Startup Ecosystems: A Day on the Picket line
Blimey! It’s been a busy day!
Madlab, the RSA and the Future of Manchester’s Startup Scene
It started with a round-table research meeting at MadLab in Manchester, where the RSA (@theRSAorg) a research and enlightenment organisation with satellite chapters in Manchester were working with startup hubs, like SpaceportX, Manchester Coder Dojo and crucially TechNorth, entrepreneurs, companies, academics and representatives from the public sector to determine what Manchester and the “northern powerhouse” needed to thrive. It was great to catch up with a number of folk ion the scene who I’d not seen in a while.
There were a number of themes that emerged on our table. We don’t shout enough about what we do because our city is the sort of city which wears trousers as opposed to just mouthing off. It’s a little known fact that we’re leading the UK’s smart city research. We’re the city of science and of course we’ve got clever materials to play with now.
I put my two pence in and was cursing that I could find time to do a decent piece of research on factors that breed success in startup ecosystems. Indeed, I was still working on data at the point I took my seat.
That said, I was especially interested in the section on public sector procurement, since I am currently working very closely in that arena. Also, there was some suggestion companies were templating cities like Boulder, Colorado and Berlin to then apply to Manchester and other cities. The problem with that is that is a natural overfit. There are cultural differences which make a lift-and-shift very difficult. In addition, Manchester has done a phenomenal amount, with such little investment, as I covered in a previous rant… I mean, post. The Return on Investment in Manchester is bigger than any of the top 10 startup cities in the world (it’s 10x bigger than London per pound investment), simply because we do loads without any real, significant investment in startup ecosystems. This is especially the case due to investment banking not really being present in Manchester like it is in London or Edinburgh. Venture capital simply isn’t attracted to Manchester in the first instance.
In addition, the RSA research seemed to identify that we churned out lots of skilled workers from universities but there is still a shortfall and a growing one. Well… yes. After all, if startups are starting up at a fast rate and swallowing up all the talent at a rate faster than it can be refilled with top class skill-sets from various programmes (universities, colleges, hacker groups etc.), then you’re going to get a “buffer under-run” which naturally puts up wages, since it’s simple supply and demand by that point.
12:00… Shoot-off to Old Trafford.
Unfortunately, I had to bunk out 30 minutes early to reach Old Trafford for the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce’s Action 4 Business (A4B) meeting at Old Trafford Cricket Ground. This time I was opening my own mouth… not that it’s ever all that closed.
We had a 5 minute TalkAbout slot, on a cause I’m working with Nik and a number of other suppliers on across the country. Public sector procurement. Changing it and engaging.
The day before, we had a great discussion with Christian Spence at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, data-geek to data-geek and they gave the rubber stamp to us working collaboratively to improve things on both sides of the SME and public policy divide.
I covered many of the problems with public sector procurement through Startup Europe Week, last week. But in a nutshell, as well as trying to identify the appropriate supply chain entity for startups and SMEs to consider engaging with, forming collaborative groups to solve bigger problems together is also crucial. Smart-Cities initiatives bring together construction and computing and communication technology, including IoT. Two classically disparate industries which have very different dynamics and cultures. Consortia must happen to even make that work. At least until we flatten out the tiered supply hierarchies and streamline the procurement process. That’s a culture change that will take years to come. In the meantime, it’s probably worth SMEs looking to get ready for when it does.
Where Now?
Soooo much can and has happened from this. We’re building associations across the UK with suppliers and business experts in procurement. We’re now covering Bristol and are looking at other parts of the UK. If you‘re a procurement expert, definitely get in touch. You don’t even have to particularly work with me! Part of what we’re doing is identifying good collaboration clusters who will work well together for particular types of public work or engagement across various geographies. If things are to change, we need to remedy both sides of the procurement problem. If that happens with someone else in our network, then great! We’re all for it!
Interested?
Ethar Alali (@EtharUK) is CEO and Chief EA at Axelisys, specialising in providing innovative agile enterprise advice to blue-chips, inter-governmental organisations and SMEs. Formed in 2011, Axelisys works with some of the biggest household names in the UK and across the world. Ethar himself is a lifelong programmer, still faithfully carrying around the BBC Master Compact 128 that made him the man he is today
