techUK and TechWM sign strategic agreement to accelerate region's digital economy

By Nicky Godding

25 April 2024

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Coventry City Council – City Centre

techUK, the technology trade association, has signed an agreement to work more closely with TechWM.

By formalising their partnership, signed during the West Midlands Tech Review in Wolverhampton during UKTech Week, techUK and TechWM will together raise the profile of the West Midlands' tech sector while trying to raise funding, improve skills and encourage companies to adopt digital technologies to improve productivity.

The agreement should increase ongoing collaboration between tech companies regionally and nationally, and help boost membership of techUK as a cohesive voice for UK technology companies.

techUK said that the West Midlands has significant strengths in the tech sector, particularly in digital infrastructure, with the region seeing a ‘Digital GVA’ score of £2,055 per head in the region, above the UK median.

Julian David, techUK CEO, said: “techUK is committed to ensuring the strength of tech companies – large and small - from across the UK’s nations and regions are at the heart of our work and national policy decision making.

“In our pursuit of this goal, we recognise the significance of empowering our members with a robust national platform and network, while fostering close collaborations with influential voices and initiatives, particularly in dynamic hubs like the West Midlands, which boasts the fastest-growing tech sector in the UK. Formalising our partnership with TechWM is a pivotal step towards unlocking the full potential of this region, nurturing its tech ecosystem, and amplifying its impact on the broader tech landscape.”

Founder and CEO of TechWM, Yiannis Maos, said: “At TechWM, our goal has always been to give businesses the tools they need to reach their goals and support their ambitions. Partnering with an incredible organisation like techUK is exactly the kind of steps we need to be taking to further empower businesses across the region.

“Despite encouraging growth, there’s still a number of hurdles facing the frontier of tech innovation. From funding to skills acquisition to digital integration, this strategic alignment is designed to create a pathway from our regional support network to join the likes of techUK providing a national platform for advocacy, innovation, and access.

“It’s incredibly exciting to be able to work alongside people who share our long-term vision and feel the same excitement we do around the potential of tech businesses in the West Midlands, and we can’t wait to see what a milestone partnership like this yields for the fantastic businesses flourishing across the region.”

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.