This week was the launch of (link: http://siliconcanal.co.uk/ text: Silicon Canal’s) whitepaper looking into building a world class tech & digital ecosystem in Greater Birmingham. Our head of development and senior developer went along to hear the findings, network and have a couple slices of pizza!
(image: https://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/20160525_181503-1024×576.jpg alt: 20160525_181503)
Who is Silicon Canal?
Silicon Canal is a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers from the tech industry. Their aims are to:
– **Connect** organisations and individuals in greater Birmingham together so we all know of each other’s existence.
– **Promote** these organisations and individuals to get them know locally, nationally and internationally.
– **Support** the entire tech ecosystem to grow.
They meet monthly and get a number of developers, investors, entrepreneurs and people who just care about growing Birmingham’s tech scene. This event was a bit bigger than normal with more than 350 tickets sold and only standing room left in the new iCentrum building at Aston Science Park.
The whole thing was compared by (link: https://twitter.com/nickholzherr text: Nick Holzherr) (of Whisk and The Apprentice fame) and (link: https://twitter.com/simonjenner text: Simon Jenner) who both did a brilliant job.
The Findings
The whitepaper itself can be read (link: http://siliconcanal.co.uk/tech-ecosystem-whitepaper/ text: here). It looks at the current echo system in Birmingham and makes 29 recommendations.
The night deliberately had very little about the whitepaper, as the organisers wanted us to read the whitepaper to form our own opinions. So we will let you do the same.
(image: https://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/20160526_101700-576×1024.jpg alt: 20160526_101700)
Speakers
The rest of the night consisted of several talks from industry speakers. The talks were all very insightful and some hilarious. There were also a number of interviews with panels. The panels consisted of owners of start-ups and scale-ups.
How can we help?
The night ended with the organisers asking for our help. Claiming that the recommendations were not going to be done by a task force, government or local council. The world class Birmingham echo system is going to be achieved by us, the very people who work in this industry and experience it every day.
As well as the recommendations there are a number of things we can all be doing right now. They are:
– List your company on their database – here’s (link: http://siliconcanal.co.uk/companies/superdream/ text: ours)
– Become a Silicon Canal (link: http://siliconcanal.co.uk/add-new/add-new-ambassador/ text: ambassador)
– Join one of their (link: http://siliconcanal.co.uk/about/working-groups/ text: working groups)
– Read the (link: http://siliconcanal.co.uk/tech-ecosystem-whitepaper/ text: white paper).
Overall it was a brilliant night that has inspired me to be part of this project. We hope it will inspire you too.