Earlier this month we took some of Manchester’s most promising tech businesses to Web Summit, Europe’s biggest tech conference.
The ASCEND Scale Up Programme, which we are running for the first time, is a bit of a passion project of mine. When we were forming the whole concept of ASCEND, bringing the cohort to Web Summit for the full four days was an integral part of that [as] a colleague came to Web Summit with KPMG a few years ago and raved about it.
The programme for 25 promising tech businesses lasts for six months and the founders who joined us in Portugal just a few weeks in will have benefited enormously from the trip. The connections they’ve made by spending that time together is invaluable.
The planning that some of them put in was also immense, in terms of understanding who was going to be at the conference and making those new connections – but there are also those chance connections which can be of huge benefit, as well as investor meetings and other partnership opportunities.
One of the things that’s really come to the fore is the power of that group, and the potential of them working together in the future. They’ve all said that they want it to continue, whether formally through an alumni network, or informally themselves.
Web Summit 2025
Looking ahead to next year, we want to run two ASCEND cohorts if possible – although that will depend on securing funding – and bring both to Web Summit 2025. We’ve run this first one as a ‘test and learn’ – none of us had attended Web Summit before – so we know what to expect now and how to build for the next edition so we can have something just as powerful and a little more refined.
Our delivery partner KPMG has been phenomenal, inviting us to fringe events and its Global Tech Innovator competition final. The latter saw 23 national winners, which are a step ahead of where the majority of our ASCEND cohort currently sit, pitch a panel of judges for three minutes apiece. We may add further partners next year.
Programme mentors Howard Simms, co-founder of Apadmi, and Susanna Lawson, founder of OneFile, also spent valuable time with the cohort. We supported Howard and Susanna’s businesses early in their journey and now they are passionate about giving back… so you can see the benefit of supporting and helping others in the ecosystem.
Manchester ASCEND cohort taps into ‘power of the group’ at Web Summit
Circular ecosystem
We are now seeing startups spinning out of businesses that we first supported a decade ago. Our purpose – our ‘why’ – is to promote that inclusive growth: we’re not just here to support businesses to make lots of money, we’re here to also help them give back to their community. This circular ecosystem is central to what Greater Manchester is trying to achieve.
An early example of this in action in the current ASCEND cohort is planning to set up a charity. That feelgood project is a great example of how they are looking to work together for a greater good: that’s the power of people in businesses at different stages and from different sectors coming together.