UK Digital Minister endorses ‘open, collaborative’ tech business ecosystem in Norfolk and Suffolk – and Stephen Fry agrees.

Thursday 17 September 2020: A new programme reveals the 100 high growth and high potential start-ups and scale-ups that confirm the East of England as a leading UK tech cluster. Tech East, the region’s digital cluster organisation, identified the 100 innovative Norfolk and Suffolk businesses with help from industry experts, including Tech Nation, Barclays Eagle Labs, Anglia Capital Group, UEA and New Anglia Growth Hub.

UK Digital Minister at DCMS, Caroline Dinenage, celebrated the initiative in a live-streamed event from Adastral Park, Martlesham, to an invited audience of tech industry executives, investors, educators and policy makers. Congratulating the 100 businesses on their achievements, she said:

‘You are the most exciting and ambitious tech companies in the East of England and can be very proud of that.’

In a surprise appearance, actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry, a long-term technology enthusiast with close links to the region, gave a glowing endorsement of Norfolk and Suffolk’s tech cluster. He described it as:

‘A secret garden…and the door is not locked’.

Caroline Dinenage went on to praise the region’s contribution to the whole UK tech economy, which is the largest in Europe.

‘A supportive, open collaborative tech ecosystem is vital to foster new start-ups and scale-ups, and to attract the best talent. You have this here.’

Professor Tim Whitley, Managing Director, Research and Innovation for BT Group said:

‘BT is hugely proud to be here in the East of England. Suffolk and Norfolk really are exciting places to work and great places to start and to grow a tech business. The region is often viewed as a hidden gem but in reality it is already at the heart of innovation in the UK, with national and indeed global significance’.