30 | Tees Business
Expansion – SockMonkey, led by founders Bob
Makin and Darren Cuthbert, is one of more than
650 digital companies that have benefited from
the DigitalCity programme.
CITY
SLICKERS
£2m boost to
Tees Valley tech
economy
T
eesside University’s DigitalCity
initiative has been widely credited as
playing a key role in the rapid growth
of the Tees Valley’s digital sector.
As it enters its 15th year, it is about to
embark on a fresh phase of delivery, with
an exciting suite of new programmes and
support services designed to encourage
growth and productivity.
Across the region, there are very few
SMEs in the digital and tech sector who
have not benefited in some way from
DigitalCity’s support. Since the initiative was
founded in 2004, the team at DigitalCity
has worked to connect businesses with the
knowledge, skills and expertise they need
to thrive in a digital future.
Whether they were founded with the
help of the hugely successful DigitalCity
Fellowship scheme, benefited from
graduate talent bringing new skills into the
business or were helped to grow through
SCALE and access to finance support,
hundreds of companies owe some part of
their success to the Teesside University-led
scheme.
The names speak for themselves
– Animmersion, Hammerhead VR,
SockMonkey Studios – these are among
the many exciting and innovative companies
who have worked with DigitalCity.
In fact, the initiative has helped to create
more than 250 businesses and more than
540 jobs, at the same time supporting more
than 650 digital companies and more than
100 firms in other sectors seeking to put
digital at the heart of their business.
This formidable record of achievement
was recognised in the 2018 Tech Nation
report, when Middlesbrough was singled
out as being in the vanguard of the UK’s
burgeoning digital and high-tech economy.
Teesside University’s DigitalCity – which
is a key partner and sponsor of the inaugural
Tees Tech Awards, being organised by Tees
Business, and due to be held at Wynyard
Hall in April 2020 – was highlighted as a key
contributor to its growth.
DigitalCity is now about to enter a
new phase, having secured support
totalling £2m from the European Regional
Development Fund and the North East
Regional Investment Fund.
The vision for the project remains as
ambitious as ever. Over the next three
years, DigitalCity will help create another 72
new tech business and bring 102 new tech
products to market.
Laura Woods, director of academic
enterprise at Teesside University, oversees
all the university’s business engagement
activities and believes the project will be
a major catalyst for many of the business
growth plans for the region.
She said: “DigitalCity plays a key role in
linking business with digital expertise, skills