A billion pounds’ worth of views on digital growth, Northern Powerhouse and more…

ONE of the highlights of Buy Yorkshire is always the Billion Pound Panel, and this year was no exception.

Chaired by prolific businessman and mustachioed entrepreneur Jonathan Straight, the panel consisted of Adam Beaumont, an ” all round good egg” according to Mr Straight, as well as chief executive of aql.

Phil Jones of the Northern Power Grid, which employs 2,200 people also joined the lineup. “He keeps the lights on for all of us,” said Mr Straight.

Last up was Luke Lang, founder of CrowdCube, a major online crowdfunding platform based in Exeter, which was perhaps why the first topic of discussion for the panel was on the implications an increasingly digital world had on business.

Mr Jones said that cyber security is one of the biggest challenges to businesses in an era of technological innovation. “There are some clever bad guys out there,” he said.

Mr Beaumont agreed, saying that fundamentally, cyber security should be at the heart of digital businesses going forward. He also said that the necessary skills to grow an advanced digital business aren’t as prevalent in Leeds as they are elsewhere.

Crowdcube’s Mr Lang said that technology was a challenge as well as an opportunity. “With every new development, new markets open up. And CrowdCube is about keeping abreast of developments. Though we might be based nearer London in Exeter, finding the right talent has proved a challenge.

“We shouldn’t have to relocate to have access to incubators. Being an Exeter-based fintech company, Crowdcube was met with incredulity. People asked ‘When are you moving to London?’ ‘Why not?’

“To be honest it made us more determined to remain local.”

He said that Crowdcube felt it was undeserved the North and launched its Manchester office in response.

This Northern presence was important to the business, and feeds into the idea of the northern Powerhouse, a government-led concept.

Mr Beaumont said: “The Northern Powerhouse is a different challenge. If we’d said there should be a Southern Powerhouse, there would be outcry. We’re all different and have different capabilities.”

He said the Prime Minister and Chancellor’s Tech Nation report was meant to be an asset map, but some places like Leeds were underrepresented. “It was provocative in a good way,” he said. “It highlighted the fact that we don’t shout loud enough.”

Mr Jones said it was “easy to throw rocks” at the idea, but that he was “absolutely convinced” by the idea.

He said that when considering a Northern Powerhouse, transport should be secondary. “Over and above this issue is skills,” he said. “Transport takes half a lifetime rather than half a decade. There should be interconnected metropolitan regions, Leeds to Manchester should be half an hour.” Mr Lang chipped in, that it takes more than two hours to get from leeds to Liverpool, and is often longer than a train to London.

The discussion then focused on women in the workplace, with chairman Mr Straight declaring that although 36% of those who had been asked to appear on the panel, 0% had said yes.

A panel this year, and before 23 June has to include a debate on the EU referendum.

Mr Lang was firmly part of the In camp, saying “we’re better off being part of something with a vision for unity.”

Mr Beaumont said: “”I’m a scientist and engineer, so this argument frustrates me. Economics is not a science. There’s a lack of clear information.”

The panel ended up being split down the middle, which seemed apt.