For years, our region has operated with a critical structural gap: East Midlands remained the only major UK region without its own dedicated, independent tech body. Builders and innovators were forced to operate in isolation, facing a systemic lack of support and visibility.
TechEM was created to fix that structural discrepancy. We serve as the unified voice for the region’s technology sector of over 75,000 tech professionals, university spin-outs and innovators, making one of the UK’s most overlooked tech economies impossible to ignore.
Our mission is to build a connected and highly resilient tech ecosystem that puts an unmissable national spotlight on the innovation being built in our region. We give our community the reach and strategic support to scale-up and grow sustainably, nurturing long-term impact on our region’s economy.
How We Drive Impact
Connection: We bring ecosystem stakeholders together through targeted founder roundtables, practical upskilling sessions, and recurring grassroots community meetups. By removing silos between sub-clusters and cities, we foster collaboration between startups, university incubators, and established industrial leaders.
Research: We generate data-driven intelligence to guide regional infrastructure investments, address workforce development needs, and inform national policymaking. Key landmark publications due for release include the inaugural East Midlands Tech Review, delivering the definitive dataset on the region’s growth trajectory.
Influence: We project regional capability directly onto the national and international stage. Through strategic partnerships with national platforms like UK Tech Week, trade organizations such as techUK, and advocacy groups like Startup Coalition, TechEM ensures regional founders and research spin-outs secure direct access to national policymakers, enterprise partners, and venture capital.
Whether you are a founder looking for community, an enterprise leader driving industrial innovation, an investor seeking high-growth scale-ups, or an organization wanting to champion regional tech, TechEM provides your direct gateway to the East Midlands technology economy.
Together with our founding partners and grassroots networks, we are building a unified platform that empowers builders and shapes the future of UK technology.
“The East Midlands is packed with brilliant founders and scaling businesses, but for years we operated in isolation without a unified voice. TechEM brings our entire ecosystem under a single banner, and working with UK Tech Week gives us the ideal platform to strengthen opportunities and strategic ties both within our region and across the UK.”
Martin Sandhu, Founder & CEO, Tech East Midlands
