£15m NorthernNet project aims to connect creative and digital firms across the North
Thursday 3 December 2009
The NWDA and Northern Way have today outlined the details of an initiative that they believe will help connect the digital and creative sectors across the North West, Yorkshire and the North East, bonding the areas together (via a single high-speed digital network) to "elevate the North to be a leading force in the European media industry."
Backing for this unabashedly ambitious objective is provided in the form of a £15m purse, a promise of a telecommunications network with speeds of 100Mbs (upgradable to 1Gbps) and the lure of placing the MediaCityUK development at its very heart.
The NWDA and Northern Way have contributed £2.27m and £9.4m respectively to the project, with a further £3.4m of Northern Way funding being provided by the NorthernNET Innovation and Collaboration Programme.
Industry support body Northwest Vision and Media is managing its roll out from its base at MediaCityUK, home to the BBC's new departmental home in the region.
According to statement's from the parties behind NorthernNet, it will now "play a key role in the delivery of the BBC @ North project."
In short NorthernNet gives firms "access to world class technology infrastructure" (a network carried via "the use of high speed next generation fibre-optics") either from direct connections or through 13 'media bureaus' spread across the North of the country.
Here the network, and the technology needed to take maximum advantage of it, will be available on a pay-as-you-go basis.
The central idea, it is said, is to "link content creators, content deliverers and content buyers or commissioners across the North of England more directly than ever before", encouraging innovation, collaboration and securing the future of the sectors in this part of the country.
Robert Hough, chairman of the NWDA, explained more: "NorthernNet will help to break down technology barriers and allow our digital and creative businesses to interact and collaborate at exceptional speed, as if they were working on the same computer in the same office.
"Large file sizes will no longer be a hindrance to collaborative working either and companies right across the North can benefit from this infrastructure to compete and grow."
He added: "We know that MediaCityUK will be a site of global importance in the digital and creative sector and now this joined-up network will spread that impact across the North of England."
Phil Woolas, regional minister for the North West, commented: "The North West has the potential to be at the forefront of the digital revolution as it was in the first Industrial Revolution, but it is vital that businesses of all sizes are able to grasp the opportunities that it brings.
"One of the challenges is for small and medium sized enterprises to be able to access high speed broadband and I am delighted that through the NorthernNET project they will be able to do just that."
Operational bureaus can already be found at the Cornerhouse in Manchester, UCLan Media Factory, Fact in Liverpool and Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus. More are being developed for the coming year, including one at Northwest Vision and Media's Salford base.
Media Bureaus can now be booked through the NorthernNet site at www.northernnet.co.uk
