Serving the Teesside Business Community | 17
Middlesbrough Council’s Boho One
is at the heart of the town’s buzzing
digital cluster.
Kraken IM CEO Ian Cornwell says there’s a
“small but vibrant tech scene in Boro”.
Dan Watson, Middlesbrough Council’s
Digital Middlesbrough manager.
20th Animex Festival, the UK’s largest
annual festival of animation and computer
games.
The popular event played host to
industry-leading firms including Sony
London Studio, Santa Monica Studios, MPC
and Insomniac Game, whilst providing a
chance to meet those who work behind the
scenes in the animation industry, a niche
sector-specialism for the area. Teesside
University was also recently named as one
of the world’s leading animation schools by
Animation Career Review
And digital innovation driver DigitalCity
is expanding its start-up support offering
by this year launching a new investment
readiness programme.
Eighteen Tees Valley-based founders will
be helped in demystifying the investment
process and bolstered with insight on what
makes a business truly investment ready.
Professor Jane Turner OBE, the
university’s pro vice-chancellor (enterprise
and business engagement), said: “The
university is playing a leading role in driving
forward the digital tech industry in the
region.
“We play a substantial role in the creation
of graduate talent for digital businesses,
and through our incubator facility,
Launchpad, support a significant number of
graduate start-up businesses to thrive.
“It is therefore particularly reassuring to
see the flourishing digital sector recognised,
once again, in the Tech Nation report.
“As an anchor institution for the region,
the university will continue its work
to ensure that businesses receive the
support and growth opportunities that
enable them to prosper, through access to
digital innovation and graduate talent and
academic research.”
Kevin Parkes, Middlesbrough Council’s
executive director of growth and place,
said: “This year, Tech Nation has taken a
regional view to collectively showcase
the breadth of the North-East’s digital
industries.
“As a region, we’re stronger as a
collective working together, and this report
really does highlight the contribution that
the North-East’s digital tech industries
make to the economy.
“Having said that, the spotlight on
Middlesbrough is obviously very much
welcomed, and again it shows the real
strengths of our thriving digital tech
industries.”
To view the Tech Nation 2019 report, visit: technation.io/about-
us/national-network/north-east/