you. 4. Jan24: Attend our online Digital Tech & Media Industries Skills Summit to review and add to the Draft Response document.
If you have any questions about any of this, please do get in touch with me, either directly at chris@sheffield.digital or via the Sheffield Digital Slack.
Please also share this with colleagues and other employers, and amplify our social media messaging, so that we can reach as wide a group of people as possible!
Launched earlier this year, the Sheffield Digital Mentoring Scheme is now looking ahead to launching its second cohort of mentoring matches in 2022. When our Community Manager Sophie left the team, she passed the Mentoring Scheme to the very capable hands of Sarah Lister, who has a passion for mentoring and a lot of experience. Now able to reflect on how things went with the first cohort, Sarah is excited by the response we had from the community, but acknowledges it didn’t come without its challenges. In this interview, we hear from Sarah what has to change in the next phase of the scheme to make sure it can continue as a sustainable initiative, which is beneficial and rewarding to mentees and mentors. She also offers a useful overview of how it works, what participants can expect, and the support that Sheffield Digital gives to those taking part.
Can you provide a brief overview of how the first cohort of the mentoring scheme went, throughout 2021? There has been a really positive response from the community in terms of people signing up to the scheme, and setting up the initial meetings. What we need to work on is maintaining and developing the relationships so that they don’t fall flat after the first month.
It really is great to see the variety of mentors who are offering their time to the scheme. The skills and levels of experience are really varied, so I’m rarely stuck with making a match for the mentees.
It’s also great to see that some mentees are working towards a career change into the digital tech industries. This shows that Sheffield Digital is reaching people who are only just starting to think about learning new skills, and that has been one of our aims this year.
In summary, Sophie did a really great job of getting the scheme set up and getting it started. I think we have learned a lot from the experience so far, and I hope it can run more smoothly in 2022 with some simple but important changes put in place.
Sarah Lister is now managing our Mentoring Scheme, bringing lots of experience and a passion for all things mentoring!
What were the main challenges encountered during this first year? Maintaining communication is the main one. By that I mean between mentors and mentees, and also my communication with each of them. We all have roles that require clear communication, which is vital to the success of the scheme.
Some of the mentors and mentees haven’t followed up their initial meetings with additional meetings planned for the following month. I think this is partly because people are busy with work, or due to personal circumstances, or they simply haven’t received a response to emails.
I have sent out feedback forms to the people included in the first cohort, and there is a strong message in the responses from both mentors and mentees that there needs to be more support from Sheffield Digital, which is what I’ve been working on for the past month or so. I think that some people feel let down because they haven’t had the consistency of regular meetings, so I am working on changing that by making regular contact with all the participants. There are challenges within that as well, because some people are not responding to me.
Another main challenge is putting across the emphasis on commitment to the scheme. One meeting a month over a six month period perhaps doesn’t sound like a lot at first, but there are other actions that need to happen in between to progress towards the goals. It is a commitment that requires dedicated time.
You’ve taken over the running of the Sheffield Digital Mentoring Scheme. What skills and experience are you bringing to the role, and what are you most looking forward to? I trained as a coach in 2016, and while the approach and skills are different, there is some overlap. I have volunteered as a mentor for students at Sheffield Hallam University, and I really enjoyed the experience. The connections I made through the scheme were really valuable to me, and I’ve stayed in contact with one of the mentees that I worked with.
Last year I did some mentoring work with the Screen Industries Growth Network (SIGN), who approached me on LinkedIn initially. This felt like really meaningful work because of their commitment to diversity and inclusion, and I appreciate that they offer the mentoring workshops to people free of charge and online because this makes them more accessible. I will be continuing this work next year.
I recently took part in an excellent mentoring training session provided by the Sheffield Creative Guild, and I am taking part in their scheme as a mentor next year. So, as you can tell, I really enjoy mentoring! It can be such an enjoyable way to connect with people. I am also volunteering my time as a mentor on our own scheme as well of course, and I’ve really enjoyed taking part in 2021.
I am most looking forward to connecting with our community, this is what I enjoy most about working with Sheffield Digital. I feel very privileged to be in this position and I want to do the best that I can within the resources we have available.
What are the main pieces of advice that you’d give to future mentors and mentees? Firstly to be aware of the time commitment. Our guidelines are to have one meeting per month over a six-month period, but for the scheme to work, mentees need to also dedicate time to working towards the goals between each meeting. Of course there needs to be some flexibility, but this requires clear communication so that everyone knows where they stand.
I think it’s important to plan ahead with the follow-up meetings, so that they are firmly in the calendar. If this is done at the end of each meeting, then there is less chance of time running away and communication breaking down.
Another piece of advice for mentees is to really consider what you want to achieve during the six month period. Take time to complete the sign-up form and be as specific as possible. This will help with the matching process, and your mentors.
Finally, to make the most of the scheme that we have available. Let’s make it work together, through clear communication and dedication. I am here to support both mentors and mentees, so please get in touch with questions, concerns, and feedback. If you’re fed up with emails then I’ll be happy to have a call instead, or a slack chat.
Are there any changes to the sign-up process for mentors and mentees? Can you remind us how it works? The process is staying the same in 2022. Mentors can sign up by completing this form, and mentees need to be individual members before they sign up using this form. When new individual members sign up, please note that you don’t have to make your profile visible on our website. There is an option to hide it when you join membership.
Once people have signed up, they should expect an email from me within a couple of days and then if I establish a match I will follow up with more details. For some people there may be a waiting period until we have a suitable match.
Once matched, what can mentors and mentees expect in terms of the structure of the scheme, and their meetings? They should expect an initial introduction from me which includes a template document to help with structuring the meetings. Following that, they should expect to hear from me regularly to check how things are going, and again at the end of the six-month period when I send out a feedback form. It’s really important that people reply to me, even if they are very brief updates. This will help me to run the scheme smoothly, because then I know who is available and if the matches are working well. If people haven’t heard from me, please check your spam folders in case my emails are getting lost there.
And what support will you be offering to mentors and mentees? After the introductions, I will email people who are one month into the scheme to check that a positive connection has been established. Then I will be in contact after three months to ask how things are going. If there are any issues, then I will do my best to step in to resolve those. The support is confidential, I am the only person running the scheme and I have dedicated time towards doing this.
They can contact me at any time to ask questions, raise concerns, and to provide feedback. My email address is sarah@sheffield.digital. Please note that I work on a freelance basis, so I’m not full-time but I will do my best to reply to emails as quickly as possible.
So, what’s the status of the scheme at the moment? Is it ready to start again in 2022? Yes we’re ready! There have been some recent sign-ups which is great to see, and there aren’t any time restrictions on when you can join. Some of the mentors have confirmed that they are happy to continue in 2022, and we have quite a few available to work with new mentees. We are hoping that both new mentors and mentees will sign up.
How can people find out more, and what should they do if they have questions? There are two great blog posts which were published in 2021, these have more details and links to helpful resources. Introducing the Sheffield Digital Mentoring Scheme and An Update on the Sheffield Digital Mentoring Scheme.
Questions can be sent directly to me: sarah@sheffield.digital or send me a direct message in our slack community where we can chat.
Thank you to everyone who is taking part in the scheme, and to those who have provided feedback. I am really looking forward to leading and developing this scheme, and I appreciate everyone’s efforts to make it possible.
Tech delivery specialist, BJSS opened its Sheffield base in December 2019 and, despite the global pandemic that was about to unfold, soon outgrew its home at Wizu Workspace. The company has now settled into a new spacious office at Cubo and, since moving earlier this year, has grown from 25 employees to over 60. We chatted to Mike Sanderson, Head of Delivery in Sheffield, to find out more about their new space, recruitment plans and hopes for more conversations and connections in the new year.
BJSS approaches its new offices like new businesses, applying a start-up model to get things off the ground. Mike explains,
“As delivery manager, I am expected to run my offices (Mike has recently opened a base in Lincoln, too) like my own business. So, whilst we have the breadth and depth of the BJSS machine behind us, the Sheffield office is distinctly Sheffield with its own identity and we run with autonomy. This enables us to be responsive and responsible for the things around us that affect us day-to-day.”
This is reflected in the growth of the Sheffield team. Mike continues,
“Like a start-up, we’ve gone from having a small team of delivery people to adding support functions in Sheffield as we need them, including an office manager, a leadership team and a talent acquisition manager, who is out there finding us the best people locally.”
When BJSS moved into Cubo from Wizu Workspace at 32 Eyre Street, the company had 25 employees. That number has grown to 60, and this is just the tech delivery team – the office is also home to members of BJSS’ design team, SPARCK, as well as its Managed Services team.
A recent recruitment drive will see this number reach 70 by the end of February 2022, and surpass 80 by the end of the financial year. All of this growth has happened during the pandemic. Mike says,
BJSS is quickly growing into its new home, with the team expected to reach 70 by the end of February 2022.
“We didn’t struggle to fill the roles. We saw people reacting in one of two ways to the circumstances; either they decided to stay put during all the uncertainty, or they started actively looking at companies that were doing well despite the difficult circumstances. We’ve been oversubscribed with work throughout the pandemic, so a lot of people wanted to be part of that.”
BJSS has continued to work with HSBC and the Home Office in Sheffield, as well as the NHS and the University of Sheffield. The company has also joined the AMRC’s framework of digital suppliers and Mike is waiting for the right opportunities to arise, explaining:
“Not every project that becomes available is right for BJSS and vice versa; if we aren’t skilled in an area, we’d be mad to do it.”
Whilst BJSS traditionally opened new branches where there was demand for its services, the pandemic has changed this.
“We don’t necessarily need to be where our clients are, and they don’t expect this.” says Mike, “So we are asking, how can we tap into markets differently? We have just opened an office in Lincoln, not because we have lots of clients or prospects there, but because there’s a strong tech scene and it’s a very creative city.”
In Lincoln and Sheffield, Mike wants to get to know other businesses operating in the tech and creative communities to explore what can be done together. Whilst recruitment and new business has remained strong throughout the pandemic, the potential for collaborative working has been stalled over the past two years, something Mike is keen to see change in 2022.
“Because of the restrictions, we missed out on the conversations you can only really have at physical events. This is when you meet other companies and a conversation can lead to a collaboration and, even if it doesn’t, just exploring the possibilities and making the connection is valuable.
“We’ve missed those less tangible things, the richer aspects of meeting with people and what can come from that.”
BJSS wants to use its new space in Sheffield to get the digital community together to talk about what is happening in the industry and see what other companies are up to. Whilst they’d hoped to do something before Christmas, the increase in COVID cases and the new variant means they are now looking ahead to next year, when an event is on the horizon. This is an important part of Mike’s plans for continued growth. He comments,
“If we continue to do the right things, working the way that we do, I’m confident that we’ll carry on seeing growth and progress here in Sheffield, and building new partnerships with other companies is definitely a part of this.”
You can find out more about BJSS on the website and stay up to date on Twitter and LinkedIn.
If you work or have worked in education, you may know Tes as the teaching supplement or weekly magazine, which was originally published as the The Times Educational Supplement . Since it was launched 111 years ago, Tes has evolved into a leading education business and global digital community, connecting and supporting more than 13 million educators worldwide. In 2018, Tes opened an office in Sheffield and here the evolution continues, with the announcement of a new Engineering Hub and the creation of 20 new roles in the city. We heard from team members at Tes to learn more about the company, its vision and culture, and why Sheffield was the natural choice for the new Hub.
Tes employs over 600 people in 10 offices across the world, including in London, Sheffield, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Sydney, and Dubai. Originally a printed newspaper supplement to support schools and teachers with their work, the company has expanded its products and services over the years, transforming into a global EdTech company. Throughout this transformation, Tes has stayed true to its purpose of being a champion of great teaching.
Mercedes Gonzalez-Gorbena, Chief Product Officer, comments,
“As a leading EdTech company, our range of software supports schools with timetabling, SEND provision, behaviour management, staff wellbeing and parents’ evenings. Teachers all over the world find and share teaching materials on our resources platform, while Tes News provides teachers and leaders with the latest education news, insight and analysis.”
The organisation has a vision that, as Communications Director Katy Gandon says, “gets most of us out of bed in the morning”: We power schools and enable great teaching worldwide, by creating intelligent online products and services to make the greatest difference in education.
This vision is embedded in the culture at Tes. Katy explains,
“We try to achieve our Vision by attracting, developing and retaining, high performing diverse talent and providing a first-class working environment, where open communication is embraced by our Senior Management Team. Everyone provides regular feedback through our bi-weekly employee survey, and we act to constantly drive positive change and deliver the best possible experience at work.”
She adds,
“There are loads of opportunities to learn – we try to practice what we preach! We are proud to promote continual learning and support the growth of everyone through a broad range of personal and professional development programmes.”
Tes in Sheffield When it comes to securing high-performing, diverse talent, Tes identified Sheffield as a prime location and so set up a new base in the city in 2018.
From here, 170 team members work across several different departments, including Customer Services, HR, Accounts, Sales, and the digital arm of the Marketing team. The Tes Resources team, which looks after the peer-to-peer teaching resource sharing platform, is also based in Sheffield, as is the IT and Business Systems team.
Andrea Preston, HR Director at Tes, comments,
“It’s a fantastic mix of skill sets and people and that’s why the newly created Engineering Hub adds another dimension to this dynamic bunch!”
Tes announced plans for its new Engineering Hub in Sheffield back in July of this year, encouraged by the growing EdTech presence in the city. Andrea explains,
“When we had the opportunity to re-look at the engineering part of our business, we decided to create the Hub. Here we will employ 20 software engineers in Sheffield where we have been actively involved in many education and tech initiatives since arriving in the city. For example, hosting the Hallam Festival of Education and being a major contributor to the ‘National Centre for EdTech Scoping Project’ in partnership with fellow Sheffield residents Twinkl and the Sheffield City Region Combined Authority.
“This strong EdTech presence in Sheffield is bolstered by two major Universities, a growing digital sector and support through bodies such as Sheffield Digital.”
The team working at the Hub will develop new products to support teachers and schools, including timetabling tools, classroom management software and a platform for teacher development. Tes attracts engineers who want to make a difference to educators; Head of Product Development at Tes, Anil Dave, says,
“Our team works on products that help ease teacher workloads, improve complicated, time-consuming admin jobs, and ultimately free up teachers to do what they do best – teach!
“It’s incredibly rewarding to know that something you’re working on could have such an impact on a teacher or a pupil’s day.”
Opportunities at Tes There are a number of vacancies at Tes in Sheffield, ranging from Senior Software Engineers and Technical Leads, to a UX/UI Designer, CRM Analyst and Software QAs. New recruits can look forward to playing their part in some new digital offerings coming up before Christmas, and a major new product launch expected in the new year.
Speaking about the current vacancies, Andrea says,
“These roles will all help drive our transformation to a digital organisation for the future. We’re hiring in Sheffield as we have a strong belief in the talent in this city and feel it is the right place to invest in the current workforce, and to develop the next generation of Sheffield’s digital workforce.”
Those employed at the new Hub, and throughout Tes in Sheffield, will be contributing towards the organisation’s ambition to develop exceptional software and services for schools in the UK and worldwide.
Andrea continues,
“We want to make life easier for schools and teachers by providing software and tools that help them on a daily basis – freeing up their time to do what they do best: teaching and enhancing the lives of young people.
“And this ambition goes hand in hand with that of employing more top notch engineers and developers to help us get there. We hope to grow the engineering team in Sheffield into a world class Hub that both the city and the company can be proud of!”
To find out more about Tes, visit the website and you can keep an eye on current and future vacancies at the organisation here. You can also stay up to date with company news and updates by following Tes on Twitter.
Specialist Internet Service Provider to multi-tenant buildings, Ask4, has explored data taken from students in four countries, to create a new report ‘Gaming for Good’. The report explores the uptake of gaming during the 2020 lockdown, and the ways that students feel it helped to develop skills such as problem-solving and concentration. Ask4’s research also found that many student gamers – whether new or experienced – felt that regular gaming had a positive impact on their wellbeing. Read on for more details from the report and to see how you can get your hands on a copy.
Within weeks of the world entering lockdown in 2020, users of online gaming platforms such as Steam and Twitch soared.
The popularity of video gaming, and particularly online gaming, increased as many people picked up a controller to help reduce the stresses and anxieties of social restrictions and lockdowns, as well as using online games to socialise with friends.
The new report from ASK4, Gaming for Good, looks at the reasons why students who have never previously been interested in video games turned to gaming during the pandemic.
Ask4’s findings show that gaming during lockdown not only helped to improve poor mental health but it also helped students to develop practical skills that are useful in studies and future employment.
Over half of the students surveyed (59%) said that gaming had enhanced their problem solving skills, and 54% felt it had helped to develop strategic planning skills. Concentration, critical thinking, and pattern recognition were also skills that students listed as having improved through increased gaming activity.
Online gaming became particularly popular during the pandemic, owing to its remote nature and the ability to connect and compete with others, when other social interactions were limited. This factor attracted a new wave of online gamers, with 1 in 6 of those surveyed saying they had never played with others remotely prior to the pandemic.
The report also indicates that regular gaming can help to improve the mental health of students, with 69% of those surveyed saying that gaming has had a positive effect on their levels of stress and anxiety. And, those who game every day were more likely (65%) to rate their wellbeing positively, compared to those who play one to three days a week (55%).
Commenting on the report, ASK4’s Content and Digital Marketing Manager, Adam Willerton said:
“We wanted to take a holistic look at gaming with this report, including survey data from students across 4 countries and extensive desk research. Gaming is no longer a niche hobby and, as the report demonstrates, its impact is extensive.”
The report also explores some of the innovative ways that gaming, and gaming technology is being used around the world, and features comment from eSports community experts, Gfinity , whose CEO, John Clarke said:
“The Gaming for Good report shows that this generation, digital natives, are resourceful. They found new ways to stay connected during challenging times. Gaming helped protect their mental health and lessen the blow of not being able to enjoy the normal human interaction that is such an important part of university and college life. The report is important as it provides deeper insights into the positive impact of gaming over the past 18 months.”
To read the Gaming for Good report visit ask4internet.com/gamingforgood.
At an upcoming event from the South Yorkshire Cultural and Creative Industries Network, speakers from Yorkshire-based organisations including the Children’s Media Conference and PitStop Productions, will discuss how they’ve embraced digital to reach new audiences, and to overcome challenges presented by the pandemic. The event takes place on Thursday 2 December at the Barnsley Digital Media Centre, and you can see more details about the event from the press release below.
The event is part of a series of South Yorkshire Cultural and Creative Industries Network sessions open to a full spectrum of creatives, including those who work in theatre, TV, film, publishing, arts, design, music, photography and much more. It is free to join and will be held at Barnsley’s Digital Media Centre from 5.30pm to 8.15pm.
The event will centre around the theme of ‘Embracing Digital to Boost our Creative and Cultural Sector’ and will feature a thought-provoking panel discussion with representatives from exciting creative and digital organisations.
Following challenges and opportunities presented to creatives due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event will highlight inventive and creative ways in which the region’s businesses and organisations are reaching new and expanding audiences, as well as the future of culture and arts in a digital world. Speakers from Yorkshire-based businesses and organisations will also reveal how they’re putting the region on the global map by delivering their services worldwide and working on projects of major significance.
Speakers include:
● John Sanderson, Founder/Managing Director of PitStop Productions. An award-winning provider of audio services, Pitstop Productions has worked with world leaders in the video game and entertainment industries. John’s talents and experience lie in musical composition, arrangement, production and voice direction.
● Jacqui Wells, Deputy Director at The Children’s Media Conference (CMC), a not-for-profit organisation supporting the children’s media industry. Jacqui started working at The CMC in 2012 – the UK’s only gathering for those involved with developing, producing and distributing content to children on all platforms. She has since grown with the conference, which now welcomes 1,200 delegates to Sheffield every year.
● Kisha Bradley of Community Digital and Bright Box.
● Devinia Skirrow, Marketing Manager at Barnsley Museums.
It will be an interactive event where audience members are invited to share their ideas and successes with fellow creatives via a Q&A session or by delivering a short presentation on a topic of their choosing. This could include celebrating the start-up of a creative business in the digital industry, seeking partnerships for an existing regional project or sharing how an organisation pivoted its offering online during the pandemic.
Attendees will also be able to view a private art exhibition at Barnsley College before the network event, details of which are available when booking.
The South Yorkshire Cultural and Creative Industries Network Organised by Showroom Workstation and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA), the South Yorkshire Cultural and Creative Industries Network will host a programme of insightful events at venues across the region over the coming year. It is designed to help nurture talent, galvanize opinion and further boost the sector whilst highlighting the great importance of the Cultural and Creative industries to the UK’s economy.
Kate Brindley, Project Director for arts, culture and heritage, SYMCA, works with South Yorkshire’s cultural sectors to attract investment, grow participation, and increase tourism opportunities for the region. She said: “Following the success of the first network event in Doncaster last month, we’re delighted to see more of the region’s creative leaders, experts and practitioners coming together for the next collaborative event in Barnsley.
“At the upcoming digital themed session, speakers will share how the Covid-19 pandemic led them to utilise digital platforms, reaching new and expanding audiences; and delve into how and why they plan to build on this to continue to take their work global.
“Representatives from exciting businesses and organisations will also showcase how the region has become a hotbed for digital innovation and talent, sharing their growth story to inspire the next generation of digital entrepreneurs.”
For further information about the event and to register for a free place, visit www.showroomworkstation.org.uk/creative-network. Anybody who would like to share a creative idea or success at the event is asked to email create@showroomworkstation.org.uk in advance.
Sheffield Digital and our festival partners Field, are making plans for the next Sheffield Digital Festival. We’re aiming to hold the event in May 2022, but the exact date, the format, and what’s included are yet to be decided. The Festival is all about showcasing and celebrating the creative and tech community in Sheffield, so we are asking you to contribute to our plans, to make it the biggest and best event yet.
Our last two festivals have been entirely virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the 2020 and 2021 festivals, the community hosted over 60 online events, ranging from masterclasses, product demos and virtual exhibitions, to webinars and panel discussions.
We are hopeful that our 2022 festival will have some in-person events and experiences, although we know that virtual events are more accessible to many people, so we expect some online aspects to remain.
This is just one of the areas that we’d like to hear from the tech community about. Are you ready for a full ‘in real life’ festival? Would you prefer to enjoy different events from the comfort of your own home? Should all aspects of the festival be hybrid to give people choice?
We’d also like to gauge feedback on possible themes for the festival, and we want to know which week in May works for the majority of you.
When we launched the Sheffield Digital Festival back in 2019, we held a ‘main event’, hosted by Sheffield Digital and Field and featuring live panel discussions and presentations. Is this something you’d like to see return in 2022? If so, what do you want to see as part of the line-up?
We also need to know whether companies and individuals in the community want to host events at the next Sheffield Digital Festival, because its success relies on a busy and vibrant fringe schedule.
We have a very short questionnaire for you to fill in, where you can answer these questions (plus one or two more), and really help us to shape the Sheffield Digital Festival 2022. Your input is anonymous so please be honest and tell us what you need from the Festival.
Fill in our questionnaire now.
If you would rather have a conversation about the Festival, please contact us on info@sheffielddigitalfestival.com. If you want to support the event, either as a sponsor, or with time, ideas or resources that you can contribute, then we’d love to hear from you – just email us on the address above.
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If you listened to Episode 72 of this podcast, you will have heard us chat with two very successful start-ups: Mina and Airship. You will also have discovered that Airship isn’t really a start-up; the company was originally set up in 2003. Since then, it’s grown, shrunk, pivoted and changed from being an agency that “sells hours” to a SaaS technology business.
Mel wanted to find out more – what’s that journey like and what does it take to make the change from being a lifestyle business to a high-growth business with a clear exit strategy? So this is a special follow-up episode, hearing from two of the senior people in the business about their journey.
The guests for this episode are Dan Brookman, CEO, and Andrew Whiteley, Director, from Airship.
As this is a “special” episode, there’s no news or updates, just an in-depth interview. We hope you enjoy it and, if there are other stories you’d like us to explore, please let us know.
Don’t forget, you can always join the Sheffield Digital Slack community or email info@sheffield.digital to get in touch and share your thoughts.
Subscribe to the show
If you’d like to have new episodes of the show appear right in your podcast player, you can subscribe via our page on Apple Podcasts or search for us in your podcast app of choice!
Notes and links
Every episode comes with a list of links to all of the various people, companies and topics that we reference.
- Airship
- Dan Brookman on LinkedIn
- Andrew Whiteley on LinkedIn
- Join our Slack community – Sheffield Digital
- Meet our members | Sheffield Digital
- Become a member of Sheffield Digital
Did we miss something you’re looking for? Just get in touch and let us know.
Join the conversation
We’re really keen to get your feedback on the podcast. You can share your thoughts with us on Twitter or on the channel in theSheffield Digital Slack community.
Thank you for the music
Thanks to Alex Mclean – aka Yaxu – for the show’s intro music, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Sheffield was in the spotlight at this year’s Prolific North Tech Awards, with three of the 19 awards going to businesses from our community. Razor, Tribepad, and Tutorful all scooped awards, and Nimble Approach and Mina both narrowly missed out on the accolades after being shortlisted in their categories. The Awards are open to tech businesses throughout northern England, including Newcastle, Manchester and Leeds, so three out of 19 is worth making some noise about! Plus, we think there’s real potential to do even better next year.
The Awards, which were presented at a ceremony at Manchester’s Science & Industry Museum on 21 October, were judged by an independent panel (which included our very own Chris Dymond) during a two-stage process.
‘Small Tech Company of the Year’ went to Razor, who stood out amongst strong competition including Leeds-based XR Games and Manchester’s Silverchip, both of which received commendations. Razor has double cause for celebration this month as the company has just announced it has appointed Kristal Ireland as its new managing director. Kristal is a well known figure in the northern tech scene and will play an integral role in building Razor’s network in the north as it plans to open a second office in Leeds soon.
Online learning experts, Tutorful, won the award for ‘Best EdTech Innovation’ in recognition of its online classroom. The award was presented by Chris Dymond who said that he was “absolutely delighted” to hand it over to the company.
We’re absolutely honoured to have won the Best EdTech Innovation award last night.
Thank you to our amazing team that helped design, develop, test, and implement our fantastic online classroom. https://t.co/MJQRxq9qQb
— Tutorful (@Tutorful) October 22, 2021
Tribepad was awarded ‘SaaS Company of the Year’, topping an impressive shortlist which included Voicescape, Autocab, and BrightHR.
Whilst narrowly missing out on an award, Nimble Approach impressed the judges and reached the shortlist in two categories: ‘Medium Tech Company of the Year’ and the ‘Rapid Growth Award’.
Electric vehicle charging tech specialists, Mina, also came close to a win, in the competitive ‘Tech Startup of the Year’ category.
We had a great evening yesterday at #PNTechAwards – massive congratulations to everyone who won this year ? Big thanks to @ProlificNorth for such a great evening as we #celebratethenorth. Whilst we didn’t win our category, it was still a massive achievement to be shortlisted ? pic.twitter.com/joC7EqRQlk
— Mina (@EV_Mina) October 22, 2021
Sheffield Digital Director, Chris Dymond said about the awards ceremony:
“It was lovely to be at a glitzy event after so much covid-related isolation. 350 people booked, all the tables had sold out and the Science & Industry museum was such a great venue for the awards – we were literally surrounded by a history of great tech.”
Whilst the city performed well at this year’s awards, Chris is confident that Sheffield businesses could secure even more titles in specialist areas. He explains,
“Proportionally, we did incredibly well. But the message isn’t that Sheffield has a tech scene, it’s bloomin nominate yourselves because you can win!
“They (Prolific North) had to scale back a few awards because of a lack of entries, including manufacturing tech and green tech – areas in which Sheffield excels! The team also wants broader representation in awards categories like Entrepreneur of the Year, and Best Team.
“This relies on people putting themselves forward and spending the small bit of time and money to craft a good entry. And I’m always happy to have a chat over coffee to explain what judges are looking for and what the experience is like.”
From the entire team at Sheffield Digital, we want to say a big congratulations to all those companies shortlisted, and to the winners. You did us proud!
Find out more about the Prolific North Awards 2021 and see all the shortlists and winners here. And, if you’re already inspired to enter next year’s awards, follow Prolific North on Twitter so you’re first to hear when nominations open in 2022.