With the focus on economic recovery, Leeds Digital Festival has a more important role to play than ever before to highlight the region’s strengths in the digital, creative and technology sectors to help attract new investment and opportunities to the region, connect people and share knowledge over the course of the two-week event.
During the Festival last September, dxw announced that they were moving their headquarters to Leeds, from London, after having opened their satellite office here in 2018, using our inward investment support.
Most recently UtterBerry, one of the most exciting and cutting-edge tech scale-ups in the world right now has chosen Leeds City Region as the location from which to develop and deploy their world-renowned smart technology. This move will catapult the region into a new frontier; signalling how attractive our region is to global tech entrepreneurs and positioning us as a beacon for economic recovery.
The results of the EY Attractiveness survey released earlier this year are testament to the resilience of Yorkshire and Humber in attracting foreign direct investment, with the region increasing its market share and not experiencing the dip that other parts of the country have.
West Yorkshire and the wider Leeds City Region are the driving force for this resilience. Our broad-based economy and sector strengths in business and professional services, health and life sciences and advanced manufacturing – as we saw in 2008, makes us resilient in periods of economic downturn. Our region has shown adaptability in attracting investment and I look forward to showcasing more investment wins in the year ahead.
“The buzz the Leeds Digital Festival creates amplifies this activity and puts us centre stage as a region, driven by and forging the way with tech, with ample job opportunities across the sector.
Furthermore, the digital skills programmes the LEP continues to invest in will help to ensure the talent pipeline is sustainable and fit for purpose moving forward.“
Sir Roger Marsh OBE DL, Chair of Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (the LEP) and NP11
This thriving sector has the power to contribute to economic stability and benefit those living and working in the region now and years to come, which is why we continue to support this fantastic event and shine a spotlight on the talented digital community that exists here in West Yorkshire.
