Liverpool City Region showing what together looks like

There are moments when a shortlist feels like more than just a list of names.

This is one of them.

The Prolific North Tech Awards 2026 shortlist is out, and Liverpool City Region is well represented by people, businesses, projects and collaborations doing genuinely interesting work.

GoodShip* is in there three times.

We’re shortlisted for Tech Start-up of the Year, AI Activator is shortlisted for Tech for Good: Skills & Employment, and I’m shortlisted for Ecosystem Champion.

Which, obviously, we are made up about.

But the bit that makes this feel even better is seeing so many people we know, people we’ve shared rooms with, people we’ve worked alongside and people we’ve watched build good things getting recognised too.

Harker.

Fuudle.

Leaf AI.

Sensified Spaces.

Sum Vivas and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

And also Skills Co-op, with its Liverpool Hub and Wirral Network connecting directly into the skills and employment work already happening across the city region. It is another example of how organisations from inside and outside LCR can add value by plugging into the local community and helping create more routes into opportunity.

Different businesses.

Different ideas.

Different bits of technology.

But a lot of the same energy.

People trying to make useful things.

People trying to solve real problems.

People trying to create something that has value beyond the tech itself.

And that feels very Liverpool City Region.

The ecosystem is the people

We talk about ecosystems all the time.

But really, it is just people.

People showing up.

People making introductions.

People sharing opportunities.

People giving somebody else a shout when they could quite easily keep quiet.

People recommending another business because they are the right fit.

People swapping advice.

People sitting on panels.

People sharing what went wrong as well as what went right.

People opening doors.

People giving somebody a chance.

That is the bit that matters.

And that is one of the things I love most about this city region.

There is a real sense that people want other people here to do well.

Not perfectly.

Not all of the time.

But enough for it to matter.

Good people connecting with good people

A lot of what we have tried to build through GoodShip* comes back to that same idea.

Good people connecting with good people.

That is part of what sits behind AI & Tech for Good.

It is part of what sits behind KinShip.

It is part of what sits behind AI Activator.

And it is a big part of why Navigate matters too.

Through our relationship with Liverpool Chamber, Navigate is about helping strengthen the links between businesses, growth, opportunity and the support that already exists across Liverpool City Region.

Not trying to own the space.

Not trying to be everything to everyone.

Just helping more people find the right people.

That matters because some of the best things we have seen happen over the last couple of years have started with one introduction.

One conversation.

One person saying, “You two should probably know each other.”

Then something happens.

A challenge becomes a project.

A student meets a founder.

A founder meets an investor.

A business meets the right partner.

An organisation finds the right bit of support.

A conversation turns into a collaboration.

That is how this stuff actually works.

Liverpool collaboration is part of the story

The thing we should probably talk about more is just how much collaboration already happens here.

Universities working with businesses.

Founders helping founders.

Liverpool Chamber bringing established businesses and growing businesses into the same rooms.

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority working with local technology businesses.

Accelerators, investors, professional services firms, community organisations and support programmes all adding their bit.

People crossing between different networks instead of sitting in one lane.

That overlap is important.

Because no one organisation has all of the answers.

And no one organisation should pretend it does.

The strongest places are the ones where knowledge, people, ideas and opportunities move around.

That is what we should keep building.

Technology with people at the centre

What I also really like about the Liverpool City Region names on this shortlist is what a lot of the work is actually about.

Homelessness.

Accessibility.

Health and wellbeing.

Skills.

Employment.

Food waste.

Visitor experience.

AI confidence.

Public services.

This is not tech for tech’s sake.

It is people using technology to try to make things better.

That is very much where GoodShip* sits too.

We love technology.

We love AI.

We love building things.

But the interesting question is always:

What does it help someone do?

Can it give someone more confidence?

Can it open up an opportunity?

Can it make something more accessible?

Can it help someone solve a problem?

Can it make a service better?

Can it help a business grow?

Can it help a person feel like they belong in a space they might previously have felt shut out of?

That is the good stuff.

We should shout about each other more

One thing I think Liverpool City Region can always do more of is celebrate itself.

Not in a chest-beating, “we’re better than everyone else” kind of way.

Just in a healthy way.

A generous way.

A way that says:

Look at what these people are doing.

Because visibility matters.

Stories matter.

People seeing what is possible matters.

The more local founders who get recognised, the better.

The more businesses that get seen outside the region, the better.

The more people associate Liverpool City Region with good ideas, useful technology, creativity and impact, the better.

And the more somebody starting out can look around and think, “There are people here who might actually help me,” the stronger the whole place becomes.

That is the bit we care about.

We have friends everywhere. But this is home.

We have friends, collaborators and people we admire right across the North.

Manchester.

Leeds.

Sheffield.

Newcastle.

Hull.

York.

Lancashire.

Cheshire.

And loads more beyond that.

We want all of them to do well.

Because the bigger picture here is pretty exciting.

Northern tech, innovation and impact is growing.

There is more talent.

More confidence.

More ambition.

More purpose-led work.

More people building genuinely useful things.

And wherever you are from, that is worth celebrating.

So congratulations to everyone on the shortlist.

But GoodShip* has a very clear mission.

We champion our community and our city region.

Liverpool City Region is home.

It is where a huge amount of our work starts.

It is where our relationships are.

It is where our community is.

It is where we want to help create more confidence, more visibility, more connections and more opportunity.

So yes, we have mates everywhere.

We’ll celebrate their wins too.

But we will always be especially loud about the good people doing good things here.

Because if we don’t tell our own story, who will?

This is bigger than our three nominations

Of course we’re proud of the GoodShip* nominations.

Three shortlist places in two years of building something from scratch means a lot.

But this is not just about us.

It is about Harker.

Fuudle.

Leaf AI.

Sensified Spaces.

Sum Vivas.

The Combined Authority collaboration.

The wider skills work happening across Liverpool and Wirral.

And all the people behind those names who have done the hard work that does not appear on an awards shortlist.

The late nights.

The awkward first versions.

The false starts.

The difficult conversations.

The ideas that took longer than expected.

The introductions that finally worked.

The people who backed something early.

That is the real story.

Now let’s back our people

Three Liverpool City Region people are in the individual public-vote categories:

Gavin Sherratt, GoodShip*
Ecosystem Champion

James Barber, Harker
Tech Founder of the Year

Faye Boswell, Sensified Spaces
Prolific Tech Rising Star

So here comes the ask.

If you are part of the Liverpool City Region community, back our people.

Vote.

Share their work.

Give them a shout.

Tell somebody else what they are building.

Because that is what community is.

Not just being in the same place.

Actually showing up for each other.

And to everyone shortlisted across the North, wherever you are from, congratulations.

The growth of Northern tech, innovation and impact is something we should all be proud of.

But from GoodShip*, we’ll keep doing what we do.

Championing good people.

Championing good ideas.

Championing our community.

Championing Liverpool City Region.

Let’s make some noise for each other.