Cornwall’s high-tech hub gathers momentum - by Fiona Campbell-Howes

Many thanks to Fiona of Radix Communication for a great piece on our growing tech community and recent connect event.

Cornwall’s high-tech hub gathers momentum – by Fiona Campbell-Howes

Cornwall’s tech sector has long been fragmented and invisible. Now, thanks to the efforts of Software Cornwall, it seems to be gathering ground.

Last Thursday, David and I had a brilliant time at Software Cornwall Business Connect, talking to Cornwall’s burgeoning tech sector about how to make copy work harder for their business.

And what an amazing sector it’s shaping up to be.

I’ve always known there were interesting people and projects around, and I know that last year’s Tech Nation survey revealed Cornwall to be the second-fastest growing tech cluster in the UK, but I’ve never had a clear sense of the sector as a single organism.

Perhaps this is because Cornwall is a rural county, with its geeks and tech firms dispersed among its many towns and villages – most of which, thanks to a recent £132m project backed by EU regional development funds, are now served by Cornwall’s superfast fibre broadband infrastructure.

Or perhaps it’s because, until recently, the sector had no cohesive force, nothing to bring it together and give it a group identity.