IT Suppliers Database

I have recently sent some mails out through contacts trying to get IT organisations to sign up for a supplier database and i've had such a great response I realised I should make more effort to reach even more companies!

The idea is to have a database of IT organisations in the Yorkshire & Humberside region that is publicly available and promoted to companies in all industries in order to help them find a company to work with. The database will contain information about the kinds of products and services organisations can deliver and any specialities of interest. We can then direct other companies to the database to help them find a company that not only delivers what they want but is within the region.

If anyone has any ideas for reaching more companies drop me a line, or if you're an IT company and you'd like to be included in the database mail me: emma dot frost at yorkshire-forward dot com please include your name, organisation name and phone number.

Digital Britain

(Obviously i'm a bit behind with blogging about this, but better late than never.)

The Government has published an interim report (which means it will be followed by a full report) entitled Digital Britain which looks at Britain and the digital economy. You can download the report at:

http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/broadcasting/5631.aspx


I won't lie, it's long (about 90 pages) and covers such a variety of topics from broadband to digital radio that it's hard to imagine there are many people out there who are interested in all of it, but you can just read the Executive Summary for an overview.

To give you a very quick idea of what is covered the report details five objectives for 2012:

• Upgrading and modernising our digital networks – wired, wireless and broadcast – so that Britain has an infrastructure that enables it to remain globally competitive in the digital world;
• A dynamic investment climate for UK digital content, applications and services, that makes the UK an attractive place for both domestic and inward investment in our digital economy;
• UK content for UK users: content of quality and scale that serves the interests, experiences and needs of all UK citizens; in particular impartial news, comment and analysis;
• Fairness and access for all: universal availability coupled with the skills and digital literacy to enable near-universal participation in the digital economy and digital society; and
• Developing the infrastructure, skills and take-up to enable the widespread online delivery of public services and business interface with Government.

I shall keep you posted about any developments with Digital Britain as and when they appear. The full report will be published sometime in June.

Survey for a network for the IT industry

We have just created an online survey for any IT companies in Yorkshire & Humberside to fill in to help us decide what activities and events and so on the industry would like from a network for the IT industry.

As an extra incentive (as if for the good of the industry in the region wasn't enough!) there's an opportunity for one lucky person to win £100 in Amazon vouchers or to donate to a charity of their choice.

The survey can be found at:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=pz8TuxfAF31vKeFbLYNTxQ_3d_3d

So if you're an IT company in the region, what are you waiting for :-)

Ignite

I've been meaning to post about the Ignite event I went to last week at Old Broadcasting House in Leeds.

There were tons of speakers and I couldn't possibly blog about all of them so i'm going to have to limit myself with a couple of highlights:

* Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino: Could hardware hacking save us?

I really liked Alexandra's talk, mainly because I bought an Anduino set a couple of months ago:

http://www.tinker.it/en/Products/ArduinoNG

I also liked hearing about the different events that have been held and the idea of the creative aspects of building something physical yourself and how this can allow people to think more creatively in the future. I also had a quick chat with Alexandra afterwards about having an event in the region which I intend to follow-up on at some point, maybe this is something for me to discuss with OS4B as it is an open source product...

* Stuart Childs, Richard Garside, Dave Lynch: FriiSpray digital grafitti w/IR tracking

I also liked this presentation about using the wii with an electronic whiteboard to create an electronic spray can for grafitti work. My brain is still thinking about this one as i'm convinced there are all sorts of possibilities with it. Could be great for events, has obvious tie-ins with young people and artists, could have potential for interactive advertising boards? A way to collate information? I like the idea of having one somewhere that people can just come in and use and a snapshot is saved to file every 30 seconds or something like that... Anyway still thinking about it which must be a good sign!

There were loads of other speakers who were all very interesting and often very entertaining, i'm assuming the slides will go up online somewhere soon at:

http://www.meetup.com/Ignite-UK-North/calendar/9017862/

Barcamp Winner - Dom ‘The Hodge‘ Hodgson

Happy New Year! The first post of 2009, how strange...

Anyway so just a quick one to let you know that the winner of the Yorkshire Forward competition at Barcamp Sheffield has been announced, you can see Jag's post (and the winning video) at:

http://barcampsheffield.net/announcements/live-like-barcamp-sheffield-people.html

Dom's video had over 400 visits within the time frame and we will be presenting him with the cheque on Wednesday evening at Sheffield's next Geek Up meeting. The fact that i'm a massive, life-long Pulp fan had no bearing on the chosen winner and is just a happy coincidence :-)

Digital Awards

In case the Innovator/09 competition below isn't your cup of tea we've just opened the nominations for the 2009 Yorkshire Digital Awards!

This year you can either nominate yourself for a category, or nominate another company that you work with which you feel deserves some recognition. We've heard from previous winners that the competition has a really positive effect on sales due to all the free promotion your company receives so I *really* recommend entering if you can. Especially at this time of year when you don't want to start a whole new project but need something to keep you busy for your last afternoon in the office ;-)

Anyway, categories are:

Best Web Design Company

Best IT Consultancy

Best Business to Business Website

Best Business to Consumer Website

Best Application of Internet Technology

Best Digital Start Up

Best Game

Best Entertainment Site

Best e-Learning Initiative

Best Application of Mobile Technology

Best New Talent

To enter all you have to do is fill in a form which can be found on the website:

http://www.yorkshiredigitalawards.com/

If you're feeling flush with Christmas cheer there are also still a few categories that need sponsoring, in which case just drop me a line.

Finally, even if you're not entering and not sponsoring, don't forget the actual awards ceremony itself. A great craic and with over 300 people attending it's a good way to meet some interesting people (including a few of us lovely Yorkshire Forward folk). Be warned the tables fill up really fast so if you want to go you need to book your place pronto!

Date: Thu 7th May, 2009

Venue: Saviles Hall, The Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds

Barcamp Sheffield Update

Oops! Took a little longer to get to this post than planned!

Barcamp Sheffield was fabulous, a thoroughly enjoyable experience even though it meant working over a weekend :-) Everyone I have spoken to who attended agreed that it was a very positive event. The competition is still ongoing. The idea behind the competition is that attendees should create 'something' online that is promoting either Sheffield, Yorkshire or Barcamp Sheffield and whoever drives the most traffic *and* is the most creative wins!

I shall most definitely be posting a link to the winner on here.

I'm now hoping there may be space for some more Barcamps around the region, maybe York, Hull etc so will have to start subliminally putting ideas into the right peoples head :-)