YORK is to be recognised on the Government funded northern digital growth initiative TechNorth after the city's technology-based business demonstrated their successes in the sector.

This week York was visited for the first time by TechNorth since its formation in September last year, following an invitation from the team behind the city's Unesco City of Media Arts status.

Building on the Tech City UK initiative in Shoreditch, London, TechNorth was established by the Government to champion and accelerate the growth of the digital industries in the north of England, however to date its work has primarily been focused in the seven cities of Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and Sunderland.

The first step in building a relationship between the organisation and business in York has now been made following a visit by TechNorth community and engagement manager Laura Bennett.

Ms Bennet met with businesses, including The Distance, StashMetrices, Bright White, Isotoma and New Moons Games, as City of York Council and University of York representatives to learn about what it happening in the city's digital sector.

She said: "The visit was a bit of a recce to find out about what's going on in York, and get a feel of the vibe in the digital community.

"York has already been putting itself on the map with its Unesco status, and hosting events such as DotYork and Venturefest.

"There's so much exciting stuff going on that's not being shouted about, and hopefully we can help tell that story.

"I can now feed this back into TechNorth and make sure people in York know about relevant events we are staging, as well as put them in touch with connections in other cities to open up opportunities for collaborative working.

"We always take a northern perspective, so we don't compare cities within the north, but we are always excited to find out about new clusters."

TechNorth is tasked with working in collaboration with the region to address the challenges tech entrepreneurs face in accessing finance, support, mentorship and talent. This includes championing initiatives that support the development of the North’s digital economy working with local and central government to inform policies.

Stuart Goulden, of York City of Media Arts, who organised the visit, said: "We are seeing all the incredible work being done around the north and we felt it was a good opportunity for York to raise its profile and share all the exciting stuff that's happening here.

"This is the first time we've had that opportunity to do that with TechNorth, and we hope this will be their first visit of many to the city."