Teesside University enjoys digital boom

Teesside University is enjoying a booming success with Digital innovation making the region the best place to study and work in digital in the country.

DigitalCity encapsulates DigitalCity Innovation, part of Teesside University, who manage the DigitalCity fellowships and DigitalCity Business, a dedicated hub to support businesses once they’ve left the academic environment. DigitalCity Business has created over 110 jobs in 17 months which in turn are estimated to bring over £5million to the local economy.

In the coming months DigitalCity’s 200th fellowship business will be created, joining a list of companies which so far include: computer animation, web design, advertising, nanotechnology and forensic science among many others. Teesside University’s successes and expertise in DigitalCity and entrepreneurship have also seen it picked to lead the Atlantis programme, with colleagues from Högskolan Gävle in Sweden and the Universities of Iowa and South Carolina in the US, to help develop policy on making students more employable. DigitalCity harnesses the knowledge and expertise of world-class lecturers, speakers and students from Teesside University to help form the digital businesses of the future. DigitalCity Business is fed by students from Teesside University’s DigitalCity fellowships, in addition to housing other digital businesses.

Factfile DigitalCity fellowships give a £4,000 business start-up grant, business training and mentoring from industry professionals as well as 24/7 access to fellowship labs, equipment, hardware and software and access to film/sound studios.

DigitalCity has helped to bring in close to £700K in private investment, and has helped trigger almost £4m in private investment. The European Union part financed this project with £1.9m from the European Regional Development Fund 2007-13 through Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Distributed by the European Commission, the European Regional Development Fund promotes growth, competitiveness and employment in the region.

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