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Its been a whirlwind year since Dynamo North East was put on the
map in 2014 with a keynote conference: Defining the North East It
Economy.
In repeating the event in 2015, Dynamo has always been
conscious, in pop music parlance, of producing a difficult second
album.
However, todays conference shows the strength and depth of the
sector because Dynamo has again man-aged to involve more than 40
speakers from different niches within the software and tech sector
and it still keeps finding more global industry leaders with North
East links to bring into the network for future years.
The Dynamo15 theme is how North East It Impacts the World this
is because of Dynamos pride in spotlighting international export
and research excellence, whether thats Durham University modelling
the Big Bang or sage Group holding its position as the worlds third
largest business software firm.
Information technology has risen up the regions agenda to become
a smart specialisation - even before Dynamo co-founder Bob Paton
took up a role as Interim Chief Executive of the Governments
business delivery organisation, the North East Local Enterprise
Partnership
Dynamo mission is to harness momentum in the regions software
and It industry.
It is widely recognised that this sector is driving a digital
revolution, which contributes massively to the broader economy and
has helped fire the UK economy out of recession.
This is nowhere more true than in the North East, because
Dynamos research has proved that It, with
32,000 employees, has more workers in the region than the highly
influential Nissan supply chain, and that the It sector is growing
at a much faster rate.
Dynamo is addressing issues that are a challenge for individual
firms, such as the skills gap, regional broadband infrastructure,
and intellectual property innovation.
It has been able to influence Government policy and is setting
an agenda to make the region the hub for digital and It in the
Northern Powerhouse.
Dynamo also has helped connect a significant number of regional
firms to business or research opportuni-ties, helping drive growth
and revenues locally.
todays Dynamo 15 conference, at the University of sunderlands st
Peters Campus, embraces five key strands innovation, collaboration,
policy, growth and skills.
It will celebrate the North Easts It success stories, examine
future opportunities and challenges, showcase engaging case studies
to inspire others to follow their lead and highlight the latest
technical developments being spearheaded in the region.
Featuring 40-plus national and regional speakers including:
steph McGovern, one of the BBCs leading economic commentators,
who gave her take on the North Easts commercial outlook and its
place in the world of business as well as hosting a panel
discussion on Our Region Our Future
stephen Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of The sage Group,
plc.
Bob Paton, Managing Director of Accentures Newcastle Delivery
Centre
stephen Guss, General Manager at Nissan, on It and the
Automotive supply chain
Ian Walshaw, Head of It at gaming giant tombola
Neil Crockett, Chief Executive
Officer of Digital CatapultMarkus Milsted, Chief Executive
Officer of OmlisDean Benson, Chief Executive
Officer of VisualsoftPaul Fellows, Chief Operating
Officer at Performance Horizon Group
Jess tyrrell, Director of Connect- ing tech City Centre for
London on the future of the North East Digital Economy
Claire Braithwaite, Head of tech North
Barry Hodgson, of the Digital Institute at Newcastle
University
shirley Atkinson, Vice Chancellor of the University of
sunderland
Workshops on the five themes Innovate, Collaborate, Growth,
skills, and Policy
Charlie Hoult, Chair of Dynamo, said: These are exciting times
for the It sector in the North East and todays conference will
reflect its vibrancy and economic impact on the UK and beyond.
We want to relay what has been learnt during the last year since
the inaugural Dynamo conference, highlight the amazing and
innovative work that is being undertaken by organisations large and
small, and bring national and regional players together so they can
network and collaborate on what needs to happen next to grow this
influential sector.
The conferences headline supporters are Accenture and sage with
backing also obtained from HP, Make It sunderland, University of
sunderland, Baltic training services, Quantum Law, Orchard
Information systems and Opencast software.
Dynamo, which is the North East It Network, works to grow the
North East It economy through promoting the region as a hub for the
enterprise It sector.
It is made up of It organisations and employers, technology
hubs, education, local government and employer support
initiatives.
North East IT sector makes its mark on global scale
AN EIGHT-PAGE COMMERCIAL SUPPLEMENT Thursday, June 18, 2015
Steph McGovern will be speaking at the Dynamo conference
>
Growing the North East
IT economy
Headline sponsors:
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2 THE JOURNAL THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2015DYNAMO CONFERENCE
Dynamo has hit the ground running and has achieved a great deal
in the last 18 months. But, as the saying goes you aint seen nothin
yet.
Lets take a look at what else Dynamo wants to achieve.
a northern massachusetts Institute of Technology we are working
on a bid for a national Institute for Digital Innovation. We want
to champion a major international university department that can
build a rolling programme of research, partnership and
enterprise.
Partnerships could be on hot industry topics such as the
Internet of Things or Big Data, Building Information management or
Healthcare diagnostics, with incubation, collaboration and
international knowledge transfer. Were hoping to create a model
that can involve all the local education providers, but also
international institutions.
Business Exchange - Wed like to see industry corporations
contribute to northern mIT, as well as international universities.
Wed also like to operate a team to help establish the partnerships,
engage local firms and foster spin-outs.
Theres a boiling hot economy in the South East, not least with
Google building its 1.6bn European headquarters at Kings Cross. But
we also host some of the UK Governments most useful data sets in
this region, with HmRC and the Prescription Pricing authority based
here.
The north East has a good programme for start-ups, but we
believe there is opportu-nity for cross-fertilisation between our
regions specialist clusters (science, automo-tive, satellite,
health) as well as major growth potential in helping our scale-up
firms to grow.
Leadership in Smart City Tech The north East has already made
major
investment in pilot projects for Smart Cities, such as BTs
Ultrafast broadband test scheme and newcastle Universitys 58m
Centre for Urban Sciences, being built to house the Computer
Science department on Science Central site.
We need to press ahead with our advanc-es so that we can draw
together a globally significant case study.
We can use our natural advantage as a Goldilocks region not too
big, not too small to develop projects that are in demand across
Europe and will lead on global roll-outs. Driverless cars?
Self-help technology for an ageing population? Smart tech for kids
learning? Intelligent electricity generation?
The north East has a well-known heritage in engineering and
innovation. Dynamo has proved that, despite years of bad press
about decline, the region is still a world beater.
a key factor has been to collect the leaders into a cluster and
to shout about success and growth and breakthroughs and todays
Dynamo 15 conference will help us do just that and we hope that all
those involved will spread the message even further.
IT is a fast-moving world and Dynamo has to reflect that, always
looking to the future. Chair CHARLIE HOULT looks at tomorrows
agenda
Dynamos plan for tomorrows world
NEARLY 100 young people from across the North East have been
given an indepth insight into the career opportu-nities available
in the regions growing IT sector.
A Get Into IT afternoon, aimed at young people aged 13-plus,
parents, teachers, and career advisers, was held yesterday at
Sunderland Universitys St Peters Campus as a prelude to todays
Dynamo 15 conference.
The careers event featured a wide range of activities,
demonstrations and the opportunity to chat to those working in the
IT industry. The programme included:
Tell us about IT interactive panel sessions with representatives
from local IT businesses, universities and apprentice
providers.
A Lets Play with IT interactive playroom full of the latest
technology that visitors were able to try.
The big screen programme A Day in the Life of an IT, which
showcased stories from those working in IT, students and
graduates.
Charlie Hoult, Dynamo
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Charlie Hoult >
THE JOURNAL THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2015 3DYNAMO CONFERENCE
chairman, said: There is a buzz about tech careers and this
event was a chance to set foundations for joined-up action. Dynamo
wants computer programming in the North East to run from playground
to PHD because we are going to need skills at every level in the
future.
We hope that the Get Into IT afternoon will have acted as a
catalyst and will have inspired young people to seriously consider
pursuing a career in IT.
It is imperative to the future growth and success of the sector
that we have a steady stream of talented, motivated young people
with the ambition to make their mark in the many tech companies
that are helping drive the North East economy.
Mr Hoult said it was important that young people, parents,
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sector in the North East including:
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Bob Patons new LEP responsibility, as well as his role as
managing director of Accentures Newcastle Delivery Centre, means he
has had to step down as vice chairman of Dynamo.
but, he says, he is still massively involved and still attends
board meetings of the organisation he co-founded.
He explains how Dynamo was born out of Accentures success in the
North East after it set up its delivery centre in 2010, building
staff numbers from 210 people to its current 470.
When you are successful you end up talking to people such as the
CbI, Chamber of Commerce, MPs and council leaders because people
like to hear about success, he says.
In the course of those conversations, he realised that
there was no cluster that covered the whole region and which
included big companies as well as SMEs, even though some 35,000
people work in the IT sector in the region
Every bit of research tells you that if a sector works well
together its more likely to be successful and thats true of any
sector, whether its process and chemicals with the North East
Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC), or offshore energy with NoF
Energy. This is true of the North East and throughout Europe and
the rest of the world.
So he started to contact businesses which could form such a
cluster and discovered that Charlie Hoult, the current Dynamo
chairman, had had the same idea and was engaged in the same
exercise. They met, got on well and between them
they cofounded Dynamo two years ago. The organisation has three
main aims:
To promote and grow the North East IT economy.
To support R&D in technol- ogy in the region.
To support education and skills and increase the numbers of
young people ready to join the industry.
Dynamos philosophy is that collaboration will help the sector in
the North East win work and grow. With R&D it hopes to build on
the regions already strong record.
Paton says: The person who designed the iPad, Sir Jonathan Ive,
went to Northumbria University, the person who invented Hawk-Eye
went to Durham University and the very first online shopping
transaction in the world took place in Gateshead. So the
region has some good history in technology development.
on skills, Dynamo aims to encourage more girls to go into IT. It
has created the first IT sector-led apprentice hubs with one in
Newcastle, another in Sunderland and a third planned; and it is
partnering with Sunderland University to set up the University
Technol-ogy College North East Futures in Newcastle, focused on IT
and health care sciences.
It is also working to increase the numbers of code clubs in
schools
In Estonia, they have a code club in every primary school -
something that the North East of England should also aspire to,
says Paton.
He looks back with satisfac-tion over Dynamos progress in
meeting those objectives.
He says: Weve shown that, because weve got everybody together at
various events, people get to know people. As a result of that,
collaboration has really started to work.
BOB PATON, the North East LEPs new interim chief executive,
explains what motivated him to cofound Dynamo and how it is
fulfilling its aims
Collaboration is key to IT sectors success
Bob Paton >
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THE JOURNAL THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2015 5DYNAMO CONFERENCE DYNAMO
CONFERENCE
Stephen Kelly, Sage >
The North east has a strong heritage of technological
innovation. The inventive, hard-working spirit
that sits at the heart of this commu-nity remains as strong
today as it ever has been. At Sage, were immensely proud to have
our roots in the North east.
I dont doubt that the North east has been a key factor in Sages
success over the last 30 years. The North east breeds a resilience
that
cannot be replicated elsewhere and when you combine that with
the regions famed imagination and creativity, you have a powerful
mix for business success.
But what does the future hold for the region? Personally I was
greatly encouraged to hear George Osbourne outline his intention to
create a Northern Powerhouse by connecting communities in the North
of england. For the North east there is an opportunity to play
a
significant part in shaping that vision and also become the
engine-room of the proposed powerhouse.
Technology, of course, has a huge role to play.
The digital age has placed technol-ogy at the heart of business
and if the North east is to grow in signifi-
cance on the national and interna-tional stage, then a focus on
technology is vital.
The areas already thriving technology community shows that a lot
of the right ingredients are already there.
Dynamo 15 brings businesses
together, giving them a collective voice.
While the region boasts some of the UKs largest companies, we
are undoubtedly stronger together and can pack a punch when it
comes to fighting for the North east to gain the recognition it
deserves.
STEPHEN KELLY, chief executive of Sage Group plc, on the North
East and Dynamo 15
Focus on technology is vital for growth
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6 THE JOURNAL THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2015DYNAMO CONFERENCE
Dynamo North East >chair Charlie Hoult, second from left,
with new vice chairs Neil Hemming, Giselle Stewart and Stuart
Lynn
Neil Hemming is North east born and bred, but has had to spend
most of his working life in exile a major reason for joining
Dynamo.
He explains: im a North east lad but i have, however, spent most
of my career in iT and communications having to work in london and
other places, so my big passion is to try to build a bigger digital
economy in the North east so that future generations of people like
me dont have to go to london to have a job.
After graduating from Newcastle with a degree in computing
science, he worked for iBM and other global iTC giants and is now
managing partner of German multinational software group SAP.
He also sits on the North east leP innovation Board, which has
given him an insight into the regions digital sector.
Theres actually a thriving iT sector in the North east, he says.
There are jobs going in the North east in high-tech industries and
we cant actually fill them. At Dynamo, we want to make something of
the iT opportu-nity that we have to create more jobs in the region
and sustainable businesses, to create an even more diverse and
vibrant iT economy.
Giselle Stewart, director of corporate affairs in the UK for
Ubisoft, has been in computer games for 20 years.
Recently she has become involved in the national skills agenda
as director of trade body TiGA, as chair of the Creative Skillset
Council for Video Games and as an advisory board member for Next
Gen Skills Academy.
She says: People imagine computer games to be developed in a
creative and visual environment, but its also extremely maths and
physics-based and we are always interested in attracting people
with these talents.
How do we ensure theres a strong and robust talent pipeline in
the North
east for the future? its a subject that i am passionate about;
Ubisoft is rigorous in selecting talented people and then considers
how it can help people to evolve in their career within the
company.
She adds: Our five universities feed us very well with a pool of
talented people. The tech sector is really strong in the North east
and its a tale that isnt told loudly enough and widely enough. i
think Dynamo is going to do a super job of communicating this. im
impressed with its philosophy that its not about moaning to
Westminster about how tough it is here but instead, its about
saying what great things we are achieving, with potential for
more.
Stuart lynns career epitomises the economic journey that the
North east has taken he started his working life in coal mining and
is now chief technical officer and chief information officer for
software giant Sage. As one of the founder members of Dynamo he is
a keen champion of the North easts iT sector.
Sage is an internationally known brand but Stuart emphasises
Dynamos role in helping smaller businesses.
He says: im proud of the region and i particularly love working
with the SMes that are part of the Dynamo group. How can we help
them to be successful, build on some of the recognition that the
larger companies such as Sage has achieved, and bring economic
growth and jobs to the North east?
He wants Dynamo 15 to put the North east firmly on the map as a
centre of excellence for information Technology. He says: As a
region, we are home to a wide array of successful technology
companies and yet we are one of the best-kept secrets. We are
already on route to becoming the Northern Powerhouse and its time
to share with the world what excellent opportunities the North east
has to offer.
Dynamo vice chairs speak outGISELLE STEWART, NEIL HEMMING and
STUART LYNN, the new vice chairs of Dynamo, explain why they took
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THE JOURNAL THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2015 7DYNAMO CONFERENCE
Tombolas head of IT Ian Walshaw will be speaking at Dynamo 15 to
share his companys growth story.
Tombola is a sunderland-based online bingo giant, which employs
350 people and operates in a number of countries.
last year the company was con-firmed as the largest bingo
operator in spain and Italy, only two years after moving into the
European market. It is now looking at further expansion in
Europe.
In order to become and stay successful it has had to develop
cutting-edge IT, evolving its software and infrastructure over the
past five years. Head of IT Ian Walshaw describes how the system
tombola now has evolved a great deal from the original product
platform.
He says: We effectively reinvented the wheel on a number of
occasions: We had a legacy platform which was not operating to a
level which the business needed for its ambitious growth plans, for
example there was limited expansion capacity, not an ideal disaster
recovery provision and also technical debt in the software. We had
to architecture our infrastructure from the ground up and start
forward planning for a website software re-architecture.
He adds: We went on a journey which effectively saw us recreate
our product platform from a few stan-dalone servers to a robust,
resilient virtualised environment, which we feel stands up to
scrutiny.
We then started on a journey of effectively rewriting the
website platform so that it was capable of not
just running the UK website, but also taking us into different
countries, making it as easy as possible to replicate the
environment. That has seen us go into Italy where we are now number
one and into spain where we are also number one, so it has worked
very well.
but digital is a fast-moving environ-ment and tombola is
constantly thinking about whats around the corner, what will our
landscape look like in five years time? Were now reviewing what the
cloud can do for us.
Ian says: Where do we need to be five years from now? Will our
systems still be fit for purpose?
Tombola is also acutely aware that it will have to continue to
recruit talented and skilled people if it is to maintain momentum.
For that it recognises that it must continue to build brand
recognition of itself as an exciting and vibrant technology
house.
Recruitment is a horrendously difficult problem for us, says
Ian. Theres an enormous shortage of staff. To help with this, we
are trying to build awareness of the kind of fun stuff we do at
tombola. In addition to this, the technology which underpins the
business is extremely exciting and working for tombola is working
for a market leader. Not many get the chance to work at the cutting
edge of an industry.
Tombola is determined that it will remain at the cutting edge
and its latest phase of innovation is already under-way.
Ian says: as for the time scale for the new development its on
the horizon now.
Tombola determined to remain at cutting edge
DyNamo member Visualsoft has become a major force in IT and has
big plans for the future.
Tees Valley eCommerce company Visualsoft, which is already
expanding into new premises, aims to double the size of its
workforce to nearly 400 in the next few years.
The business, which is moving into a 30,000 sq ft building on
Teesdale business Park, stockton, following a surge in growth, aims
to make acquisitions that comple-ment its core products and
services.
It offers a full service eCommerce solution to more than 1,000
online retailers including website design, development and a range
of online marketing services, including pay-per-click, sEo,
affiliate marketing, and email and social media marketing.
one of the areas we specialise in is multichannel marketing
where you look at one conduit and one outlet we work closely with
ebay and amazon to make sure your product is put in front of as
many people as possible, says chief executive Dean benson.
With offices in stockton, Newcas-tle and london, Visualsoft has
1,200 live websites, more than 300 online marketing clients, and
another 200 websites currently in development. In the past 12
months
alone, the company has processed 5.3 million transactions
through its online platform, collectively worth 300m.
The Teesside-based business was set up 16 years ago by Dean
benson and two others. our background was as a technology company
very analytical and statistical, explains Dean. In the past six
years
alone weve grown the company significantly in that time from a
team of 20 to a team of 200.
How important has collaboration and working with organisations
such as Dynamo or Tees Valley Unlimited, the local Enterprise
Partnership for Tees Valley, been to the business?
Its been phenomenally
important in raising awareness of what we do, he says. Were very
passionate about what we do and to raise awareness of what we are
doing in a growing industry and to make sure that we are recognised
as leaders in our field is very impor-tant to us.
It also works closely with the regions colleges and with
Teesside,
Durham and Newcastle universi-ties. It is looking at doing
on-cam-pus and off-campus courses to offer up-to-date instruction
on the industry.
Visualsoft places great emphasis on staff retention. It has
introduced unlimited paid holidays; flexitime; free breakfasts,
protein shakes and gym membership.
We find recruitment and retention relatively easy because of the
way that we treat staff, says Dean. staff are our biggest asset in
the company and we treat them as such, so we are becoming an
employer of choice.
Visualsoft was named Company of the year in the Teesside heat of
this years North East business awards.
The business is becoming better known but it still raises
eyebrows in the industry when people realise it is North
East-based.
I think we are a surprise for them, says Dean. We are very akin
to the likes of Google in terms of how we are as a company and how
we are perceived, our image and our size. People didnt realise
stockton-on-Tees has such a big employer in the industry.
The futures very bright, we are in a rapidly growing industry
and we are doing all the right things and we have huge plans.
Expanding Visualsoft aims to double workforce
Northern Powerhouse minister James Wharton MP, right, at the new
Visualsoft premises at Teesdale Business >Park, Stockton, with
Sandy Anderson of TVU, left, and Dean Benson of Visualsoft
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8 THE JOURNAL THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2015
The North East has a booming IT industry withover 32,000 people
in firms servicing nationalgovernment, international business and
localchampions. In 2014, we identified over 2,000new jobs but
growth continues in 2015.
Dynamos aim is for the North East to lead theNorthern Powerhouse
agenda on IT and to buildthe Northern Institute of Technology to
connectbusiness, education and government to createinnovations that
will deliver prosperity to the regionand beyond. Join as a member
now.
www.dynamonortheast.co.uk
@dynamonortheast