Some of the leading figures from Greater Manchester's tech industry have shared their thoughts on the state of the sector during a roundtable event.
Held to mark the release of the Manchester Evening News and BusinessLive Tech 50 list, they were joined by sponsor for the virtual discussion, which was also live streamed.
Host Alistair Houghton, the editor of BusinessLive, was joined by Victoria Price, 海角视频&I EY private client services leader, Chi-Chi Ekweozor, founder of Assenty, NorthEdge director Liam May and Matillion CEO Matthew Scullion.
READ MORE: How we compiled our Greater Manchester Tech 50 list
The roundtable was also attended by Vikas Shah, CEO of Swiscot Group and co-founder of GSI Consulting, Naomi Timperley, co-founder of Tech North Advocates, Elan Raja, CEO of SCAN Computers and Neil Tolley, managing director of Fourteen IP.
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What do you think this city region's strengths are as a tech hub and is there anything that needs to improve?
EY's Victoria Price said: "I think one of the biggest strengths that we've got as a region is the talent and the quality of people coming out of universities, and the increasing diversity of the number of courses and things that people are being educated in, just creates a fantastic pool for companies to reach into.
"And I think the other thing that Manchester really has in its favour is the ecosystem that's being created."
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Assenty founder Chi-Chi Ekweozor added: "So for those that watch league tables for university courses, Manchester is very highly rated for computer science.
"There's a lot of input and historical research, in terms of academic expertise, and people who've dedicated their lives actually developing what we take for granted.
"I'm thrilled to see how the ecosystem seems to expand to involve more people, and is very, very welcoming."
NorthEdge director Liam May added that he thought the two key words were "talent and ecosystem".
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Elan Raja, CEO of SCAN Computers, also said that the high number of students in Manchester is "a huge pool of talent" and that the courses universities are offering also provide "a good conveyor belt" for tech.
Naomi Timperley, co-founder of Tech North Advocates, said: "I will say the ecosystem that we have in Manchester is obviously smaller than London, but it's much more connected.
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"And what I see a lot of is startups helping other startups on that journey, which is really wonderful."
Fourteen IP managing director Neil Tolley said: "I came from a deprived background, there are a lot of people who don't get to go to university who can't go through that way.
"The question at the beginning was about the strengths; people and the talent without a shadow of a doubt, the friendliness, the openness of the innovation, but also we've got all those people who don't go to university.
"I think a big part is not just those people that are going to university; there's a huge amount of talent underneath that we bolt together and all businesses across the region should remember to take advantage of."
Matillion CEO Matthew Scullion said: "I think the culture and psyche we have here in the North West centred around Manchester is really helpful as well.
"It's a naturally entrepreneurial place, but also quite pragmatic and friendly.
"Business, even the most sophisticated, is still ultimately centred around people and I think it is a competitive advantage, particularly compared to perhaps some other ecos south of where we are all sat."
However Vikas Shah, CEO of Swiscot Group and co-founder of GSI Consulting, said it was important that Greater Manchester stops competing "against ourselves" and takes on a more global view.
He said: "In the BC, 'before Covid' times, I spent at least a week or a month in one of our international sites in the US or Emirates or in Asia.
"And to be frank, Manchester's not really on their list of places to look at as a technology destination in Europe.
"And it ought to be in certain sectors, like e-commerce, because in e-commerce in particular, we are probably number one in Europe, more so than anywhere else, and then some other areas.
"But I think the really critical thing is to make sure that we balance the celebration with some humility, to the extent that there's a big wide world out there that we're competing against - we're not competing against other 海角视频 cities; we're not competing against ourselves.
"And sometimes if we get too stuck into the self congratulatory mode, we will forget the fact that we're not winning the race that we think we're winning, but we could, and we really, really could. And that's where the depth of the opportunity is here."
What are some of the best and most interesting innovations that you've seen from tech firms that have helped them get through the pandemic?
Neil Tolley said: "I've seen lots of innovation from the testing companies.
"But of course, they've got money coming at them a little quicker than they could deal with it.
"What we did, which I'm very proud of, is we built an AI solution for hotels that allows guests to speak or message via WhatsApp and various other things and get answers to a huge amount of inquiries.
"We managed to remove 75% to 80% of the requests onto the hotels with artificial intelligence.
"We piloted it in the US and we're now rolling out to hundreds, possibly several thousand properties."
Naomi Timperley said: "What I saw was actually, startups were not scared to start up in the first place.
"People were put in a situation that if they did not come up with new ways of working, whether that was with their services or products, they would cease to exist.
"So I think, really, we were forced into innovating.
"It's been really amazing to see businesses survive through these 18 months, because survival was probably the biggest thing."
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Victoria Price said: "Something that we've all seen is using technology more from a day to day perspective.
"On a small scale, all businesses have adapted in terms of the way that they communicate, the way that they engage with their teams and their customers and so on.
"There's some brilliant examples that we've had in the region of retailers using technology differently - when their clients or the customers can't touch and feel what they were used to going into a shop and buying; and the use of virtual reality and being able to put yourself into an item, or see a shoe as it would look on you. [These are some] really great innovative ideas.
"I think what we've seen is an acceleration of what might have taken several years."
Matthew Scullion said: "What we have to have across our team is the intellectual safety for people to point out the opportunity for innovation.
"It probably won't be you as the owner, investor or CEO who will spot one thing that can be done better.
"It will probably be someone closer to the coal face and not part of the business.
"But if you have a culture where that person can't be heard, or doesn't feel safe to speak up, there goes the opportunity for innovation. So I think a big part is cultural as well."
Elan Raja said: "When you're in tech, adaptation is part of your DNA.
"That's what you do because tech changes at such a fast rate, that unless you adopt you're out of business."
Liam May said: "I'm still actually reasonably impressed with the speed at which a lot of quite traditional organisations adapted; it's purely us born out of survival.
"It's a series of adaptations in order to survive through a pandemic."
How is the role of the entrepreneur and business going to evolve coming out of the pandemic?
Victoria Price said: "I think that the purpose that entrepreneurial businesses have and what's important to the leaders of those businesses and also the people within them has long been undervalued.
"That's in terms of what that contributes to communities, how important that's going to be from a scaling up perspective, but also how important that is in terms of bringing the right people with the right skills into your organisation.
"When the pandemic first hit, we weren't sure what was going to happen.
"We were facing our own issues in terms of how do we adapt our business.
"I picked up the phone to lots of the entrepreneurs, some of whom are on the call today, and other clients as well.
"And that purpose of making a bigger contribution to their communities just came across loud and clear from day one."
Naomi Timperley said: "I think every business should have a purpose.
"The businesses that I know that have a purpose actually do better than some of the other ones."
Chi-Chi Ekweozor said: "Having a purpose is massively important because it identifies where you're going. It also helps the people who recruit to be very clear about where you're aiming to reach. You can't do that without looking at or caring about people's mental wellbeing post pandemic. That's the massive seismic shift."
Vikas Shah said: "B Corp is a fantastic certification that really accredits the fact that you've done well across all of those areas.
"But if you really want to prove that your business has purpose, you've got to make sure that you're generating impact metrics.
"So it's what can you measure? What is the impact of your purpose?"
Roundtable highlights calibre of individuals across Greater Manchester's tech community
, 海角视频&I EY private client services leader, took part in the virtual roundtable and has shared her thoughts on the event:
At EY, we support fast-growth tech businesses in multiple areas as they grow and scale up.
We are able to gain insight into the challenges these businesses face, together with the opportunities they seize, whilst appreciating their growth journeys and the true extent of their ambition.
The roundtable highlighted the calibre of individuals across the Greater Manchester tech community – as business leaders, investors and industry influencers shared their views.
It was no surprise that a healthy debate was had, with themes including people, purpose and innovation steering the conversation.
Across the region the strength of talent was recognised, with universities proving to be a rich source of new entrants into the workforce. Yet, credence was also given to other pools of talent, including individuals who are retraining or participating in back to work programmes.
With mounting demand and competition for talent, businesses must broaden their search, to fuel further growth and innovation.
The agreement that Greater Manchester’s ecosystem is exceptional, echoed throughout the discussion. In addition, there was wide support for the interplay of companies to collaborate and exchange ideas to encourage continued successful entrepreneurship.
This is illustrated across the region, for example HOST, located in Media City.
The pandemic created a challenging environment, ultimately forcing businesses to adapt and innovate in order to survive.
Despite the turbulent landscape, a multitude of start-up businesses mushroomed, discovering opportunities in adversity.
Chi-Chi Ekweozor shared the great example of Chloe Barrett, at Immersify Education, who diversified their proposition, launching a B2C business with well-defined ambitions to accelerate globally.
Another example is Push Dr, which is gaining huge traction, as customers display a willingness to adjust to more efficient, digital services including virtual GPs.
During the debate, people, culture and purpose were all highlighted as being key drivers to growth and innovation, as well as having substantial influence on attracting and retaining talent.
Identifying and articulating purpose has long been undervalued as a contributor to business success, yet it is becoming increasingly evident that people desire to feel that the organisation they work for, stands for more than profit alone.
The availability of capital was called out as a strength of the Greater Manchester tech community.
Fundraising, to finance innovation, is vital to tech and digital businesses and, we are witnessing investors increasingly seeking to place their capital with organisations that hold environmental and social purpose at their centre.
It is clear that Greater Manchester should be proud if its achievements within the digital and tech space, but they should arguably set their sights higher, as they strive to compete on a global playing field.
Our local entrepreneurs have truly been the driving force behind the success so far and will be critical to the region’s economic recovery as we continue to emerge from the pandemic and beyond.
EY will continue to work with the most ambitious businesses within the region, providing advice and support as they grow and scale.