Jon Corner is Chief Digital Officer for the City of Salford. This is a strategic leadership role: informing city-wide digital transformation and planning; building networks and relationships with regional and central government; connecting public and private organisations through new models of collaboration; supporting the growth of digital companies across Salford; delivering an inclusive digital economy vision.
He has developed Salford’s Digital Strategy for the city which connects business-led innovation with societal impact and benefit. It presents a new entity for the region – the Salford Innovation Triangle – and an emphasis on agile proof-of-concept working across stakeholders and city businesses. He has also developed an Infrastructure Prospectus for coherent connectivity planning and has been instrumental in co-ordinating a 5G Innovation Hub at MediaCityUK with partners VodafoneUK and in helping them to establish the UK’s first commercial 5G service network at Salford Quays. Most recently he has conceptualized and formed the Connected City region Alliance (CCA) with Siemens, Barclays, Vodafone and CGI as core members. The CCA has a unique value proposition for co-investing in innovation aligned to Covid-19 response in Greater Manchester to Build Back Better.
Jon leads the Digital Skills agenda for Salford and co-ordinates its Tech Talent Pipeline partnerships in close collaboration with Greater Manchester. He was previously Chief Executive Officer at The Landing MediaCityUK and under his tenure evolved it into the largest tech hub in Greater Manchester for growth companies, innovation technology and talent. He successfully positioned The Landing as a driver of business collaboration, and helped to create innovation networks and communities that brought together commercial investors, academic partners, health professionals and public-sector leaders. In addition, he developed an innovation partnership with GCHQ to deliver a unique Fellowship Programme and a series of challenge-led accelerators at The Landing.