Rain drizzled down on the glass-domed roof of the ABC Building in Manchester city centre as Tech Nation CEO Gerard Grech delivered the growth network’s final report before its impending closure.
During a maximum capacity event on Thursday afternoon, Grech and the Tech Nation team unpacked the findings from its last report, which estimates that the UK’s tech ecosystem could quadruple in value to $4tn by 2032 – provided the conditions and support are right.
While the report was the main event, the subplot was difficult to ignore.
“It’s very, very sad to see Tech Nation go,” Patience Tucker, CEO of hospitality platform wi-Q Technologies, told UKTN.
After more than a decade supporting UK startups, Tech Nation announced in January that it will wind down on 31 March after it lost a bid for a £12m government grant....