<p>Investment in Entrepreneurs RT Wednesday 26th September 2012 UKFast, 28th Floor, City Tower, Manchester 12 -2pm Your contact on the day is: Kate Welch t. 07785 703 923 If you have any dietary requirements that you have not already stated, please let Kate know asap. Round Table Attendees (in alphabetical order):  Tim Langley, Canddi  Hannah Lucas, MIDAS  Dan Moloney, Entrepreneurial Researcher at M4-HPTE  Manoj Ranaweera, edocr.com/Techcelerate  Vikas Shah, Thought Strategy/ Greater Manchester Film Festival  Julian Tait, FutureEverything The following questions are a guideline for the session; we will aim to cover each of the topics, sharing our expert opinions on each of the key areas. The direction that the conversation will take will largely be dictated by you. Please keep in mind that our experience running these sessions has taught us that press containing tips or statistics is widely picked up by targeted publications. Therefore, any tips or advice that you can bring to the debate will help ensure we all get the greatest amount of press coverage possible. I have included a few statistics and quotes in the notes, and also placed a few articles at the end of the document. Just a little food for thought! Statistics:  The ten local authorities of Greater Manchester – Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, and Wigan – represent the largest functional economic area outside London, with a population of 2.6 million and gross value added (GVA) of £46 billion. (source: MIDAS)  The number of people aged 16-24 claiming jobseekers allowance declined by 900 (3.4%) to 24,400 between May and June, an indication of a resurgence in employment opportunities across the region (in reference to the NW) (source: Mancunian Matters)  Annual financial impact of Manchester University on the region is £1.4 billion. (source: University of Manchester) Questions and topics The North West (NW) and the Wider Business Picture 1. Where does the NW sit in terms of business expansion and entrepreneurship in comparison to the rest of the UK? 2. Which industries are particularly strong in the NW? 3. Has the NW developed a niche in any specific fields? 4. In what areas, if any, is the NW gaining recognition globally? 5. Is the NW attracting a specific size business? 6. If so, has this size business been targeted or has this happened organically? 7. What support both financial and in terms of network, is being offered to businesses that set-up in the NW? 8. Does this vary across the NW for example Manchester vs. Liverpool? 9. Does the NW encourage and nurture the entrepreneur? (please see ‘North West Fund partners with IoD to inspire Cheshire entrepreneurs’ article at the back of these notes) 10. Do you know how this compares to other regions? The Influence of Media City 11.What is the most prolific effect that the emergence of Media City has had on investment in the NW? 12.What effect has it has on digital start-ups in the NW? (please see ‘Manchester unveils plan to become digital city’ article at the back of these notes) 13. Has Media City encouraged investment in technology and digitally driven industries at the expense of other industries? 14.Has the effect of Media City been felt in the region, outside of Salford and Manchester? A Digital NW 15.What is the NW doing to attract businesses, specifically technology businesses, to the area? 16.Would you say the region is second in choice, after London, for technology and digital companies to be based? 17.Where else in the UK is popular for these types of businesses? 18.Will there ever be the equivalent of Silicon Roundabout or even Silicon Valley in the North West? 19.TechHub has been running in London for some time but a TechHub has recently launched in Manchester. What has encouraged this initiative as well as similar initiatives like Tech Centre Manchester? (Please find more information on both spaces at the back of these notes. Information on the latter is within the ‘It’s Grim Up North’ article) 20.Are there any negatives to working in environments, like these, whereby you’re working alongside companies doing similar things? 21.What are the positives? Who’s Investing in the NW? 22.Who are the key venture capitalists within the NW and what have they invested in? This can be a company or private investor. 23.Who are the leading figures in the NW in terms of building networks and bringing similar industries together? I’m sure some of you are in the room today. The Future of the NW 24.Manchester, Salford, Liverpool and Lancaster are all home to prestigious Universities. What initiatives have been implemented across the NW, if any, to keep talent in the region after graduation? 25.In turn, what will new business growth in the region mean for these Universities? 26.What will happen if the NW loses talent abroad or to the Silicon Roundabout in London? 27.What will happen if the NW loses businesses and start-ups to other locations? 28.Is this a real risk? 29.Is the opposite happening and is the NW attracting talent and businesses from abroad? (please see ‘MDI Solutions chooses Manchester Science Park for UK office’ article at the back of these notes) 30.Is this happening in any specific Industries? 31.What is the government doing to protect the NW’s assets and enhance growth in the region? Articles and further reading: Greater Manchester’s Major Sectors Financial & Professional Services 16.6% Manufacturing & Engineering 16.1% Health 13.0% Retail 10.3% Education 8.5% Creative & Digital 7.7% The North West Fund partners with IoD to inspire Cheshire Entrepreneurs Press Release 18th May 2012 Cheshire entrepreneurs have snapped up over £5.7m of funding from The North West Fund since its launch, making the county the second most active in the region for investments by The Fund. The announcement comes as two of the region's leading entrepreneurs are set to speak at The North West Fund's first 'Inspiring Entrepreneurs' event, which is being held in partnership with the Cheshire Institute of Directors on Thursday 24 May at the De Vere Village Hotel, Warrington. Sandbach-based entrepreneur Joe O'Carroll, CEO of the UK's leading bioenergy supplier, Imperative Energy, will talk about the rapid growth of his cutting edge business and how, in February 2012, the company secured investment from The North West Fund for Energy and Environmental, managed by CT Investment Partners. The £185m North West Fund is financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank. Cheshire resident, textile mogul and managing director of Tarameen, Tariq Marfani, will then provide the audience with a fascinating insight into the growth of his Manchester-based, family-run packaging and textile import firm and its diversification into the eco-friendly materials market. Statistics from The North West Fund show that Cheshire is second only to Merseyside, which is earmarked for 40 per cent of The Fund, for the number of businesses that have secured finance through The Fund and the total value of those investments. The county secured £5.77m of investment in 26 businesses, representing a share of 28 per cent of total investments by The North West Fund at the end of April 2012. A great achievement for the county, which accounts for only 18 per cent of businesses in the region. Recent investments in addition to the equity funding into Imperative Energy are The North West Fund for Venture Capital's £500,000 investment into Crewe-based optical coatings manufacturer Power Vision and their £340,000 investment into Holmes Chapel-based Tyres on the Drive, both through fund managers EV. Andy Leach, CEO of North West Business Finance, which manages The North West Fund, said: "Cheshire is clearly a region that has the appetite for business growth and is looking to take advantage of the opportunities that a volatile economy can offer by securing investment. The event on the 24th May is a great opportunity for Cheshire's entrepreneurs to get together to both share ideas and hear from people that have successfully taken that leap of faith in their businesses." Manchester unveils plan to become digital city By Kirsty Hewitt, EN Magazine Manchester City Council has unveiled a ten-point plan in a bid to become one of the world’s foremost digital cities by 2020. The local authority wants to promote economic growth while ensuring residents have the skills to benefit from an increased digital presence. Key objectives of the plans include boosting connectivity so that businesses and local people have access to 100 per cent fast broadband coverage and delivering a more coordinated partnership between the public and private sector to promote digital Manchester in order to attract new business. The plans also include initiatives to persuade more people to become digitally savvy and to encourage investment and skills development from an early age to maximise the potential of home-grown talent. According to official figures, five per cent of employment in Greater Manchester is categorised as creative and digital. Around 40,000 new job opportunities are predicted to be created by 2015 as a result of growth in the region’s digital sector. The city council has also made a bid for £12 million of Government money as part of the Coalition’s Urban Broadband Fund. If this is successful, it will mean all businesses and residents will have access to high-speed internet both through Wi-Fi and in public spaces throughout the city centre. Steve Downes, managing director of social media agency Juice Digital, said the ten point plan is “universal acknowledgement” that the digital sector is a key area of global growth. He added, “Manchester is already punching above its weight in this area, so to invest further to accelerate the growth is common sense. “Manchester already has the expertise, vision and passion for digital, so with an infrastructure to match it could be a global leader. “And the digital economy is truly global which in some ways cushions the sector from regional economic problems”. Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said, "Manchester is already a force on the digital world stage with the city council spearheading innovation in the digital and creative sector helping build the UK 's largest digital economy outside the capital." He claimed the digital strategy is vital for building on that success to ensure the region benefits from the potential of improved technologies, while making sure residents are in a position to take advantage of any jobs created as a result. TechHub will be a home for new technology start ups Manchester Evening News, Business, September 12, 2012 A new start-up hub for the technology sector is to open in Manchester in November. TechHub will be a workspace for innovative technology start-ups, located over two floors at Carver’s Warehouse in Piccadilly Basin. Its aim is to foster technology innovation and the site will include 50 permanent desks for new businesses in the sector, as well as room for members requiring an occasional space to work. TechHub co-founder and chief executive Elizabeth Varley said: “Right now, Manchester is buzzing, and we see it as an excellent addition to the growing TechHub network. “I'm looking forward to greater collaboration between entrepreneurs and tech companies in the north and south of England.” There are already TechHubs in London and Riga, Latvia. Richard Lewis, property director at Leeds-based Town Centre Securities, which owns Carver's warehouse, said: “This is a real coup for Manchester. “To secure the first UK TechHub outside London is recognition of Manchester’s ambition to be the UK’s digital city and a major player in the global digital technology sector by 2020. “TCS has its own aspirations to develop and support this sector, which has huge potential for growth. Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council said: “We welcome these proposals that support growth and development of the city digital community. “We want to encourage the private sector to create more facilities like this in the city.” It’s Grim up North for UK Start-ups, but things are changing 26th March 2011 by Martin Bryant Mention the UK technology start-up scene to anyone outside the country and they’ll probably think of London’s vibrant scene around the Old Street roundabout, or maybe clusters in places like Cambridge, or at a push the northeast of England around Newcastle. One area that won’t get a look-in is the North West. Spanning from the Irish Sea to the Pennine mountain range, the North West of England is a region brimming with creative talent. It punches above its weight in the music department – The Beatles, The Smiths, Joy Division and many more classic bands came from the region; its scientific record is outstanding – among them, Alan Turing did much important computer science work in Manchester, the same city that gave birth to The Baby – the first stored- program electronic digital computer. Games-wise, Sony’s base in Liverpool grew from the seeds sown by a vibrant independent developer scene in the northwest All this world-class talent, and yet it’s difficult to name a single Internet start-up from the region. The problems One Northern venture capitalist, Ajaz Ahmed – founder of iconic dialup-era British ISP Freeserve, which helped bring the Internet to the masses – bemoaned the state of the UK start-up scene this week. Speaking at the first ever Northern Tech Awards in Manchester, Ahmed criticised companies lack of attention to detail as a key factor behind no British businesses (aside from the publicly funded BBC) being in the top 100 Internet companies worldwide. VCs also came under fire in Ahmed’s speech for acting more like bank managers giving out loans than as investors taking a risk. Ahmed later explained to me, “In order to be successful you need to have real empathy with customers, some of the best most successful digital companies and American VCs really understand what customers will like and not like, they don’t ask customers because they are typical customers themselves.” “Most of our VCs come from a finance background and are more comfortable looking at the figures rather than ‘is this actually a good idea?”, Ahmed continued. These are common complaints in the UK, and they probably apply equally to London as they do further North. However, the North of England additionally suffers from not being part of a ‘world city’ environment. Instead of being concentrated in one small area, they are spread out across many cities and small towns. The potential There are many challenges, although things could be starting to change. The Northern Tech Awards, at which Ajaz Ahmed was speaking, was designed to celebrate the achievements of start-ups making the arduous “uphill journey” from bootstrapped idea to profitability and a lucrative exit. The Awards have been founded by Manoj Ranaweera, who has been running networking events for start-ups in the northwest for five years, presently under the Techcelerate banner. “If you are an early stage tech company operating out of Manchester and the North, it is unlikely you will get to see more than 5 VCs on average, before continuing with bootstrapping and eventually giving up. That’s a bit dramatic, but true for many companies we’ve met since 2006”, he says. Ranaweera wants to attract more VCs to the North of England. “Instead of tech companies having to travel to London and elsewhere, we will bring the VCs (and angel investors) to them. By doing this, tech companies will improve their pitches and propositions.” There’s also a real need for a stronger community to support Internet start-ups in the North. While it’s possible to go too far too many networking events in London, it can be difficult to find many useful, relevant ones North. “The community needs to step in to help fill the gaps, increasing the chances of success for capital raising”, says Ranaweera. “The momentum should encourage more people to take risk by setting up their own tech companies, a ‘if he can do it, so can I’ attitude.” Ranaweera has recently opened a shared office space for start-ups. Inspired by London’s TechHub, which has had a noticeable impact on the start-up scene in the capital and beyond, he wants it to use it as the basis for a new ecosystem in the North West. The plan is to cultivate links with other nearby centres aimed at tech companies, as well as Universities in the region. Ranaweera’s problem is that he’s trying to do this on his own, while also trying to run his own start-up, Edcor. Tech Centre Manchester is currently unsubsidised too. Charging commercial, central Manchester rates could well make it too expensive for many start-ups. He hopes to bring large international Internet companies on board as founding partners but at present the initiative is still at an embryonic stage. At a recent Techcelerate networking event in Manchester, a heated debate began about how to kick-start the region’s start-up scene. Many people present argued that an accelerator scheme similar to The Difference Engine and Springboard, both spearheaded by Jon Bradford in other parts of England, would be beneficial for the region. The mood appeared to be “If only we had our own Jon Bradford here.” Until that happens, an ecosystem may have to evolve without the promise of any direct investment. Even if start-ups can help themselves by pooling resources where possible, it would be a start. The people While paid-for networking events like Techcelerate can help, there’s a definite need for more casual get-togethers of like-minded coders, designers and entrepreneurs. “Start-ups in the North of England will always struggle due to the lack of critical mass,” explains Jon Bradford. “This can only be addressed by encouraging start-ups to work and play in close proximity. Creativity comes from working alongside other bright and talented teams.” Duncan Stockdill, whose company Capsule CRM won Best Enterprise Start-up and Best Bootstrapped Start-up at the Northern Tech Awards, agrees. “A strong local tech community would be great so that we can share ideas and experience with other start-ups and also meet potential future staff,” he says. “Manoj has done a good job with Techcelerate, but that tends to draw the business side of the tech community. There’s also some smaller groups such as geekup with a hardcore tech focus and it would be good to see these growing.” Stockdill is also keen to point out that, really, location shouldn’t be a significant factor for a Web-based business. “The truth is that successful tech businesses spring up in cities all over the world. There’s absolutely no reason why a tech business in the North of England shouldn’t be successful if they have a good idea and good execution.” Even without a well-developed ecosystem, it does feel like something might be changing. Maybe it’s the economic downturn sparking people’s entrepreneurial spirit, but I’ve had two potentially top-notch, consumer-facing start-up ideas from Manchester companies pitched to me within the past couple of weeks (more on those on The Next Web soon) – something that’s been absent in the two years that I’ve been closely watching the scene in the city. Manoj Ranaweera plans to make the Northern Tech Awards a larger affair next year, taking in companies from a wider swath of the North. Hopefully by then we’ll have seen more collaboration between start-ups and a better developed start-up culture in places like Manchester. It won’t be easy though. As Jon Bradford notes, “Start-up life is hard, and more so in the North. Whilst there are definite signs of green shoots, but they require nurturing from all of the ecosystem participants rather than this falling upon the shoulders of a few.” MDI Solutions chooses Manchester Science Park for UK office Posted on: 23/8/2012 MIDAS MDI Solutions, a Canadian company that specialise in the integration of Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS), has opened a new office at Manchester Science Park. The move follows support from MIDAS – Manchester’s inward investment agency – the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the company’s established association with Manchester’s MedTECH Centre and Science Park. PACS is a medical imaging technology which provides efficient storage of image-types including ultrasound, mammograms, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT). The technology enables better organised healthcare systems and delivers huge cost savings and improved patient care and safety. MDI Solutions has been active in the UK for five years and counts NIPACS in Northern Ireland and Royal Derby Foundation Trust amongst its UK customer base. The firm has also recently been selected by the NHS Supply Chain (acting as an agent for the NHS Business Services Authority) for participation in the framework agreement to supply DICOM Data Migration Solutions (Lot 5) to the NHS. The NHS Supply Chain has been commissioned to procure a variety of solutions for Trusts and will spend an estimated £340 million over the next three years. Alan McLaren, VP Business Development, MDI Solutions, said: “MDI Solutions picked Manchester because of our developed relationship with MIDAS and our association with the MedTEC Centre and Science Park; however Manchester is also uniquely positioned in the UK, with excellent staffing prospects and low costs. “Manchester has hosted the UK Radiological Congress (UKRC) twice in recent years when MDI Solutions has been an exhibitor and we have always been impressed with the city’s offering.” Tim Newns, chief executive of MIDAS, Manchester’s inward investment agency, said: “I’m delighted that MDI Solutions has chosen to invest in the city, as it shows real recognition of Manchester’s world-class Life Sciences and Biomedical sector. Manchester is one of the UK’s top biomedical clusters and MDI will be supported by an infrastructure that already serves over 200 biomedical companies currently based here. “With over 6,000 new biomedical graduates every year and Europe’s largest single-site clinical academic campus at Central Manchester University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, MDI Solutions will also benefit from a sustainable pool of talent. “The company’s choice to invest in Manchester is one we welcome, and is also one that we know will benefit them greatly.” </p>