Graduate job creation puts £20m into NE economy

With undergraduates worrying their degrees won’t end in a new career, DigitalCity Innovation (DCI) at Teesside University can reveal that it puts £20m back into the economy yearly through jobs creation.

Through a programme of fellowships, which support fledgling businesses, and fostering relationships with local industry, DCI has directly created at least 265 jobs and 190 companies since 2008.

Laura Woods, head of academic enterprise at Teesside University, said: 'We’ve looked closely into what the Tees Valley and wider North East needs in terms of skilled graduates and which areas of business are growing.

'What is clear is that digital technologies are growing hugely in the region but previously there has lacked an infrastructure to support that growth.

'These figures show DCI is working. A cluster of digital businesses have been built up in the North East and there are talented graduates and post-graduates being produced to work in these businesses.' DCI focuses on developing a pathway for talented graduates and post-graduates in digital and computing to move into jobs in the local region.

Dr Andrew Dean, 32, of Middlesbrough, set up Spartan Nano in 2009. Following a MSC in Biotechnology from Teesside University he found out about the DCI fellowships and applied.

He said: 'I was doing post-doctoral research and was interested in looking at the commercial applications of the technology I was investigating.

'It is often very difficult for those working in science to get funding to set up businesses, the UK lags behind the rest of the world in this area.

'So the first thing which attracted me to DCI was the fact I got helped with start-up costs in addition to developing our capabilities in the digital design of complex reaction mechanisms.'

Spartan Nano, based in Redcar, offer commercial services in biophysical science research. There is a full-time team of five staff members who carry out work for a range of multi-national clients.

Dr Dean continued: 'What DCI did was give help with the practical applications. Their workshops, to show how all aspects of business work from the marketing onwards, were very useful.

'It is impossible to be an expert in everything but what the DCI fellowship did was give practical support in the areas I needed to make my business work.'

Mark Hill, technical director of DCI at Teesside University, explained how DCI, which has just received another £1.9m worth of European funding, said: 'We help businesses to launch through DigitalCity Fellowships.

'Once they have begun we help them to grow. We produce highly-skilled graduates and post-graduates to work in the businesses. We bring experts to the region regularly to speak to them and make sure their knowledge remains relevant. If a more traditional business wants to develop their digital side then we help them.

'DCI is becoming integral to the business landscape of the North East which is something unusual for an academic institute. But we recognise it is pointless churning out skilled graduates if there is nowhere for them to go to work in the region.'

---