Broadening horizons

Sep 21 2006 By Herb Kim, The Journal

The recent worldwide explosion in broadband coverage and take-up means the next eBay or YouTube could easily come from the North-East, believes Herb Kim.

When the North-East's traditional industries died out, a gaping hole was left in the region's economy and it simply had to move on in order to recover.

And move on it certainly has.

The North-East's economy has undergone a significant transformation over the past few years and it now stands as one of the UK's fastest-growing knowledge economy regions, with software and digital technologies underpinning much of its success.

The region's ICT sector employs an estimated 40,000 people, working in an remarkable array of business types - from software development for some of the biggest and richest concerns in the world to animation and computer games, and right through to website design.

After London and the North-West, we're the third most productive digital region in the UK, and we're also one of the fastest-growing, with the highest rate of technology start-ups being created outside of the capital.

Added to that, digital businesses contribute a staggering £2.4bn to the North-East's economy per year.

That all sounds very promising. But can the region's companies seriously hope to compete on the world stage?

Without a doubt. How do I know? Because they're already doing it.

Software success story Sage is our most obvious example but this extends down to smaller technology companies like Leighton or Eutechnyx, which compete primarily by selling into a global market.

The increased availability of high-speed broadband internet nowadays means that even the smallest companies can win contracts and complete work for anyone around the world via the web, whether they're based in Washington DC or Washington, Tyne and Wear.

So we're also seeing innovative smaller firms starting to challenge internationally.

At Codeworks, we've already witnessed several North-East companies competing and working with the world's best.

A few weeks ago, Hexham-based hi-tech firm Nomad Digital worked alongside Intel to enable the first ever broadband connection within a moving train in the US.

It was excellent to hear how this small Tyne Valley firm was showing to Silicon Valley, home of the hi-tech giants, a service that UK commuters have actually been able to use for over a year now.

And just last month, local game developer Venom Games hit the top of the US charts for its Xbox version of the video game Prey. This isn't even a first - we've had two other North-East developers top the US charts over the past two years, as well as several more hits in the UK.

So what is Codeworks' role in all this?

Codeworks is working in partnership with regional development agency One NorthEast to create and fuel tomorrow's technology success stories.

Our strategy is to think globally and to act regionally to ensure that the North-East grabs the unprecedented opportunities created by digital technology and improving infrastructures.

One thing we've done is to identify the massive opportunities in the ageing and `assistive' technology market for regional development, and we're now working with CELS (Centre of Excellence for Life Sciences) and the Science City initiative to help make this a reality for the region.

We also see a big window in what's called Web 2.0 in the internet industry.

Our digital media technology team is working squarely in this area and has already seen tangible success in developing new research and consortia that is directly benefiting the region and its hi-tech businesses.

I'm confident there'll be several exciting developments on that front soon.

And through our two business support organisations, Codeworks Connect and GameHorizon, we're directly helping the region's digital companies and games developers, respectively, to make a real impact on the world stage.

What does the future hold for North-East businesses?

Businesses in the Digital Age don't face the same geographical limitations as were faced even a few years ago.

On a practical level, there is little that a company in San Francisco can do that a similar-size company in Jesmond can't.

Because of that, we know that the next digital giant - the next YouTube, Google or eBay - could easily come from the North-East. It's a reachable goal. So that has to be one of the key goals for us, and for the digital sector as a whole.

After all, it's happened here already with the growth of the UK's most valuable software group, Sage. Why not again?

Herb Kim is chief executive officer of the North-East's digital centre of excellence Codeworks.