Northern England fights back in 'Silicon Valley battle': 'So many opportunities up here'

Kate Spencer, media spokesperson for Northern Gritstone, and UK tech hub Manchester. Photo: Northern Gritstone/Canva/Impact Loop

As Impact Loop reported last week, the UK government is pumping billions into the area around its top university cities, Oxford and Cambridge, aiming to turn it into Europe’s next great tech hub. <br><br>But northern England argues it also has the talent and ambition to be the UK’s 'Silicon Valley' – and an impact powerhouse.

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The British government wants the region between Oxford and Cambridge to become Europe’s version of Silicon Valley. Last week, it announced plans to invest heavily in the so-called Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor.

Ministers hope improving public transport links and housing will attract more tech talent and investors to the area, which is already home to established tech and health companies, including Microsoft, AstraZeneca, and DNA sequencing firm Oxford Nanopore Technologies.

But the decision to pour more cash into this part of southern England – rather than other regions of the UK – is proving controversial, especially among northern England’s thriving tech community.

"While the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor is undoubtedly world-class in research and innovation… we need to see a truly national approach that supports growth in all regions and prevents deepening economic divides," Katie Gallagher, managing director at Manchester Digital, a not-for-profit membership organisation for the region’s tech community, tells regional website Prolific North.

Building the Silicon Valley of the north

Manchester-based impact investment company Northern Gritstone has also chimed in on the debate, suggesting that even without additional government funding, northern England is already poised for rapid growth thanks to university spin-out funding.

The north of England has been an underserved market

"Our ambition is to build a Silicon Valley of the North," the firm writes on LinkedIn. "We know it won’t happen overnight. Growth takes time, but with a consistent focus, what we can achieve is amazing."

Northern Gritstone, founded in 2021 by the Universities of Manchester, Leeds, and Sheffield, operates with a philosophy of ‘profit with purpose’, including high-skilled job creation.

"The north of England has been an underserved market," the company’s media spokesperson Kate Spencer tells Impact Loop. "But there are so many opportunities up here."

Rankings by the UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF)—the national system for assessing the quality and impact of university research—suggest that more than 90 percent of research carried out at the Universities of Manchester, Leeds, and Sheffield is classified as "world-leading" or "internationally excellent."

Invested in 31 companies

Northern Gritstone has already invested in 31 science and technology-focused companies – both university spin-offs and later-stage firms – which it claims all have "the potential to be world leaders."

These include Exciting Instruments, which aims to bring the power of single-molecule detection to drug development and diagnostics: Silveray, which is developing a highly sensitive material that makes X-ray equipment significantly more efficient; and Pragmatic Semiconductor, which seeks to revolutionise semiconductor fabrication with ultra-low-cost, flexible integrated circuit technology.

Spencer says Northern Gritstone aims to create a cycle where investment attracts talent, leading to company growth, which in turn draws more investment and skilled workers to the region.

Attracts only 10 percent of UK funding

Oliver Johnson-Watt at Par Equity, an early-stage private venture capital firm supporting high-growth technology companies in northern England and Scotland, also believes more needs to be done to highlight the region's potential.

"The North represents a $1 trillion economy, yet it attracts only around 10 percent of UK venture funding. If it were a country, it would be the eighth-largest economy in Europe," he tells Prolific North. "This imbalance must be addressed if Britain is to fully capitalise on its innovation potential."

The UK's Finance Minister Rachel Reeves. Photo: TT
The UK's Finance Minister Rachel Reeves. Photo: TT.

Johnson-Watt believes the UK can learn a lot from North America’s dispersed innovation hubs.

"The U.S. dominates global tech not just through Silicon Valley, but also through thriving innovation hubs in Boston, Austin, and New York," he says. The UK should take inspiration from this nationwide approach, ensuring investment and opportunities are distributed across the country."

At Northern Gritstone, Kate Spencer tells Impact Loop that while she "would always argue the North is better," she also believes there is space for multiple strong tech hubs in the UK.

She suggests that some of the recent British media coverage of the North-South divide has been overhyped and that, in reality, researchers and startups from different British regions often step up to help and support one another.

"There is room enough for everybody," she says. "It’s just about growing the pie."

In response to the criticism it should spread out its funding, the UK government has emphasised that the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor is a critical part of its Plan for Change, aiming to create economic growth, innovation, and prosperity across the UK.

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