The North East\u2019s tech scene has been hailed as an economic success in a report that identifies tech salaries, growing companies and more than 30,000 high-skilled jobs.<\/p>\n
The Tech Nation report assessed technology sectors in 30 towns and cities and singles out Newcastle and Sunderland for praise.<\/p>\n
It values\u00a0Newcastle technology cluster as more than \u00a31bn, with 90% of those working in it rating their quality of life as good and 76% optimistic that their companies will grow.<\/p>\n
The report says the average advertised salary in digital technology jobs in Newcastle last year was \u00a351,213, the fourth highest in the country.<\/p>\n
Newcastle also had one of the highest proportions of high growth digital companies, at 22%, while Sunderland\u2019s technology sector had more than doubled in size in the last five years, the third highest growth rate.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the Newcastle technology sector, the report says: \u201cThe presence of some of the UK\u2019s biggest digital tech businesses, such as Sage, has long attracted innovative startups to the area.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n \u201cThese are stimulated by support networks such as Dynamo North East and the Digital Union, by co-working spaces such as Campus North and Hoults Yard, and by access to finance from local investors, including Northstar Ventures, which has more than \u00a3100m under management.<\/p>\n \u201cNewcastle is producing companies with significant staying power. Last year, True Potential became the only UK fintech firm to make it into the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 three years in a row, while Performance Horizon raised $15.4m in Series C funding.<\/p>\n \u201cNewcastle and Northumbria Universities continue to support and strengthen the cluster. They have long acted as a strong talent pool for regional players, such as French gaming giant Ubisoft.<\/p>\n Newcastle\u2019s Science Central, a joint venture between the university and the city council, is a \u00a3350m investment intended to house a series of National Innovation Centres.\u201d<\/p>\n In a separate report,\u00a0Tech North highlights how three of the region\u2019s top tech investors – Northstar Ventures, Ignite and Rivers Capital – are based in Newcastle, with the availability of capital for growing firms meaning many no longer feel the need to go to London to achieve their ambitions.<\/p>\n In the report, Alasdair Greig of Northstar Ventures says: \u201cNot only have we seen a significant increase in the demand for venture capital from regional entrepreneurs, but more importantly, there has been a significant rise in the quality and level of ambition of businesses being built here.<\/p>\n \u201cFounders now know that they don\u2019t need to relate their business to the US or to London in order to access finance and support from experienced investors, or to attract the scale-up talen they need to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n Tech North said the increasing amount of funding being made available to technology companies in the North is a sign of the sector\u2019s success, but that more needs to be done to help tech businesses in the region achieve their full potential.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The North East\u2019s tech scene has been hailed as an economic success in a report that identifies tech salaries, growing companies and more than 30,000 high-skilled jobs. The Tech Nation report assessed technology sectors in 30 towns and cities and singles out Newcastle and Sunderland for praise. It values\u00a0Newcastle technology cluster as more than \u00a31bn, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,31],"tags":[91,106,131],"class_list":["post-1323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-funding","category-innovation","category-tech-sparx","tag-funding","tag-innovation","tag-newcastle"],"yoast_head":"\n