Member Article

Dynamo founder says aim is to "lead and not plead" for North East tech sector

The man behind a new vehicle for promoting the North East technology sector, Dynamo, says the body will work hard to market regional skills and opportunities on a national stage.

Charlie Hoult, the chair of Dynamo, says the body’s raison d’être is to “lead and not plead”, and demonstrate the prowess of the region’s technology businesses.

Speaking to Bdaily on the eve of the Dynamo 14 conference, Charlie said the first step is to gather momentum within the region before taking Dynamo out to the rest of the UK.

He said: “There’s no doubt about it, we have a big agenda. But, the overall objective of Dynamo is to grow the North East IT economy. When we were first thinking up the idea I put together a manifesto with key themes - innovation, collaboration and skills. These are the themes that feature across the conference.

“The task is to position our region and tell the stories that will attract investment from companies and skilled professionals. It’s a good time to capitalise on the North East’s strengths; the economy is boiling hot in London and the costs of doing something up here are really attractive.”

A recent piece of research from Dynamo estimated some 1,500 vacancies exist across the North East technology industry. Charlie explained that it’s crucial not to create “cannibalism” within the labour market by promoting jobs in such a way that causes transience between existing firms.

“Because the economy has been sluggish, the capacity isn’t there in the region. When it kicks off again there’ll be a squeeze because we haven’t got the right skills. We need to do the long-term thinking on that one, but ultimately it’s about shining a light on a regional sector that’s in rude health,” Charlie added.

Beyond the conference, Dynamo will tackle skills and apprenticeships programmes, stage careers fairs in London to encourage talent to the region and continue its research into the industry so that an accurate picture of its potential can be wielded as a robust promotional tool.

Funding for these activities will come from sponsorship and structuring the body around a membership model.

The focus is on corporate-level business - a group Charlie feels need to establish a voice to shout about their job creating activities.

He added: “We’ve got a myriad of exciting and dynamic start-ups in the region - businesses that already attract publicity for those reasons.

“The ambition isn’t to make Dynamo an umbrella organisation - it’s about positioning the region as a major player. Hewlett Packard are creating 300 jobs, Accenture are creating 90 jobs and Sage are creating 160 jobs - that’s the type of sustainable jobs growth we want to promote.

“It’s not about pitching one end of the spectrum against the other, and of course there we’ll encourage collaboration between small and large organisations.

“The region has got all types of organisation - from the three graduates who have an invention they’re dreaming will become the next big thing, through to an office full of 2,000 staff trying to efficiently get thousands of cheques out as part of the benefit system.

“We need to be focussed about what we’re doing and making sure it isn’t duplicating efforts.”

Charlie, who is 4th generation of the Hoult family, and current landlord at Newcastle business park Hoults Yard, has experience in the sector as an Angel investor and managing director of Opencast software, among other interests.

“I’ve had this privileged, helicopter-like view of North East technology businesses, as landlord at Hoults Yard - where there are many blossoming firms,” he added.

“Companies have set up there with 20 desks and then grown to 80 people. The growth is stark, and that needed shouting about, because it still wasn’t on the agenda as a major selling point for the region.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .