The North has all the ingredients to rival the Golden Triangle in tech – Duncan Johnson, CEO, Northern Gritstone

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5 • 6 Ratings

🗓️ 10 June 2024

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Duncan Johnson, CEO of Northern Gritstone, discusses why the north of England has all the potential required to rival the South East in commercialising science and innovation, the challenges of backing early-stage deep tech companies with very long investment journeys, and why ambition and resilience are so important in developing tech hubs.

Johnson has been chief executive of the investment firm since 2021 and has guided its vision of growing the northern economic ecosystem by backing innovative new technologies. Northern Gritstone’s portfolio companies include Pragmatic Semiconductor, C-Capture and Re:course. Johnson is adamant that the ingredients required, such as the exceptional talent from the region's universities, to make the north a tech powerhouse are all there and while it will take time, it's an achievable goal worth fighting for.

Transcript

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0:00.0	So you see this huge disparity in terms of where funding is going. Alongside that you have this
0:13.7	actually very level playing field of science and an R&D that is going on.
0:23.6	The North of England was the home of the Industrial Revolution.
0:26.6	It was the most wealthy part of the UK for long periods of time.
0:29.6	I even think that Bradford was the wealthiest city in the world at one point in the late 19th century.
0:36.6	There was no doubt the level of the world world at one point in the late 19th century.
1:00.4	There was no doubt the leveling up agenda was you could view as quite short-term thinking by a government that had won seats and it probably shouldn't have won in the normal course. From the first time founders to the funds that back them, innovation needs different.
1:06.0	Our episode partner, HSBC Innovation Banking, is proud to accelerate growth for tech and life science businesses,
1:13.4	creating meaningful connections and opening up a world of opportunity for entrepreneurs and investors
1:18.8	alike. Discover more at www.h.hsbc Innovationbanking.com slash EN-GB.
1:38.6	Hello and welcome to the UKTN podcast, a weekly chat with the movers and shakers of the UK Tech industry and the destination for all things UK tech related.
1:42.9	I'm your host, Jane Wakefield, and joining me this week is Duncan Johnson, the CEO of Northern Gritstone,
1:50.0	an investment company that focuses on spin-outs in the north of England.
1:54.0	Welcome, Duncan.
1:55.0	Thank you very much, Jane.
1:56.0	Delighted to be here.
1:57.0	Now, let's get a flavour first of all of the type of companies that you invest in.
2:01.1	Is it all tech? Is it deep tech? What's on your books?
2:05.1	So we are focused on investing in science and innovation chain, and that obviously takes
2:10.7	a whole variety of forms, but that is the sort of magic being at the heart of everything.
2:16.0	I expect what it means is we're not really investing in businesses where that underlying
2:20.3	technology is in the form of an app or something like that.
	...

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