We are happy to announce that Sheffield Technology Parks (STP) is the latest organisation to become a Regional Partner of Sheffield Digital. The non-profit workspace and tech incubator has sat at the heart of the city’s technology scene for over 30 years and it now plays a vital role in helping tech startups and scaleups to succeed. This formal partnership will strengthen our links with Sheffield’s flourishing startup scene, as well as uniting our efforts to make Sheffield the best place to start, work in and grow digital businesses.
STP is a long standing supporter of Sheffield Digital, having been a Founding Member. More recently, STP’s CEO, Tom Wolfenden joined our leadership team as a director, to help guide our future strategy. Both organisations are working hard to create a robust and sustainable ecosystem in the city, where tech businesses can thrive.
Shared focus
STP is home to 30 businesses with over 200 employees. The organisation manages specialist programmes like the Cooper Project and LOCATE, focussed on progressing early business ideas to startup stage, and attracting inward investment through relocation, respectively.
As the organisation for businesses and individuals involved in Sheffield’ and South Yorkshire’s digital industries, we want to play a helpful role in the journeys of founders, relocating companies, and established Sheffield digital businesses alike. Through our new partnership, we‘ll be exploring how we can support and enhance STP’s programmes and its offer to existing residents.
We’d like to expand the reach of fundamental parts of STP’s support infrastructure, including its regular drop-in sessions with investment, legal, insurance and financial experts. This means that more individuals and companies have access to specialist and trusted advisors who can help them to navigate growth or issues that are hampering their success.
STP is the base for many of the city’s meetups, including Sheffield Startup Meetup and Sheffield Women in Tech (ShfWiT). We’ll be supporting these meetups and their networks in whatever way we can to ensure their sustainability; helping to facilitate speaker lineups and promoting events across our platforms.
Stronger together
Speaking about the partnership, Tom Wolfenden comments,
“Sheffield Digital has done an exceptional job of building, representing and championing the digital tech community in the city and broader region. We are keen to support that continued work and enhance it where we can, as a Regional Partner.”
He continues,
“Sheffield is increasingly attracting outside attention and our reputation as a city of innovation is gaining traction. Now is the time for core infrastructure, like our two organisations, the universities, local authority and SYMCA, plus others, to work together for a strong, sustainable ecosystem. By doing that, we can continue to attract and retain talented individuals and exciting companies with potential to create highly-skilled, well-paid jobs in the city, boosting the economy overall.”
Mel Kanarek, Co-founder and a director of Sheffield Digital, added:
“We’ve had an informal working relationship with Tech Parks for many years and I’m delighted to see this put on a more focused footing. We share a vision and ambition for Sheffield’s tech scene and I’m excited to see how we can develop that into concrete activities that will have a long term impact on the success of local tech businesses.”
Find out more about Sheffield Technology Parks and its ambitions for the city, in our Partner Profile.