Happy new year! 2018 has been fantastic for the tech cluster in Bristol & Bath, but we’re not ones to rest on our laurels. We’ve spoken to a few of the amazing community leaders her and asked them to fill us in on their highlight for the year and what they think we’ve got to look forward to in 2019.
Nick Sturge – Director, Engine Shed
I think that 2018 was a year of consolidation. We have done a lot of work, collectively, on understanding the gaps, opportunities and strengths in the cluster. These all show there is some so much authentic activity – business, social and collaborative around here. So, the thing that rocked my boat this year was the Sparkies – getting 400 people celebrating the cluster was genuinely awesome, as well as genuine.
We saw some significant businesses raising above the parapet and appearing massively on the international radar in the last year – not least Reach Robotics, Xiylo, Ultrahaptics and Graphcore. I’m expecting to see a number of other solid, sustainable, well-run businesses become anchors of our cluster and further strengthen the Bristol & Bath cluster as a powerhouse of solid growth (as opposed to vapour-ware).
I also think that we’ll see some real progress on the actors in the ecosystem working together on ways to make our economy more inclusive. This is not an agenda that anyone owns: our economy, wellbeing and prosperity will benefit from more people being included in the economic activity in the region. There have been some great initiatives kicking off in the tech sector especially, and 2019 needs to see us building on that – and preferably prioritising energy to doing rather than talking.
- You may like: Reach goes global with distribution deals
Briony Philips – Associate Director & Scale-up Business Enabler, Engine Shed
It’s hard for me to name just one thing that excited me last year. We retained our title as the UK’s most productive tech cluster (thanks TechNation), Liz Truss MP visited to highlight our potential to become the UK’s Silicon Valley (thanks to our status as the fastest-growing part of the UK economy outside London), we saw Graphcore announce a further $200m funding round and take the title as the region’s first unicorn and our first official ‘grow on’ space for fast growth companies opened in central Bristol.
This year I’m expecting to see more of the things that make our region special – not least collaboration, innovation and camaraderie!
- You may like: Bristol leads the UK as most productive tech cluster
Mike Jackson – Entrepreneur Success Director, Tech Nation
The two landmark events for 2018 have been the opening of Runway East – and the fact that it was full of companies, many of them the same as those we were helping as startups four or five years ago in the Engine Shed. Seeing them now, all as scaleups is fantastic.
The second thing about this year, is the very recent news that Graphcore has become the first true unicorn in Bristol. Even though that’s just one company and it doesn’t necessarily mean the whole ecosystem is changing it’s a badge for Bristol. It means that other investors will now have Bristol on their map in a way that they didn’t before
For 2019 I think it’s more of the above. More co-location and co-working spaces, more accelerators and incubators more ancillary ‘things.’ There are going to be some interesting announcments about some dining clubs and entrepreneur societies coming soon. Bristol is a big enough ecosystem to have two, three or half a dozen of something it’s not a single ‘thing’ city as you sometimes see. We’ll see more companies scaling, building jobs that benefit the local economy, hiring high-paid, high-skilled people in Bristol and building out into global companies, world-leading companies from our home city.
- You may like: Graphcore become region’s first unicorn
David Foreman – General Manager, Runway East Bristol
What really excited me about 2018 was the opening of two new large co-working spaces in Bristol, alleviating the chronic shortage of scaleup space in Bristol. Desklodge House and, of course, our Runway East.
- You may like: Runway East officially launches in Bristol
We have lots of exciting projects in the pipeline from Bristol & Bath company expansions, to national relocations and some really exciting international brands looking to expand across the city region. Hope we continue to see these kinds of projects and Bristol & Bath continues to be the number 1 location to innovate!
This year has been awesome for the tech cluster and has really shown how it’s matured in the last few years! From Ziylo selling for $800 million to Graphcore being named our first unicorn and Channel 4 moving in, it’s been a brilliant year.- You may like: Bristol & Bath tech cluster 2018 Instagram roundup
