Last week we were delighted to host Claire Braithwaite, the new Head of Tech North, as well as Laura Bennett, Community Engagement Manager from Tech North and Emma Swift, Manager, Entrepreneur Relations for Tech City. The day was spent meeting startups based at C4DI, members and companies who we work with. We hosted a lunch for them to meet local people involved in the thriving growth of Hull and the tech / digital sector including Gary Young, the MD of KC, Martin Green, Chief Executive Hull UK City of Culture 2017 and Stephen Hudson, Director at Wykeland.
We also had a fascinating tour from Andy Whale, Head of Engineering for KC who demonstrated how they are rolling out the fastest fibre in the country with their KC Lightstream initiative.
Claire very kindly sent us her thoughts on the day:
"I spent a fantastic day in Hull. An exciting community is growing here and I witnessed property developers, corporates, developers, creatives, entrepreneurs and the LEP all working together to develop and grow Hull's digital economy. Hull has a strong proposition. KC, the local broadband provider, is delivering speeds of over 1000MB to businesses and homes in Hull and East Riding through its super fast fibre optic network. Underneath the streets of Hull pulses of light are carrying information through the fastest network in Europe.
Property developer Wykeland is building a state of the art 'tech campus' with C4Di as an anchor tenant in the Fruit Market area of Hull. Overlooking the Humber Estuary this building will support the growth of the tech community in Hull and recognises the value created in spaces where digital entrepreneurs, corporates and talent can collaborate and work. By offering flexible tenancies businesses can grow without being locked into onerous leases.
With Hull the 2017 City of Culture (headed up by Martin Green, producer of the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony) Hull is on an exciting trajectory and I predict we'll see high growth rates in digital businesses and employment in the cluster over the coming years."
We are looking forward to welcoming them back very soon.