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Greater Manchester
Following the move of the BBC and ITV to Salford’s £950 million MediaCityUK complex, digital employment in Greater Manchester has grown to over 56,000. With the largest student population in Europe – standing more than 100,000 – the area has a critical mass of skilled workers. In addition, £3.5 billion has been invested to support Manchester’s digital and technology infrastructure, according to Manchester Investment and Development Agency Service (MIDAS).
Furthermore, The Sharp Project and Manchester Science Partnerships are working tirelessly to foster innovation and entrepreneurship. The Northern Quarter in the centre of Manchester has been dubbed as the centre of this thriving cluster, which is home to co-working revolutionisers, SpacePortX.
An abundance of talent and investment into the area’s has enabled the formation of a large digital community with a range of support groups, events and networks. These include the Manchester spin-off of 3 Beards‘ weekend networking group Silicon Drinkabout, as well as Business Growth Hub, which concentrate on startup innovation and the growth of Manchester based digital companies.
Manchester boasts the longest established School of Computer Science in the UK coupled with Manchester Metropolitan University‘s newly created ‘Shed‘, which offers graduates a great space to test their new technology. All of the above factors have contributed to the emergence of a notable set of digital companies from the Greater Manchester cluster including LateRooms and boohoo.
Co-founder of TechBritain, Doug Ward, believes being part of a cluster is incredibly beneficial “for your personal learning and even your business. It speeds up your network, speeds up access to customers, access to the press and access to investments, and talent.”
Support:
- Innospace Manchester is Manchester Metropolitan University’s business incubator for start-ups and new enterprises
- The Sharp Project, home to digital entrepreneurs and production companies. Occupants at The Sharp Project make, manipulate or move around the world, digital content
- The Landing @MediaCityUK ; A brand new, state of the art research & innovation centre designed to stimulate the development & application of new ideas.
- SpacePortX – coworking space
- MediaCity – BBC (Europe’s first purpose-built business for creative and digital industries – £50 million investment)
- MIDAS – works to attract inward investment to Manchester
Funding
- The North West Fund is a £155m evergreen investment fund. It provides debt and equity funding for businesses, with investments starting from £50,000.
- The Greater Manchester Investment Fund (GMIF) – loans of between £500,000 and £5m are available
- Manchester Business Loans, a £24m government-backed initiative typically providing loans of between £3,000 and £100,000
- Northwest Business Angels, provides investments of between £10,000-£50,000
- Angels Den can connect you with regional managers
- Connection Vouchers scheme, offers up to £3,000 for businesses looking to upgrade to high-speed internet
Formisimo is an advanced analytics tool that measures user interaction with web forms. It helps to increase conversion rates of online retailers by revealing customer pain points in online checkouts.
EON Reality is a Virtual Reality software developer. Its solutions improve communication and knowledge transfer, from simulation based learning and training to creation of interactive 3D materials.
Bright Future Software provides software solutions for companies requiring a more stable and communicative relationship for their onshore software development projects.
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