Dynamo North East continues to go from strength to strength. Membership numbers are up and while there are still some big players yet to join, the organisation must represent the majority of employees in the industry across the region.
This years’ conference, Dynamo17, will be held in Durham. It will be the fourth such conference and moves us from the new kids on the block to something more mature. I take pride in that, in some small way, I continue to play a part in its success.
We still have a lot of work to do however. I am reminded of a conversation I had with Simon from the Federation of Small Businesses. He told me that of the one hundred and fifty six thousand businesses across the North East, one hundred thousand operate as sole traders. If this is true for all businesses then it is likely to be reflected in the tech industry.
There will be many more businesses at the start up end of the market yet with far fewer people. Dynamo has focused quite rightly on the larger corporates. They are the fabric of the industry in the region. Our future lies, however in the new entrants. More needs to be done at this end of the scale.
Janine was at a Tech Nation conference the other today. They were announcing their national report on the state of the digital industry. One of the presenters, from a small business, was bemoaning the lack of a forum in which he could engage with other companies and build his business. He was finding it difficult to get his voice heard. There is a clear hole in the support market here but what it is I do not yet know.
The future of all business, in my opinion, is through collaboration and co-creation. It is the whole ecosystem that will deliver, big fish and small fry. All of the big companies were start-ups once. We need to ensure that the whole tech market can get involved in our movement.
As I said, we have a lot more still to do
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 