Hello again. We’ve been seeing rather a lot of each other this week.
Well, I say that. It’s mostly been me talking – endlessly talking – about a variety of accelerator-related things, weaving sentences and paragraphs so long that you could wrap them around the Guild Hall and still have some change left for a double-knot. I’ve noticed you, leaning against the fridge; glazed, beaten, defeated and locked in a steely grimace of British politeness.
But in the cold, hard, Wild West of the non-print world, there is no word limit. And therefore there is no escape.
Sooooooooooo, let’s begin.
GROWING PAINS
If you find yourself on Twitter today, have a browse through the tweets popping up on the hashtag #negrowth13.
These are the comments left behind by the Driving Forward Economic Growth conference, a gathering of folk discussing what the North East needs to do to get ahead and throw its weight around a little more on the world stage. The conference is hosted by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, a business-led body designed to fill the gaping craterous hole left by the Government’s hurried junking of One North East.
The conference is tackling a number of issues, notably how to create more and better jobs (60,000 is the aim, apparently), better access to finance, more innovative businesses and better transport, housing and infrastructure. The situation in the North East was discussed in a report by Lord Andrew Adonis earlier this year (and…um…the report was beaten with large spades by MPs in parliament yesterday).
There are many different industries vying for attention and funding in the North East. While Betarocket is mostly focused on startups and technology, we know that’s not the only puppy in the pet shop. However, a community of interesting and promising startup businesses has grown up in the North East in recent years, and that’s been noticed beyond the boundaries of our little stretch of turf. While the topics of supporting innovation and early-stage businesses are on the table, it’s the perfect time to re-iterate the many ways that both this startup community and the various regional bodies can benefit if they are willing to communicate (and – in some cases – to acknowledge each other’s existence). Some councils – for example – are much more proactive than others in offering support to the tech community, and the danger is that if promising businesses and organisations don’t get support in one place, they’ll just find it somewhere else. And, of course, the region may also miss out on future employers looking for a place to call home.
Newcastle, Sunderland, Gateshead and Middlesbrough shouldn’t be looking to be the “tech capital of the UK”, or embarrassing themselves by wearing that T-Shirt in public. That’s London, and for many good reasons. However, there are ways in which they can play an important role in the ecosystem, both nationally and globally. Local authorities and regional bodies can certainly help with this in several ways, including lobbying, supporting skills and education programmes, and providing more tangible support to initiatives designed to attract and develop early-stage businesses.
There are many industries that make up the North East. But, make no mistake, the technology startup community is one of them.
(If you want to read up more on the wider regional situation with the LEP, I’d recommend looking up the work of the Journal’s regional affairs correspondent Adrian Pearson)
GAME KETTLE LIVES
Last night, the first Game Kettle gathering took place at the BALTIC on Gateshead quays. The aim is to create a new network for the games industry in the North East, which hasn’t really had anything it can call its own since the disappearance of the GameHorizon network last year.
The sold-out event featured support from bluegfx, and featured game demos from some well-known regional companies. Atomhawk Design was showcasing some of its concept art, which is in demand from clients such as the BBC and Sega. Eutechnyx was showing off its first mobile game – Ninja Cats vs Samurai Dogs, Pixel Brawl and Jetstone Studios also had creations on show, while Game Tonic was introducing guests to a title known intriguingly as Battle Llamas.
The network is spearheaded by Carri Cunliffe, the former head of sector development at Codeworks and a key figure in the old GameHorizon network.
What’s next? Game Kettle’s going to be back soon with some more events, and it’s also planning a one-day conference, an Indie Day and a Game Jam in the near future. Keep in touch on Facebook and Twitter.
UNCONFERENCING
As we mentioned a little earlier on these pages, Middlesbrough’s Institute of Modern Art is going to play host to the 2013 “unconference” for publishers, artists and bloggers, organised by Talk About Local in partnership with The Culture Vulture.
Richmond-based Talk About Local MD Sarah Hartley – who some may remember from The Guardian’s The Northerner blog and hyperlocal noticeboard N0tice – says:
“There’s a lot of talent in the digital sector around here. You’ve only got to see the calibre of the work being featured thanks to initiatives such as RefreshTeesside (http://www.refreshteesside.
org) to see that. We hope that, as well as attracting people from across the UK to Middlesbrough, we also get the opportunity to welcome people involved locally to our unconference.”
The Yorkshire-based website The Culture Vulture will also be helping to launch a new Teesside-focused initiative called Talk About Arts, Culture and Place during the event.
It’ll run from 11am to 5.30pm and free tickets will be available from https://tal13.eventbrite.com.
A QUICK REMINDER
It’s British Science Festival week from tomorrow, so get your butt over to the website and find some cool things to see over the next few days. I’M WATCHING YOU.
“PICK ME. PICK ME. PICK ME”
Ignite100 wants to go to SXSW. Well, it’s going anyway, to be completely honest, but it wants a fancy speaker lanyard instead of the regular, plain ones everyone else has to wear. Maybe they clash with the outfit it was planning on wearing. Who knows?
Anyway, Paul Smith and Tristan Watson are planning to speak about the future of accelerators. As more and more pop up around the world, they fancy leading a rousing debate on whether the current format needs changing, and what kind of operation might give early-stage businesses the best start in life.
You’ve got a tiny, tiny window of opportunity to cast your vote and get this panel accepted. If you’re going to Austin this year and like the idea, pop over to the site (IT’S HERE) and do it now.
Oh, and we can’t let this opportunity pass by without also giving a nod to another talk potentially on the bill for 2014. The Next Web’s editor-in-chief Martin Bryant is offering the intriguing prospect of a debate about whether tech journalism is too light and frothy, and promotes app launches over real tech scandals. It’s called Why Didn’t A Tech Journalist Break PRISM?.
You know the drill. Watch the pitch, and vote here.
HAPPY *****DAY
I promised myself I’d never do this. When I used to work for a regional newspaper, one of the scourges of the inbox was the stream of press releases announcing a company’s birthday as if it was news. It’s a good job we sometimes got stories about funding, mergers, liquidations and office moves, otherwise the entire spread would look like that bit on children’s TV where parents try to get a sugar-vomiting presenter to holler their child’s name before Waybuloo.
But, hey, I’m in a charitable mood today, so a happy third birthday to Gospelware, the extremely-talented Gateshead-based mobile strategy, design and development firm that created the Thinking Digital app and a helpful mobile platform for paramedics responding to accidents. They’ve promised they’re having a party to celebrate soon, and I’d better get a giant goddamn piece of cake.
I feel dirty now.
ON BETAROCKET
There’s been an absolute explosion of accelerator news in the North East this week, so wade through all of this to get yourself up to date…
We interview Paul Smith and Tristan Watson of Newcastle accelerator Ignite100 about what’s changed going into its third year (New Teams. New Ideas. New Hammock)
There’s also a rundown of the ten teams who entered the accelerator this week, including a ride-sharing startup, an application for safety inspections and a platform for bunking up with fellow entrepreneurs in new cities (Meet the Teams)
Teesside’s Searchcamp also had a big week, as the six remaining teams from its debut programme pitched on Tuesday night. Here are our impressions (Tales from Teesside)
SOME EXTRA READING
The debate over whether Spotify is “good for music” pops up every few months, and this time it’s Ministry of Sound’s turn to take a pot-shot. The much-publicised lawsuit has got Kieron Donoghue of Playlists.net thinking about whether you can lay claim to a list of tracks (Are Playlists Subject to Copyright Laws?)
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming: Blogs About Startup Mistakes. Here are some more confessions from entrepreneurs. SPOILER: Not one of them says: “We created our startup name by tearing all the vowels out of a word and beating it with a stick” (The 13 Biggest Mistakes From Famous Entrepreneurs And What They Learned From Them)
Ignite100 writes a list of all the events it’ll be hosting during September and October, so it remembers not to book in any pilates or line-dancing classes on those days (Ignite100 events – September/October)
Lifehacker reminds you that you can make your meetings more productive by not cramming them with people that don’t need to be there. Unless there is pizza. In which case, invite everyone or they will hate you forever (Simplify Meetings By Dismissing Unnecessary People)
HEY YOU…
Check out the latest technology events in the North East by dashing off to Tech Diary. NOW.
Remember, you can share your own news or list your event by emailing john@betarocket.co.uk.
Headline pic by Peter Harrison, used under Creative Commons