LEP High Tech Sector Group

17TH June 2014, 9:30am

SETSquared Boardroom, Engine Shed, Temple Meads, Bristol BS1 6QH

Attendees: Mike Bartley, Ian Brooks, Rodger Sykes, Emily Jones, Rick Chapman, Ben Shorrock, Nick Sturge, Paul O’Collins, Nicky Williams, Nick Flaherty, Liz Humphries, Melissa Houston

Apologies: Paul Appleby, Henry Nurser

Review of actions from previous meetings

Action Summary Ongoing unknown progress

Nicky and Nick F to coordinate a skills sub group
Rodger, Nick F and Nick S to work with Business West on the Venturefest proposal
Mike and Ben to arrange a second meeting with Ian Johnson to discuss the Technology Festival
Liz to circulate a list of the event schedule for “From Chips to…”
Nick S to contact Prince Andrew, James Foster and Herman Hauser and IBB to contact James Dyson regarding Keynote speaker for the Alumni Dinner
Ben to circulate the list of suggested invitees for the Alumni Dinner - Members to mark who they know
Group to suggest alternative domain name to replace HB2

Skills Update

Nicky introduced herself to the group and explained her role within the LEP Skills team. Talked about wanting to explore a way of working (similar to how she works with the Creative Sector) – joining up with Becca Thurston wholooks after the Advanced Engineering & Aerospace Sector Group.
High Tech is very “graduate” focused. Nicky would like to explore other areas. Group however feels that this is due to the High Tech companies main focus being predominantly on graduates.
Open discussion on encouraging students in FE colleges to then move onto HE. A framework that is flexible needs to be developed.
Nick S talked about the benefits to getting speakers into colleges – someone inspirational and able to highlight the career options within the industry.
Mike and Nicky meet prior to the meeting. High Tech is now on all LEP Skills promotional materials which is great. Key activities discussed:
Sector Statement – How to feed into this on an ongoing basis
Sector Skills Working Group – Setting up and moving forward
High Tech Immersion Skills Workshop – focus on gaps/issues and work on solutions. Bringing business and education closer together.
High Tech P2P (Pathways to Professions) – Open door event for career advisors in both FE and HE.
Plans to engage FE/HE students in the industry (placements for both students and lecturers)
Nicky would like to set the Skills sub group up ASAP. Thisgroup will not meet regularly. The group will meet as and when something needs to be said, feedback or an opinion is needed etc.
The Skills Workshop will be a 4-5 hour event, looking to be held in September/October.
ACTION: Nicky and Nick F to coordinate a skills sub group – This will sit under the HB2 umbrella.
Ian Brooks from UWE also attended the meeting to discuss an event on the 19th June – Computer Science: Curriculum Review Workshop. This is a new event but with hopes of being held annually to make sure the courses cover the skills gap.
If anyone is unable to attend the Curriculum Review Workshop but has some feedback/comments they would like to share, please email Ian directly ().

Venturefest Bristol 2014

Alastair Watson has recently been elected the Lord Major of Bristol. This unfortunately means he will not have time to continue as Project Coordinator.
There is some sensitivity around Alastair’s new position and his focus around promoting Bristol. Group felt that his membership to the High Tech Sector should potentially be on hold for the next 12 months. Still CC Alastair into emails but due to (Lord Major) commitments, it would be unlucky that he would be available to attend meetings anyway.
Rick is working with Liz and Ben to move the campaigns forward.

At the last meeting, group agreed that Venturefest shouldn’t be a trade show. Nick S mentioned that it could be a smaller version of Innovate and highlighted to the group that there might be implications if the event isn’t held as it’s considered to be an important and valuable event.
Oxford and Cardiff are holding theirs in July.
IBB met with Business West a couple of weeks ago to discuss how this could move forward. Group agreed that someone needs to underwrite it AND run it.
Business West cannot fund the event but they can “own” it – can they underwrite it?
If Business West is going to be the vehicle, a small working group will need to be set up to help identify the main objectives. There is currently a Venturefest Board (Chaired by Joe McGeehan); the working group should feed into.
ACTION: Rodger, Nick F and Nick S (who volunteered to be on the working group) to work with Business West on the proposal.

Technology Festival

Mike and Ben met with a guy called Ian Johnson who wants to hold a technology/digital event in Bristol.
A small festival, potentially taking over @Bristol, Watershed and Queens Square – May/June 2015
Great to have a “green” angle (as Bristol is the Green Capital in 2015). Could we join it with Venturefest?
ACTION: Mike and Ben to arrange a second meeting with Ian Johnson to discuss the Technology Festival.

“From Chips to …” Update

Liz mentioned that the logos had been confirmed, overall branding, straplines, T+C’s were still being worked on – Happy to circulate.
An outline of the PR Strategy was handed out. This is an IBB supporter campaign – group needs to decide who will be the “go to” for quotes? Need to avoid putting out lots of different messages. Looking to put strong stories into national papers once a month.
There is also an email tag which everyone will be able to use.
Alumni dinner will be on the 22nd September, aiming for 50-60 people to attend: Immediate action needed = Keynote speaker(s).
ACTION: Liz to circulate a list of the event schedule.
Plan is to start in The Junction, Engine Shed and then jump on a boat to the SS Great Britain –Group openly discussed the suggested key note speaker(s).
ACTION: Who will make connect:
Prince Andrew – Nick S
James Foster – Nick S
Herman Hauser – Nick S
James Dyson – IBB
ACTION: Ben to circulate the list of invitees. Members to mark who they know.
Once the Keynote speaker(s) is confirmed, a formal invite will be sent to those that members of the group do not personally know. Looking to invite at least 100 people.
It’s been highlighted that the invite list is very male heavy – group needs to consider diversity and invite more females.

Cluster map

Moving forward from the issues with Trampoline, Rick has been working on Cluster map 2.
Working with David Maher Roberts (Creative Sector Champion for IBB). A simpler version has been written using 3 databases. This has been tested – looking to go live next week.
The new version now has filters, enabling you to drill down to whatever you want. If a company finds their data is incorrect, they can now complete a form which when submitted will be sent to Rick for correction.
Plans for launch: Switch domain name from HB2map.com
Liz mentioned something that’s been previously discussed – the name HB2 and what it means in America. This may affect marketing.
ACTION: Group to suggest alternative domain name.

AOB

Mike addressed the ongoing discussion on who else should be invited to the group.

Next meeting:Tuesday 22nd July, 9:30am

Osborne Clarke, Bristol