Welcome to my weekly South West Tech News roundup, where you can get all the headlines from the past week in one place.
What has our busy tech and digital community been up to this week? From award wins and innovative breakthroughs to unmissable events and capital raised, take a moment to reflect on the hive of daily activity taking place in our region.
If you have a story to share, wizz it over to shona@techspark.co – I look forward to hearing from you!
Applications are now OPEN for Silicon Gorge 2024!
Calling all tech and digital startups in the South West – submit your application for the Silicon Gorge 2024 pitching competition here now.Â
techSPARK’s annual competition gives 12 of the best startups the chance to pitch to a room full of investors. The programme is open to organisations looking for between £100k-£2m and is an increasingly invaluable opportunity in harsh investment climates.
You have just one month to get your application in, with the deadline being Friday 5 April 2024. Following that, our judges will be working on whittling down the entries to 24 finalists who will each pitch across two days for a place at the Investor Showcase on 4 June.Â
If you’re an investor, do sign up for our mailing list to receive an invite to the Investor Showcase, or contact abby@techspark.co for more details. Find out more about the competition here.Â
Winners of the Bath Awards unveiled!
The Bath Life Awards are the business highlight of the city. They are the most prestigious, most tightly contested Awards with the greatest number of local companies involved. The Awards were organised by MediaClash, publishers of Bath Life and Bristol Life.Â
Our friends at Rocketmakers took home the award for technology; you can check out the full list here.Â
University of Gloucestershire expands its cyber facilitiesÂ
Funded by a £5.8million grant from the Office for Students (OfS), new cyber and computing facilities and equipment at Park Campus are being developed in consultation with CyNam, Hub8 and Plexal. They reinforce the University’s commitment to working with Cheltenham Borough Council and other partners to maximise the opportunities offered by the Golden Valley development and the region’s strategic emphasis on cyber and security for the future.
The new facilities, which will be delivered in the 2024-25 academic year, will help ensure that students can simulate real life experiences, connect with industry and the business community, and graduate with the skills and knowledge they need to drive the sector forward regionally and nationally.Â
Chancellor announces the Spring Budget 2024
You can find the full budget here. These can be meaty documents, so thankfully techUK has broken down how the information might impact the tech sector, which you can read here.
Namely, there will be a new approach to public sector spending with a focus on new technology and productivity and investment in tech clusters across the UK.Â
