The 2017 UK City of Culture has a burgeoning reputation as the epicentre of East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire’s digital tech community.
Digital tech startups are taking seed here in growing numbers, for example Sypro and Ash.TV. Established digital businesses, such as Trident and the ESP Group, call Hull home too.
Driving this growth is the £4 million Centre for Digital Innovation (C4DI). Opened in 2015, it provides co-working space, tech incubation, and corporate innovation. Major digital music distributors Label Worx are based here.
Hull’s gigabit capable connectivity provided by KCOM (it is the only city in the UK not served by BT) is helpful too – full fibre is being deployed at scale and is already available to more than half its businesses and homes, a significantly higher proportion than the national average. Hull has recently been confirmed as the ultrafast capital of the UK in an Ofcom report.
Hull University, recently launched Viper – a university-wide High Performance Computing cluster – and has doubled the number of computer science graduates over the past three years.
Hull and East Yorkshire’s Digital Awards are now running annually to celebrate and promote the sector, while IT@Spectrum and The One Point have opened new headquarters at the Bridgehead Business Park, offering their £2.75 million facilities to help other local businesses to learn and grow.
CityFibre has named Hull the UK’s next ‘Gigabit City’ and is rolling out ultra-fast connectivity in partnership with Pure Broadband.
Meanwhile, Hull’s first University Technical College is due to open in September. The £10 million school will specialise in digital technology and mechatronics – the combined study of computing and engineering.
NFire Labs is changing the way 3D printers are used in schools and businesses. We’re making
3D Printing as easy as possible to access by offering a complete package with the machine, consumables, maintenance and support included.
Being located at the C4DI in Hull has enabled NFire Labs to grow and expand far quicker than
imagined. The support, the contacts and the community all combine to create the perfect storm for startups!
Sauce is a mobile development team that designs and builds long-term, scalable platforms
for our clients. Work includes information portals, IoT products, and internal business products across a range of industries.
By basing ourselves at C4DI – the heart of digital tech in Hull – we’ve directly benefited from
the investment in digital. Our City of Culture status, high standard of living and tradition of entrepreneurialism create a vibrant place for digital tech startups.