Where will the North’s next big tech success stories come from and what needs to happen to help more ambitious businesses scale? These are the questions at the heart of a major new report and flagship summit launching in 2027.
Prolific North is bringing together the North’s tech ecosystem for the inaugural GRAFT Tech Growth Summit on 5 May 2027 at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in Manchester, alongside the launch of a landmark State of Northern Tech Report, developed in partnership with data platform Tracxn.
But why now? The North has proven time and again that it can build world-class tech companies, from Manchester-headquartered unicorns like Matillion and AI businesses like Peak: AIO, to Leeds-based Crisp and Durham’s Atom Bank.
But the bigger question now is: how does the North create more of them?
Despite a thriving start-up ecosystem, turning promising businesses into globally competitive scale-ups remains a challenge. From accessing growth capital to attracting top talent, there are still barriers to overcome, while emerging tech clusters and investment opportunities often fly under the national radar.
Building on Prolific North’s GRAFT platform, from our weekly newsletter to our regional start-up and investor showcases, the ambition for the new GRAFT Tech Growth Summit and report goes beyond producing another research report or bringing together the same familiar faces at a tech conference.
Instead, the aim is to establish a meaningful benchmark for Northern tech and bring founders, investors, policymakers, universities and ecosystem leaders together around one central question: where is the North’s biggest tech growth opportunity, and what needs to happen next?
A new benchmark for Northern tech
Launching live at the summit in May 2027, Prolific North’s State of Northern Tech Report, produced with research partner Tracxn, will provide a data-led snapshot of the region’s tech economy and identify where its next wave of growth could come from.
Rather than simply comparing the North with London or focusing on the region’s disadvantages, the research will put the spotlight on opportunity: where Northern businesses and clusters are succeeding, where new areas of growth are emerging and what could help more companies scale.
The report will examine everything from economic growth, regional hubs and emerging clusters, where capital is flowing and who is writing the cheques, to tracking key sector growth regionally from the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber to the North East.
Beyond the figures, the report will feature candid insights from founders, investors and ecosystem leaders to explore what the numbers really mean on the ground.
It will also highlight the businesses already succeeding, from fast-growing scale-ups to major exits, and examine what can be learned from their successes so far.
The ambition is to establish an annual benchmark for the Northern tech economy, tracking how the sector develops over time and providing vital insights for businesses, investors and policymakers.
GRAFT Tech Growth Summit: 5 May 2027, Manchester
While the report will reveal where the opportunities lie, the GRAFT Tech Growth Summit will tackle the next question: what needs to happen to unlock them?
Taking place in Manchester on 5 May 2027, this flagship one-day event will bring together the people shaping the North’s tech economy, from ambitious founders and scale-up leaders to investors, combined authorities, policymakers, universities and professional advisers.
The summit will be built around a live reveal of the report’s headline findings, highlighting the North’s biggest growth opportunities, strongest sectors, fast-growing and emerging tech clusters and investment trends, and much more.
From there, the event will explore key questions emerging from the research through a mix of keynote speakers, panel discussions, snappy founder spotlights, workshops, and roundtables to dig into the biggest questions facing Northern tech.
How to get involved
The GRAFT Tech Growth Summit takes place on 5 May 2027 at RNCM in Manchester.
Delegate tickets will go on sale on 4 January 2027, with founders, investors, tech leaders and others across the Northern tech ecosystem invited to register their interest for early-bird access and the opportunity to suggest topics for the agenda.
A limited number of founding, headline and event partnership opportunities are also available for organisations looking to get involved in both the research and summit.
For partnership and exhibiting enquiries, please contact Ben Waterhouse via [email protected]
