In this opening editorial article, Mel sets the stage for the quarterly briefing, recaps the recent history of Sheffield’s tech cluster, and our hopes and intentions for the future. It gives me a great deal of personal satisfaction to write this introduction to the first Quarterly Briefing on Sheffield’s digital economy. For those of us

De-mystifying R&D tax reliefs The potential savings that you can make through claiming R&D tax reliefs are worth paying attention to. For a business developing new or improved software that seeks to make ‘appreciable’ improvements in the field, around £25,000 can be saved in corporation tax for every £100,000 spent innovating. The Q&As below are

What’s it all about? This event gives everyone the space and opportunity to shape what we do going forwards. We will: tell the story of Sheffield’s digital scene over the last 12 months look forward to things that are coming up give everyone a chance to speak their mind and help shape what we do

The team are (from left to right in the photo) Glyn Heath, Morgan Killick and Chris Wheater. All three have experience of founding, running and growing technology businesses. Their role is to offer a very flexible service, covering everything from start-up to scaling, and they are happy to talk to businesses at any stage of

Over the past couple of years, a strong network has developed between the different groups that represent the regional tech clusters across the country. We’ve been meeting regularly to share information and ideas and, with the help of Danny Dickinson, head of regional tech policy at DCMS, have been able to talk to policy makers

Targeting under-represented groups The Tech, Set, Go! project is being funded through the government’s Digital Skills Innovation Fund. It will target several key under-represented groups: women who want to return to work after a period of absence, as well as women who are under-employed in low-skilled jobs or unemployed; people who are on the autistic

The Sheffield Digital Festival is a collaboration between Field Design and Sheffield Digital. The theme for the Festival is “where creativity meets technical excellence”. The Festival is made up of a main event on Friday 17 May and a platform for people around the city to create and promote their own Fringe events during the

Ground floor Starting on the ground floor, work is in the final stages of fitting out the 300-seat food hall, which will be called Kommune. We already know that The Depot Bakery and Pom Kitchen will be there, and a shiny pizza oven was also in place. There’s a large semi-circular bar that hugs the

We need someone who is highly organised and able to commit to carrying these tasks out reliably and consistently. These are important activities that keep our organisation running smoothly and which support our thriving community. We will, of course, provide training and support. You can find a detailed description of what’s required – the budget available

Who is Egress and what do you do?   Egress was founded 11 years ago, by three people who are still with the company today. Our CTO is passionate about supporting the local tech community, as are our staff. We help enterprises protect unstructured data to meet compliance requirements and drive business productivity. Our AI-powered platform

We spoke to Matt Pennington, one of the conference organisers, to find out more. Matt is part of the team at QuoteXpress, based at Sheffield Tech Parks. QuoteXpress is a quote and referral tool for legal matters, which also helps law firms comply with new pricing transparency regulations coming into force at the end of

Raising the profile of your digital start-up These new opportunities from Tech Nation recognise the power of connection and collaboration when starting up a digital business. Through the Founders’ Network, members can have unlimited access to learning materials, monthly meetups and an online Slack community. Membership is free to join and open to incorporated businesses

This is a guest post by Tom Wolfenden, the manager at Sheffield Technology Parks. Firstly, I should explain who ‘we’ are – I run Sheffield Technology Park (STP) based in the Cooper Buildings on Arundel Street. We’re a non-profit economic development organisation at heart, self-funded by rental revenues from our tech community with a remit

Festival of the Mind is a unique collaboration between the academic community at the University of Sheffield and the city’s cultural, creative and digital industries. Its last outing in 2016 attracted 50,000 visitors to more than 75 events at 16 venues across the city. FoM has always had a strong digital component and this year is

The challenge The challenge for the hack will be to create a model that can cope with the number of fine adjustments required throughout the inspection and measurement process, and potentially automate decision-making. At one of Rolls-Royce’s manufacturing facilities, inspection is carried out to measure the moment weight of rotating components, to determine optimal alignment

Built on strong values and with a mantra of ‘change for the better’, Perform Green recently became a Certified B Corporation® and Living Wage Employer. We sent a few questions to Lara Moloney, the company’s Head of Business Development and Client Partnerships, to find out more about who they are and what they do. What

In February, a group of local digital employers got together with the team at the College to discuss progress. The main focus of the meeting was to look at the structure of the programme, including the idea of a two week bootcamp before the course proper starts. About the bootcamps The main aims of the

While it might seem like a distant and somewhat random choice for growth, business links between China and the city region have been increasing over recent years and those links flow in both directions. Get on the directory If you’re tempted, we need you to fill in a quick survey and the information will be

The aim was to help people working in digital to get a feel for how digital is being applied in advanced manufacturing and to think about how they might develop products or services for manufacturers. How do manufacturing businesses work? After the visit, many people mentioned that they would like the opportunity to find out

European accelerator programme IoT Tribe is coming to our neck of the woods, thanks to an ambitious campaign by the team at Barnsley Digital Media Centre (DMC) and funding from Innovate UK. About IoT Tribe and the IoT North project IoT Tribe is an organisation that has already supported over 130 IoT companies across Europe.

The Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) and the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) Factory 2050 are partnering up with some of the biggest global names in manufacturing who are keen to meet SMEs who can help them innovate and transform to meet future manufacturing needs. A speed networking event on 16th November at Factory 2050 will give

Sheffield cyber start-up Ioetec Limited is one of just nine companies to join the second programme of the GCHQ Cyber Accelerator, powered by Wayra UK. Ioetec provides a plug-and-play cloud services solution to connect Internet of Things devices with end-to-end, authenticated, encrypted security. The companies will now begin an intensive acceleration programme that will help their

Here in Sheffield, we have two thriving University Technical Colleges, both with programmes relevant to the digital industries. UTC City Centre covers Creative and Digital Media, whilst UTC Olympic Legacy Park covers Computing. Between them, they have students learning about everything from design, animation and games development to robotics, Internet of Things and big data.

UTC Sheffield City Centre was the first UTC to open in Yorkshire and Humber, in September 2013. All students complete a technical qualification in one of two industry specialisms, either Engineering & Advanced Manufacturing or Creative & Digital Media, in addition to GCSEs and A Levels. Our students develop good industry skills on highly effective

Sheffield’s second UTC opened at the Olympic Legacy Park in 2016 with a mandate to provide specialist education in Computing, Sports Science and Life Sciences alongside traditional GCSEs and A-Levels.  The flagship £10-million-pound building provides a unique experience for students to study adjacent to elite athletes and professional sports people. At the UTC itself, we

We’ve been talking a lot recently about how Sheffield’s digital industries are “on the cusp” of a growth explosion. But how does our industry look to someone who works with our businesses, rather than in them? We talked to Scott Burkinshaw, Tax Partner and Head of Innovation Taxes Group at Shorts accountants, to get his

The Sheffield College is the latest education provider in the city to formalise its relationship with Sheffield Digital. The College has become an Associate Sponsor, joining Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield in recognising the importance of forging closer links between education and digital businesses in the city region. The College’s current digital

That’s one thing we know for sure – there’s a shortage of programmers in our area and not just programmers, a whole range of technical roles. So how do you find the talent you need? Well, perhaps you can grow your own. Apprenticeships are the tried and tested way to grow your own talent and

As part of the Innovate UK Delivery Plan, Innovate UK is to invest up to £15m* in innovative projects in Emerging and Enabling Technologies and up to £10m for Knowledge Transfer Partnerships. Technologies within “Emerging and Enabling Technologies” include: emerging technologies: defined as technologies that are progressing in, or have recently emerged from, the research

IdeasInc is a project run by Canadian-turned-Sheffielder Kathy McKay. Kathy is passionate about encouraging young people to improve their employability, digital skills and entrepreneurship and to explore the career opportunities available to them through digital. Kathy describes IdeasInc as an enterprise accelerator for young people aged 13 to 24. Groups of students work together to

We’re delighted to announce that Sheffield City Council is joining us as a Regional Partner. Sheffield Digital has always had a good working relationship with the Council, but their decision to formalise that into a Regional Partnership is really encouraging. It shows that the Council recognises the importance of the sector and is keen to

Sheffield tech company Pimoroni Ltd is to go international, opening a German branch in only its fifth year of operation. Pimoroni GmbH will be based in Essen, providing European customers with improved, faster postage and local support. The move comes as the company, which designs, manufactures and supplies components and accessories to fans and users of

After it’s highly successful first appearance last year, Playground returns to the Children’s Media Conference from 4th to 9th July at the Cantor Gallery. Playground is an exhibition of digital art which you can interact with, plus there’s a Maker Space were you can make your own digital art. You’ll get to explore interactive digital

Evoluted is a company that actually conforms to the stereotypical tech business story. Managing director Ash Young started making websites while he was at Sheffield University studying software engineering. He set up Evoluted as soon as he graduated in 2006 and the company began with Ash and colleague Gareth Davies working out of a bedroom.

Hive IT are one of the newer arrivals on the Sheffield digital scene – the company was started in 2014, when founder Jonny Rippon decided he could “do it better” and left Technophobia to set up on his own. Today, Hive IT employs 18 full time staff and, with contractors, can have up to 30

Digifest, which takes place on Tuesday 4th July, is a new event designed to celebrate digital learning activity and inform young people and their families about the exciting opportunities in the digital sector. The event will be held in Sheffield Hallam University’s brand new STEM centre opposite Sheffield station. It will combine taster sessions and

Just two months after raising their latest round of funding, Sheffield startup Tutora are celebrating ranking 77th on the Startups 100 List. Heralded as the ‘longest running index of the best new UK businesses’, the Startups 100 List is highly competitive, highlighting the head-turners of the entrepreneurial world. Previous Startups 100 lists have featured the likes

Two years ago, Sheffield Digital was just an idea. Today, it’s a vibrant community organisation that’s busy connecting, representing and promoting Sheffield’s digital community. Come and hear about what we’ve achieved so far, and our plans for the future, as well as from some of the people and firms who are shaping the Sheffield tech scene right

Sheffield Digital turned two years old on 21st May. Now we have launched a campaign to significantly increase Sheffield Digital’s membership. Why? Because we need to put the organisation onto a sustainable financial footing so that we can make plans for the future and put some proper resources in place to do the work. But, just as

The Children’s Media Conference is the UK’s premier gathering for the kids’ media and entertainment industry – and it happens in Sheffield. Last year, the conference welcomed over 1100 delegates from television, radio, film, games, interactive media, magazine and book publishing, the licensing and toy sectors and the arts and culture sectors. This year’s conference

After débuting their first event way back in 2012, the team behind Startup Weekend Sheffield are gearing up for a special 10th edition of their weekend long entrepreneurial extravaganza. Taking place on 2nd – 4th June at the University of Sheffield’s Diamond building, Startup Weekend sees participants progress from pitching an idea to launching a

We’re delighted to announce that Plusnet is the latest business to join Sheffield Digital as a company member. We spoke to Digital Transformation Consultant Liam Dyson to find out more about Plusnet’s Sheffield operation and their plans for the future. Set up nearly 20 years ago, Plusnet’s Sheffield office now has more than 1,200 people,

Appt, a digital agency specialising in the design and development of bespoke mobile and web based apps, is opening a new office in Kunming, China. Their mission is to help companies navigate the complex differences between the digital landscapes of China and the West. Chinese developer Yingzhu (Joy) Quan, a Sheffield University graduate, will be returning

Tech North has just announced Northern Voices, a six-month programme to help address the diversity challenge in tech/digital. The first course is designed specifically for women, and non-binary people who do not identify as men, to address the gender imbalance at conferences and in media appearances, in turn making digital jobs a more attractive career

The department of computing at Sheffield Hallam University is inviting local digital employers to take part in an inaugural Digital Industry Day and promote their career opportunities. The event is called STACK and will be a combination of students’ work with a careers event. The University is inviting employers to come and see all the great

Unrelenting in their explosive growth throughout the UK, EdTech startup Tutora are gearing up to launch a second round of crowdfunding to continue their expansion into the £6bn UK private tuition industry. Founded by Scott Woodley, a former teacher fed-up with the difficulty parents faced trying to find a tutor for their children, Tutora helps

Over the past 18 months, the University of Sheffield’s City and Cultural Engagement department has been working with different partners to create a series of “Snapshot Reports” which highlight a particular aspect of Sheffield’s creative and cultural economy. These reports are being used to highlight the things that make Sheffield distinctive, to raise Sheffield’s profile

legup.social is a collaborative way to help small businesses with digital. It was born out of an idea to do good things outside of the ordinary day-to-day running we undertake at Paper. It’s a no-catch exercise of pro bono work to find out if the people of the digital industry could help small businesses, social

Now in its second year, Prolific North Live is a media, marketing and creative industries expo showcasing the latest innovation in digital, broadcasting, PR, web, publishing, tech, marketing and advertising from across the North. The first event was a great success, so this year it’s been expanded to two days, taking place on February 15

Game Over is a popular Sheffied-based events company focused on retro and current generation gaming. They hold monthly mixers at City Centre venues that host casual and competitive gaming with tournaments, raffles, and local game devs. They’ll be celebrating their 2nd birthday event on February 1 at Bungalows and Bears. Sumo Digital will also be part