Newly announced sessions will bring together investors, business leaders and policymakers to examine how the North can turn research and regional collaboration into commercial growth, ahead of next week’s Northern Tech Summit.
Startup Coalition, techUK and the Department for Business and Trade will join an expanded Northern Tech Summit line-up as Sheffield prepares to welcome more than 500 founders, investors, policymakers and technology leaders next week.
Newly announced panels on collaboration, scaling and investment will add to a programme focused on connecting the North’s technology ecosystems and supporting more high-growth businesses.
Organised by TECH SY, the summit takes place at the Crucible Theatre on October 21–22 under the theme Collaborate to Compete. Prolific North is a media partner.
South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard and Startup Coalition Executive Director Dom Hallas will be among the contributors to the new sessions, alongside representatives from London & Partners, the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority and Manchester Angels.
As explored in our guide to everything you need to know about Northern Tech Summit, Dealroom figures put the value of the North’s technology ecosystem at £82bn.
The summit’s ambition is to build stronger connections between the businesses, universities, investors and regional leaders behind that economy, helping more Northern innovation reach the market and attract the backing it needs to grow.
From collaboration to growth
Two newly announced panels will take those ambitions into the second afternoon of the summit.
Collaboration in Action, running from 1pm to 1.45pm on Thursday October 22, will be hosted by Dom Hallas, Executive Director of Startup Coalition.
He will be joined by Oliver Coppard, Mayor of South Yorkshire; Sue Daley OBE, Director of Tech & Innovation at techUK; and Emily Campbell-Ratcliffe, Director of AI Assurance at Frontier Economics.
The session brings together perspectives from regional government, the startup community, the technology industry and AI assurance, placing the summit’s central theme under the spotlight.
It will be followed by Scaling the North, from 1.45pm to 2.30pm, hosted by Tracey Johnson, Project Director at TECH SY.
The panel will feature Sara French, Director of Trade & Growth at London & Partners; Jenny Mooney, Scale Ups Delivery Lead at the Department for Business and Trade; Matt Johnson, Managing Director of FORM; and Danielle Phillips, Assistant Director for Inward Investment and Business Growth at the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority.
Together, the sessions connect the ambition to build a stronger Northern ecosystem with the practical challenge of supporting businesses as they grow.
Turning Northern research into opportunity
Speakers have also been confirmed for the second day’s panel examining How does the UK Leverage the Power of Northern Research, taking place from 10.15am to 11am.
Hosted by Damien Mohammed, Founder of Northern Arc Partners, it will bring together Dr Tim Craggs, CEO and Founder of Exciting Instruments; Joe Hedley, CEO of NunaBio; Elizabeth Mullis, Innovation Lead at Plexal; and Andy Hogben, Head of Commercialisation at the University of Sheffield.
Commercialising research is one of the summit’s central themes, alongside attracting investment and supporting more high-growth companies.
The discussion forms part of a second-day programme opening with Dealroom founder and CEO Yoram Wijngaarde, who will launch a report into the technology landscape across the North. Ana Avaliani, Director of Enterprise & Place at the Royal Academy of Engineering, will also address what the North’s ecosystem must do next.
Investment will feature in the Raising the North panel, bringing together contributors from Northern Gritstone, Sovereign AI, the British Business Bank and Hypha Private Equity, hosted by Stuart Leslie of the National Wealth Fund.
Investors join the startup showcase
There is a new addition to the Northern Startup Showcase at Trafalgar Warehouse on the first afternoon and evening, too.
A 30-minute investment panel will be hosted by Giles Moore of PXN, with David Levine of Manchester Angels and Rachel Swann, founder and business growth specialist.
The showcase will also feature eight startups from across the North delivering three-minute pitches, alongside live technology and innovation demonstrations and networking.
It gives attendees another setting in which to meet the businesses and people building the Northern technology economy, beyond the main Crucible programme. Showcase tickets are sold separately.
Innovation, leadership and an AI career team
The new announcements add to a line-up featuring Tom Adeyoola, Executive Chair of Innovate UK, who will deliver the first day’s keynote and Sue Douglas, co-founder of Veer Technologies, will deliver the closing keynote.
In our interview with the former national newspaper editor, she discussed how the Oxford University spinout is developing AI tools to help people explore careers, prepare for interviews and recognise strengths that conventional CVs can overlook. Her journey from journalism into technology offers another perspective on the summit’s wider questions about research, talent and the practical application of innovation.
The main event sits within a three-day fringe programme delivered with Sheffield Innovation Spine, including the Open Doors Innovation Festival on October 20, guided innovation district tours on October 21 and Run the Spine, a networking run on October 22.
Northern Tech Summit takes place at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre on Wednesday October 21 and Thursday October 22. Two-day and single-day summit tickets are available through the event website, where attendees can also book separately for the Northern Startup Showcase at Trafalgar Warehouse.
