Yiannis Maos MBE, CEO of Tech West Midlands
With over 300 tech leaders in attendance, today the West Midlands Tech Review revealed an impressive list of ambitious projects, investments, and partnerships designed to take the promising region to the next level. Delivered to an audience of founders, CEOs, investors, public sector officials, and government representatives, annual event by Tech West Midlands (TechWM) laid the foundations for the region’s tech future.
Returning for the third year, the event saw insights and trend forecasting shared by leaders in the region’s tech industry, including Prof. Prashant Pillai MBE, Managing Director of Cyber Quarter and Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange for the University of Wolverhampton; Martin Ward, West Midlands Tech Commissioner; Yiannis Maos MBE, CEO of TechWM; Janey Coyle CBE, Managing Director, Grow London, London & Partners; Paul Faulkner, Chairman for Sport Birmingham; and Simon Walsh, CEO of OneAdvanced Software.
Pledging a boost for tech’s future in the region, a raft of announcements were made to support tech start-ups, scale-ups, and established large tech businesses, in an effort to further enhance the West Midlands tech ecosystem.
TechWM kicked off proceedings, debuting a dynamic new digital narrative and digital economy playbook, to map the future of the region and present a pathway to help wider regions to elevate their tech and business ecosystems.
The details of a ground-breaking £1 million investment across key sectors were also shared, including:
- £200k to ‘Investor Engagement’, seeing RBC Brewin Dolphin connect investor ready tech businesses with investors.
- £200k to ‘Green Tech Innovation Challenge’, enabling Plug & Play to provide support for businesses facing challenges around sustainability, net-zero, and circular economies.
- £160k to ‘AI Centre of Excellence’, allowing AND Digital to help manufacturers digitally transform and implement AI solutions.
- £140k to the ‘Digital Skills Consortium’ project to shape digital skills training and help tech businesses attract and acquire new talent.
- £300k to the ‘Tech Connect’ project, which will see the gap between the tech sector and the wider business community bridged, so more people can navigate the ecosystem and get access to relevant insight, initiatives, and opportunities. This includes a brand-new physical hub and tech platform.
On the financial pledges made at the West Midlands Tech Review, Yiannis Maos MBE, CEO of TechWM, said:
“This landmark £1 million investment in the region’s tech sector is going to move the dial for businesses in the ecosystem and beyond. I’m tremendously proud of the commitment that has been made by TechWM and our partners to these ambitious, but crucially needed, initiatives. Each of the five projects will take us a step closer to our aim of being recognised as a global tech superpower; cementing the West Midlands’ reputation as the one-to-watch worldwide.”
The Tech Review also spotlighted a number of newly launched Special Interest Groups designed to elevate awareness, funding, and access, for a range of key focus areas of the growing tech ecosystem including Women in Tech, West Midlands 5G, ESG, and AI.
Tech West Midlands' announcements included a number of exciting partnerships and patronages to bolster their work across the region. Among the announcements was a partnership with techUK to amplify the regional tech sector, address key challenges, and build a pathway to joining the renowned trade association.
Yiannis and Simon Walsh, CEO of OneAdvanced (formerly Advanced), also shared an update on their milestone new patronage agreement designed to bolster regional support for tech businesses. Aligned on their goals for the region, this strategic collaboration will provide support on upcoming initiatives and special interest groups, and produce an impact report to monitor the region’s digital economy and tech sector development.
Emphasising the importance of the West Midlands to the UK tech sector, Simon Walsh commented:
“The West Midlands is home to many of the UK’s fastest growing tech businesses, so OneAdvanced is honoured to be named as the first patron of TechWM - especially at such a fantastic event. We’re looking forward to help shape and grow this unique and dynamic ecosystem powering, not only the West Midlands economy, but also significantly contributing to our national economy.
“Being at the heart of this vibrant tech sector in Birmingham City centre is key to our culture and success. Our innovative technology combined with access to the region’s diverse talent pool is enabling us to innovate and develop sector specific software to help organisations such as the University of Birmingham, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust, Walsall Housing Group and Enoch Evans LLP, across the region. Working with the Tech WM community, I am confident that we can digitally transform some of the most critical sectors of society and enable us to help define a digital future for this region that will positively impact the lives of millions of people every day.”
To find out more about the West Midlands Tech Review and other TechWM news, visit https://www.techwm.com/.
ENDS
