Its been a whirlwind year since Dynamo North East was put on the map in 2014 with a keynote conference: Defining the North East It Economy.

In repeating the event in 2015, Dynamo has always been conscious, in pop music parlance, of producing a difficult second album.

However, todays conference shows the strength and depth of the sector because Dynamo has again man-aged to involve more than 40 speakers from different niches within the software and tech sector and it still keeps finding more global industry leaders with North East links to bring into the network for future years.

The Dynamo15 theme is how North East It Impacts the World this is because of Dynamos pride in spotlighting international export and research excellence, whether thats Durham University modelling the Big Bang or sage Group holding its position as the worlds third largest business software firm.

Information technology has risen up the regions agenda to become a smart specialisation - even before Dynamo co-founder Bob Paton took up a role as Interim Chief Executive of the Governments business delivery organisation, the North East Local Enterprise Partnership

Dynamo mission is to harness momentum in the regions software and It industry.

It is widely recognised that this sector is driving a digital revolution, which contributes massively to the broader economy and has helped fire the UK economy out of recession.

This is nowhere more true than in the North East, because Dynamos research has proved that It, with

32,000 employees, has more workers in the region than the highly influential Nissan supply chain, and that the It sector is growing at a much faster rate.

Dynamo is addressing issues that are a challenge for individual firms, such as the skills gap, regional broadband infrastructure, and intellectual property innovation.

It has been able to influence Government policy and is setting an agenda to make the region the hub for digital and It in the Northern Powerhouse.

Dynamo also has helped connect a significant number of regional firms to business or research opportuni-ties, helping drive growth and revenues locally.

todays Dynamo 15 conference, at the University of sunderlands st Peters Campus, embraces five key strands innovation, collaboration, policy, growth and skills.

It will celebrate the North Easts It success stories, examine future opportunities and challenges, showcase engaging case studies to inspire others to follow their lead and highlight the latest technical developments being spearheaded in the region.

Featuring 40-plus national and regional speakers including:

steph McGovern, one of the BBCs leading economic commentators, who gave her take on the North Easts commercial outlook and its place in the world of business as well as hosting a panel discussion on Our Region Our Future

stephen Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of The sage Group, plc.

Bob Paton, Managing Director of Accentures Newcastle Delivery Centre

stephen Guss, General Manager at Nissan, on It and the Automotive supply chain

Ian Walshaw, Head of It at gaming giant tombola

Neil Crockett, Chief Executive

Officer of Digital CatapultMarkus Milsted, Chief Executive

Officer of OmlisDean Benson, Chief Executive

Officer of VisualsoftPaul Fellows, Chief Operating

Officer at Performance Horizon Group

Jess tyrrell, Director of Connect- ing tech City Centre for London on the future of the North East Digital Economy

Claire Braithwaite, Head of tech North

Barry Hodgson, of the Digital Institute at Newcastle University

shirley Atkinson, Vice Chancellor of the University of sunderland

Workshops on the five themes Innovate, Collaborate, Growth, skills, and Policy

Charlie Hoult, Chair of Dynamo, said: These are exciting times for the It sector in the North East and todays conference will reflect its vibrancy and economic impact on the UK and beyond.

We want to relay what has been learnt during the last year since the inaugural Dynamo conference, highlight the amazing and innovative work that is being undertaken by organisations large and small, and bring national and regional players together so they can network and collaborate on what needs to happen next to grow this influential sector.

The conferences headline supporters are Accenture and sage with backing also obtained from HP, Make It sunderland, University of sunderland, Baltic training services, Quantum Law, Orchard Information systems and Opencast software.

Dynamo, which is the North East It Network, works to grow the North East It economy through promoting the region as a hub for the enterprise It sector.

It is made up of It organisations and employers, technology hubs, education, local government and employer support initiatives.

North East IT sector makes its mark on global scale

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Dynamo has hit the ground running and has achieved a great deal in the last 18 months. But, as the saying goes you aint seen nothin yet.

Lets take a look at what else Dynamo wants to achieve.

a northern massachusetts Institute of Technology we are working on a bid for a national Institute for Digital Innovation. We want to champion a major international university department that can build a rolling programme of research, partnership and enterprise.

Partnerships could be on hot industry topics such as the Internet of Things or Big Data, Building Information management or Healthcare diagnostics, with incubation, collaboration and international knowledge transfer. Were hoping to create a model that can involve all the local education providers, but also international institutions.

Business Exchange - Wed like to see industry corporations contribute to northern mIT, as well as international universities. Wed also like to operate a team to help establish the partnerships, engage local firms and foster spin-outs.

Theres a boiling hot economy in the South East, not least with Google building its 1.6bn European headquarters at Kings Cross. But we also host some of the UK Governments most useful data sets in this region, with HmRC and the Prescription Pricing authority based here.

The north East has a good programme for start-ups, but we believe there is opportu-nity for cross-fertilisation between our regions specialist clusters (science, automo-tive, satellite, health) as well as major growth potential in helping our scale-up firms to grow.

Leadership in Smart City Tech The north East has already made major

investment in pilot projects for Smart Cities, such as BTs Ultrafast broadband test scheme and newcastle Universitys 58m Centre for Urban Sciences, being built to house the Computer Science department on Science Central site.

We need to press ahead with our advanc-es so that we can draw together a globally significant case study.

We can use our natural advantage as a Goldilocks region not too big, not too small to develop projects that are in demand across Europe and will lead on global roll-outs. Driverless cars? Self-help technology for an ageing population? Smart tech for kids learning? Intelligent electricity generation?

The north East has a well-known heritage in engineering and innovation. Dynamo has proved that, despite years of bad press about decline, the region is still a world beater.

a key factor has been to collect the leaders into a cluster and to shout about success and growth and breakthroughs and todays Dynamo 15 conference will help us do just that and we hope that all those involved will spread the message even further.

IT is a fast-moving world and Dynamo has to reflect that, always looking to the future. Chair CHARLIE HOULT looks at tomorrows agenda

Dynamos plan for tomorrows world

NEARLY 100 young people from across the North East have been given an indepth insight into the career opportu-nities available in the regions growing IT sector.

A Get Into IT afternoon, aimed at young people aged 13-plus, parents, teachers, and career advisers, was held yesterday at Sunderland Universitys St Peters Campus as a prelude to todays Dynamo 15 conference.

The careers event featured a wide range of activities, demonstrations and the opportunity to chat to those working in the IT industry. The programme included:

Tell us about IT interactive panel sessions with representatives from local IT businesses, universities and apprentice providers.

A Lets Play with IT interactive playroom full of the latest technology that visitors were able to try.

The big screen programme A Day in the Life of an IT, which showcased stories from those working in IT, students and graduates.

Charlie Hoult, Dynamo

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chairman, said: There is a buzz about tech careers and this event was a chance to set foundations for joined-up action. Dynamo wants computer programming in the North East to run from playground to PHD because we are going to need skills at every level in the future.

We hope that the Get Into IT afternoon will have acted as a catalyst and will have inspired young people to seriously consider pursuing a career in IT.

It is imperative to the future growth and success of the sector that we have a steady stream of talented, motivated young people with the ambition to make their mark in the many tech companies that are helping drive the North East economy.

Mr Hoult said it was important that young people, parents, careers advisers and teachers were given key messages about the sector in the North East including:

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Bob Patons new LEP responsibility, as well as his role as managing director of Accentures Newcastle Delivery Centre, means he has had to step down as vice chairman of Dynamo.

but, he says, he is still massively involved and still attends board meetings of the organisation he co-founded.

He explains how Dynamo was born out of Accentures success in the North East after it set up its delivery centre in 2010, building staff numbers from 210 people to its current 470.

When you are successful you end up talking to people such as the CbI, Chamber of Commerce, MPs and council leaders because people like to hear about success, he says.

In the course of those conversations, he realised that

there was no cluster that covered the whole region and which included big companies as well as SMEs, even though some 35,000 people work in the IT sector in the region

Every bit of research tells you that if a sector works well together its more likely to be successful and thats true of any sector, whether its process and chemicals with the North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC), or offshore energy with NoF Energy. This is true of the North East and throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

So he started to contact businesses which could form such a cluster and discovered that Charlie Hoult, the current Dynamo chairman, had had the same idea and was engaged in the same exercise. They met, got on well and between them

they cofounded Dynamo two years ago. The organisation has three main aims:

To promote and grow the North East IT economy.

To support R&D in technol- ogy in the region.

To support education and skills and increase the numbers of young people ready to join the industry.

Dynamos philosophy is that collaboration will help the sector in the North East win work and grow. With R&D it hopes to build on the regions already strong record.

Paton says: The person who designed the iPad, Sir Jonathan Ive, went to Northumbria University, the person who invented Hawk-Eye went to Durham University and the very first online shopping transaction in the world took place in Gateshead. So the

region has some good history in technology development.

on skills, Dynamo aims to encourage more girls to go into IT. It has created the first IT sector-led apprentice hubs with one in Newcastle, another in Sunderland and a third planned; and it is partnering with Sunderland University to set up the University Technol-ogy College North East Futures in Newcastle, focused on IT and health care sciences.

It is also working to increase the numbers of code clubs in schools

In Estonia, they have a code club in every primary school - something that the North East of England should also aspire to, says Paton.

He looks back with satisfac-tion over Dynamos progress in meeting those objectives.

He says: Weve shown that, because weve got everybody together at various events, people get to know people. As a result of that, collaboration has really started to work.

BOB PATON, the North East LEPs new interim chief executive, explains what motivated him to cofound Dynamo and how it is fulfilling its aims

Collaboration is key to IT sectors success

Bob Paton >

THE JOURNAL THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2015 5DYNAMO CONFERENCE DYNAMO CONFERENCE

Stephen Kelly, Sage >

The North east has a strong heritage of technological innovation. The inventive, hard-working spirit

that sits at the heart of this commu-nity remains as strong today as it ever has been. At Sage, were immensely proud to have our roots in the North east.

I dont doubt that the North east has been a key factor in Sages success over the last 30 years. The North east breeds a resilience that

cannot be replicated elsewhere and when you combine that with the regions famed imagination and creativity, you have a powerful mix for business success.

But what does the future hold for the region? Personally I was greatly encouraged to hear George Osbourne outline his intention to create a Northern Powerhouse by connecting communities in the North of england. For the North east there is an opportunity to play a

significant part in shaping that vision and also become the engine-room of the proposed powerhouse.

Technology, of course, has a huge role to play.

The digital age has placed technol-ogy at the heart of business and if the North east is to grow in signifi-

cance on the national and interna-tional stage, then a focus on technology is vital.

The areas already thriving technology community shows that a lot of the right ingredients are already there.

Dynamo 15 brings businesses

together, giving them a collective voice.

While the region boasts some of the UKs largest companies, we are undoubtedly stronger together and can pack a punch when it comes to fighting for the North east to gain the recognition it deserves.

STEPHEN KELLY, chief executive of Sage Group plc, on the North East and Dynamo 15

Focus on technology is vital for growth

6 THE JOURNAL THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2015DYNAMO CONFERENCE

Dynamo North East >chair Charlie Hoult, second from left, with new vice chairs Neil Hemming, Giselle Stewart and Stuart Lynn

Neil Hemming is North east born and bred, but has had to spend most of his working life in exile a major reason for joining Dynamo.

He explains: im a North east lad but i have, however, spent most of my career in iT and communications having to work in london and other places, so my big passion is to try to build a bigger digital economy in the North east so that future generations of people like me dont have to go to london to have a job.

After graduating from Newcastle with a degree in computing science, he worked for iBM and other global iTC giants and is now managing partner of German multinational software group SAP.

He also sits on the North east leP innovation Board, which has given him an insight into the regions digital sector.

Theres actually a thriving iT sector in the North east, he says. There are jobs going in the North east in high-tech industries and we cant actually fill them. At Dynamo, we want to make something of the iT opportu-nity that we have to create more jobs in the region and sustainable businesses, to create an even more diverse and vibrant iT economy.

Giselle Stewart, director of corporate affairs in the UK for Ubisoft, has been in computer games for 20 years.

Recently she has become involved in the national skills agenda as director of trade body TiGA, as chair of the Creative Skillset Council for Video Games and as an advisory board member for Next Gen Skills Academy.

She says: People imagine computer games to be developed in a creative and visual environment, but its also extremely maths and physics-based and we are always interested in attracting people with these talents.

How do we ensure theres a strong and robust talent pipeline in the North

east for the future? its a subject that i am passionate about; Ubisoft is rigorous in selecting talented people and then considers how it can help people to evolve in their career within the company.

She adds: Our five universities feed us very well with a pool of talented people. The tech sector is really strong in the North east and its a tale that isnt told loudly enough and widely enough. i think Dynamo is going to do a super job of communicating this. im impressed with its philosophy that its not about moaning to Westminster about how tough it is here but instead, its about saying what great things we are achieving, with potential for more.

Stuart lynns career epitomises the economic journey that the North east has taken he started his working life in coal mining and is now chief technical officer and chief information officer for software giant Sage. As one of the founder members of Dynamo he is a keen champion of the North easts iT sector.

Sage is an internationally known brand but Stuart emphasises Dynamos role in helping smaller businesses.

He says: im proud of the region and i particularly love working with the SMes that are part of the Dynamo group. How can we help them to be successful, build on some of the recognition that the larger companies such as Sage has achieved, and bring economic growth and jobs to the North east?

He wants Dynamo 15 to put the North east firmly on the map as a centre of excellence for information Technology. He says: As a region, we are home to a wide array of successful technology companies and yet we are one of the best-kept secrets. We are already on route to becoming the Northern Powerhouse and its time to share with the world what excellent opportunities the North east has to offer.

Dynamo vice chairs speak outGISELLE STEWART, NEIL HEMMING and STUART LYNN, the new vice chairs of Dynamo, explain why they took up the roles and what they hope to bring

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Tombolas head of IT Ian Walshaw will be speaking at Dynamo 15 to share his companys growth story.

Tombola is a sunderland-based online bingo giant, which employs 350 people and operates in a number of countries.

last year the company was con-firmed as the largest bingo operator in spain and Italy, only two years after moving into the European market. It is now looking at further expansion in Europe.

In order to become and stay successful it has had to develop cutting-edge IT, evolving its software and infrastructure over the past five years. Head of IT Ian Walshaw describes how the system tombola now has evolved a great deal from the original product platform.

He says: We effectively reinvented the wheel on a number of occasions: We had a legacy platform which was not operating to a level which the business needed for its ambitious growth plans, for example there was limited expansion capacity, not an ideal disaster recovery provision and also technical debt in the software. We had to architecture our infrastructure from the ground up and start forward planning for a website software re-architecture.

He adds: We went on a journey which effectively saw us recreate our product platform from a few stan-dalone servers to a robust, resilient virtualised environment, which we feel stands up to scrutiny.

We then started on a journey of effectively rewriting the website platform so that it was capable of not

just running the UK website, but also taking us into different countries, making it as easy as possible to replicate the environment. That has seen us go into Italy where we are now number one and into spain where we are also number one, so it has worked very well.

but digital is a fast-moving environ-ment and tombola is constantly thinking about whats around the corner, what will our landscape look like in five years time? Were now reviewing what the cloud can do for us.

Ian says: Where do we need to be five years from now? Will our systems still be fit for purpose?

Tombola is also acutely aware that it will have to continue to recruit talented and skilled people if it is to maintain momentum. For that it recognises that it must continue to build brand recognition of itself as an exciting and vibrant technology house.

Recruitment is a horrendously difficult problem for us, says Ian. Theres an enormous shortage of staff. To help with this, we are trying to build awareness of the kind of fun stuff we do at tombola. In addition to this, the technology which underpins the business is extremely exciting and working for tombola is working for a market leader. Not many get the chance to work at the cutting edge of an industry.

Tombola is determined that it will remain at the cutting edge and its latest phase of innovation is already under-way.

Ian says: as for the time scale for the new development its on the horizon now.

Tombola determined to remain at cutting edge

DyNamo member Visualsoft has become a major force in IT and has big plans for the future.

Tees Valley eCommerce company Visualsoft, which is already expanding into new premises, aims to double the size of its workforce to nearly 400 in the next few years.

The business, which is moving into a 30,000 sq ft building on Teesdale business Park, stockton, following a surge in growth, aims to make acquisitions that comple-ment its core products and services.

It offers a full service eCommerce solution to more than 1,000 online retailers including website design, development and a range of online marketing services, including pay-per-click, sEo, affiliate marketing, and email and social media marketing.

one of the areas we specialise in is multichannel marketing where you look at one conduit and one outlet we work closely with ebay and amazon to make sure your product is put in front of as many people as possible, says chief executive Dean benson.

With offices in stockton, Newcas-tle and london, Visualsoft has 1,200 live websites, more than 300 online marketing clients, and another 200 websites currently in development. In the past 12 months

alone, the company has processed 5.3 million transactions through its online platform, collectively worth 300m.

The Teesside-based business was set up 16 years ago by Dean benson and two others. our background was as a technology company very analytical and statistical, explains Dean. In the past six years

alone weve grown the company significantly in that time from a team of 20 to a team of 200.

How important has collaboration and working with organisations such as Dynamo or Tees Valley Unlimited, the local Enterprise Partnership for Tees Valley, been to the business?

Its been phenomenally

important in raising awareness of what we do, he says. Were very passionate about what we do and to raise awareness of what we are doing in a growing industry and to make sure that we are recognised as leaders in our field is very impor-tant to us.

It also works closely with the regions colleges and with Teesside,

Durham and Newcastle universi-ties. It is looking at doing on-cam-pus and off-campus courses to offer up-to-date instruction on the industry.

Visualsoft places great emphasis on staff retention. It has introduced unlimited paid holidays; flexitime; free breakfasts, protein shakes and gym membership.

We find recruitment and retention relatively easy because of the way that we treat staff, says Dean. staff are our biggest asset in the company and we treat them as such, so we are becoming an employer of choice.

Visualsoft was named Company of the year in the Teesside heat of this years North East business awards.

The business is becoming better known but it still raises eyebrows in the industry when people realise it is North East-based.

I think we are a surprise for them, says Dean. We are very akin to the likes of Google in terms of how we are as a company and how we are perceived, our image and our size. People didnt realise stockton-on-Tees has such a big employer in the industry.

The futures very bright, we are in a rapidly growing industry and we are doing all the right things and we have huge plans.

Expanding Visualsoft aims to double workforce

Northern Powerhouse minister James Wharton MP, right, at the new Visualsoft premises at Teesdale Business >Park, Stockton, with Sandy Anderson of TVU, left, and Dean Benson of Visualsoft

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