Move over London, Leeds is Google’s first port of call for digital business project

SOME thought it was strange that one of the biggest technology companies in the world picked Leeds to launch their inaugural Digital Garage, aimed at digitising the SME marketplace.

However, getting businesses online is the aim of the game for Google, with plans to expand the Digital Garage initiative into four other UK cities by 2016, after its successful Leeds launch.

I spoke to Gori Yahaya, head of the Digital Garage project, and public policy and government relations manager at Google, Katie O’Donovan, to see why the internet giant took such a fancy to Leeds.

“You’re not the first person to ask why we picked Leeds and not another city like Manchester!” Ms Donovan said. “We looked at the number of small businesses in cities across the UK and then we looked at the number of digital businesses in each city, where there was the biggest potential, and Leeds was already on the shortlist.” (This is Google after all – analytics are king.)

Ms O’Donovan said part of the credit should go to Leeds organisations, including the council and the Yorkshire Mafia, who organised the Buy Yorkshire event adjacent to the home of Google’s Garage.

She said: “We contacted the council and some local community organisations here who were really keen to bring the Google project to Leeds. With hard work and leadership on the part of the council and, developers Allied London, we were able to come to Leeds quickly and launch in a fantastic venue”

Leeds Digital Garage

Mr Yahaya trains technicians at the digital hub largely from the regional community so that the region’s businesses and digital experts can “help support each other” once the Google train rolls out of town. He said: “We train our technicians locally so that the project can develop roots in the community and provide a legacy later on.”

“You don’t have to be a purely tech business, you don’t have to be a startup. We’ve had plumbers and hairdressers, and a real range of businesses already.
“We’re able to give tailored advice to businesses, whether that is launching a website or taking that website to the next level. Our aim is to get more businesses trading online. ” Ms O’Donovan said.

IPPR North looks into the programme as a whole, and the Digital Garage will be monitored, with partaking businesses surveyed every six and 12 weeks to see if the project has made material progress on its aims. “We already know from various studies that if your business is online you grow twice as quickly as a business that isn’t online, which is a massive incentive for businesses to be online . But we also want to know how much the Digital Garage is affecting this change.”Clare Gori and Katie

“We’ve had a long history of getting British businesses online. We know the potential of digital but we want others to realise and benefit too. Through the work we’ve been doing we’ve helped 250,000 businesses already, but there’s a lot more to go.”

Ms O’Donovan herself has a colourful career history, having managed projects at Coke, Mumsnet, and having worked in Government policy teams and her skill set is aimed at providing a part of a wider European programme to help 1 million people to gain digital skills by 2016.

The aim, said the pair, is to make sure that London is not the only UK city that is considered a technology hub.

MS O’Donovan finished: “There is lots of investment flying around in London for digital businesses, but in other areas while there are fantastic small digital opportunities, businesses aren’t yet getting the most from being online and that’s what we want to help fix.

“There is so much value in being local, and due to Google’s size and the fact that it’s based in the US, people don’t normally see it as part of their community, but we want to change that.”

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