James Pinchbeck: Have you heard about the digital revolution in Lincolnshire?

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Whilst Lincolnshire is more traditionally known for its significant interests in engineering, tourism agriculture and food, you could be forgiven for not knowing that it has a vibrant and growing digital technology sector.

Streets Chartered Accountants recently co-hosted the ‘It’s All About Digital’ event. It aimed to not only promote but also support those across the county who are engaged in digital technology.

The event followed on from the first Lincoln Hack, a 24 hour coding competition hosted at the Think Tank with participants from many of our local digital developers.

It can be quite challenging and even confusing as to what is meant to be digital technology, not least for the more mature amongst us and those not actively engaged in it.

In essence, digital technology is being used and developed to assist businesses in their processes, product development and in providing services more typically in the field of communication and marketing. Digital technology and its use and applications are probably though best known for games development.

There does seem to be a growing number of digital businesses choosing Lincoln and the county as their base, with good access to young and talented developers, many of whom are coming out of the university.

The county also, with enhanced connectivity and a relatively low cost base, seems to provide some key benefits for digitech entrepreneurs.

The future of the county’s digital technology sector does have its challenges; some are more location specific and some are more typical of the sector.

Whilst the creation of Digital Lincoln has brought together a group of like-minded people, institutions and businesses, the sector could benefit from a more robust eco-system of support, funding and knowledge transfer.

More specifically, when looking at the commercialisation of ideas, the sector and the developers and potential entrepreneurs that work within it, are often at risk of developing ideas either without true commercial value or that require assistance both in getting them to market and exploiting market potential.

Hopefully with greater awareness and understanding of the role that digital technology can play in the Greater Lincolnshire economy, the sector can become as key as those more traditional ones our county is more commonly known for.

The research into the sector, currently being undertaken by the Business Lincolnshire Growth Hub, will undoubtedly help provide a deeper understanding of the digital landscape. We would actively encourage interested parties to participate in the research through completion of the online survey.