After moving back to Newcastle in 2018, I worked with Dynamo North East, the region’s largest tech sector business network, to support its mission to grow the North East tech economy.
I served as vice chair and a director of the Community Interest Company (CIC) from 2018 until Dynamo joined Sunderland Software City in 2022. I brought a central government and wider technology sector perspective to a board of regional business leaders.
Dynamo North East convenes businesses, universities and public sector leaders. Its annual conference draws more than 350 delegates, and its sector events and Dynamites awards give the region’s technology community a place to show its work and meet. A defining feature has been the voluntary contribution of senior leaders and practitioners.
The Dynamo Advisory Board met monthly, and as chairs we took it in turns to publish reflections on our discussions. My posts from November 2019 and April 2020 illustrate the themes we were exploring.
Dynamo health tech cluster #
One area I led on was the creation of a regional health tech cluster. The first event, on automation in health, took place in October 2020. In the following 12 months, the cluster held 25 events, featuring 53 speakers and 807 attendees. Sponsor CGI’s impact report summarises the first year.
This work culminated in Sir Jim Mackey, Chief Executive of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, delivering the keynote at the Dynamo Conference in 2022. His address provided a practical perspective on digital, data and technology in the NHS, and helped raise the profile of health within the regional technology community.
Dynamo North East joins Sunderland Software City #
As the digital sector evolved, it became less clear who did what across the region’s support organisations.
A joint promotional statement, “One Region, One Sector, One Statement”, was published in 2019 to address that issue. It defined the sector broadly, covering both firms that create technology and firms adopting it, which made objectives and measures of success harder to separate. The roles of the support organisations were still confusing.
In April 2022, we announced that Dynamo would join Sunderland Software City, with Dynamo remaining a CIC and staff integrating into Sunderland Software City’s team.
At this point, I stepped down as a director.
