THE North-East’s tech sector’s biggest problems lie around support for start ups, the creation of opportunities and a shortage of skilled people, according to an industry boss.

David Dunn, chief executive of Sunderland Software City and chair of the UK Tech Cluster Group (UKTCG), which on Tuesday released a report presenting seven recommendations to government ahead of the digital strategy release in Autumn, says many problems are not unique to the North-East – but how they are tackled should be, especially in the wake of job losses due to coronavirus.

Supporting the Recovery Roadmap Report, which calls for regional strategies to support the tech and digital sectors that “truly understands and overcomes local problems”, Mr Dunn says the region’s focus on scale ups, instead of start ups, should be reevaluated.

He said: “We focus on scale ups because everyone wants to find that next unicorn, but it doesn’t make sense. Start ups must succeed to then become scale ups.

“How do we help people start a business? I could just walk up to a perfume counter at a department store where someone was about to lose their job and say, we should start a tech business.

“The person would understand the ins and outs of retail and be able to tell me all of the short cuts they’ve come up with. Suddenly, we have someone that knows all of the sector’s problems and we just need someone that knows how to build what they describe.

“That person has just gone through huge transformation to a tech company CEO. We need to encourage that kind of thinking and get the word out there that support exists.”

The CEO, whose organisation supports and connects small businesses through a variety of services and is open to all across the North-East despite having ‘Sunderland’ in its name, added: "Traditionally the North-East is an ‘employed’ region, I do see that, but as people lose jobs due to the pandemic, they can’t afford not to start their own business."

The Recovery Roadmap Report notes a difference in technical and non-technical founders and, while Mr Dunn says the North-East is seeing more of the latter in recent years, it calls for additional support to enable collaboration and for Government to acknowledge the importance of regional 'connectors'.

Just as investors may not go to a department store to find their next start up founder, technology companies in the North-East “don’t necessarily look in the right place” either.

“A lack of skilled is people another reason businesses cannot grow,” Mr Dunn said.

“Tech firms do not necessarily look in the right place for the right people. They still go through traditional processes and look for experience and degrees.

“But the CVs in the bin aren’t all from people who can’t do the job. We should be tech-testing people before even looking at CVs. There’s a layer of hidden talent that does not get through the CV sift.”

The third biggest problem for the region is the creation of opportunities, Mr Dunn believes.

"Sunderland Software City runs a number of projects whereby small firms work with larger ones,” he said.

“There needs to be more of that because everyone benefits, the large company from innovation and the SME because they win the contract – it’s a double whammy.”

Solutions however must be introduced alongside other projects designed to support growth in the digital and tech sectors as well as others through 'digital as an enabler'.

This includes better hard and soft physical infrastructure for the likes of remote working as the world adapts and emerges out of lockdown, the report says.

Other infrastructure missing from the region is test beds, which could be a physical location or pool of users on which firms can test, trial and showcase their ideas.

Mr Dunn calls for a national and regional list of test beds so organisations can see what they can test and where, which will lead to greater success.

“There is no register of test beds in the UK. A Middlesbrough firm creating a tool for people with autism has no way of finding a large group of those users, even if there is on in Bristol – that’s what a test bed register would list.

“The North-East should develop its own register which can be used as an inward investment tool.

“This is about businesses in the region getting what is best for them."

The UK Tech Cluster Group hopes Government will consider the Recovery Roadmap Report ahead of its digital strategy, and use it to ease disparities in the tech sector across regions and devolved nations.