Tech Nation 2016 reveals Yorkshire’s thriving digital tech industries

Tech City UK, the government backed organisation tasked with accelerating the growth of digital businesses, and innovation charity Nesta, today launched the Tech Nation 2016 report in partnership with core data partner, GrowthIntel.

Tech Nation 2016 highlights the role digital tech businesses are playing in boosting economies across the North of England.

The report is supported by Tech North, an initiative focused on accelerating the growth of the digital ecosystem, by championing and connecting talent, entrepreneurship and investment in the North of England.

Tech North, which operates across the digital clusters of many northern cities, including Hull, Leeds and Sheffield, found that the digital tech economy has a strong impact on employment throughout the North of England, with 283,515 people employed in the sector.

In addition, the report discovered that the average salary in digital tech industries is £45,108 and that 16.6% of all businesses in the North of England are digital based.

Tech Nation 2016 also spotlights clusters where digital tech businesses are flourishing in the North of England, more specifically Yorkshire.

Hull’s current strengths include App & Software Development, E-Commerce & Data Management & Analytics. The strong digital infrastructure has produced a business growth rate of 24% (2010-2014) and a rise of 14% in GVA (2010-2014). Hull’s ecosystem is supported by local organisations including C4Di and Hull Digital.

Furthermore, Leeds has a wealth of graduates from the city’s numerous universities and education institutions - a talent pool which is almost unrivalled in the UK. This cluster experienced the highest advertised digital salary growth in the UK at 29% (2012-2015), and recorded an average turnover growth rate of 47% (2010-2014). Leeds’ specialisms include Digital Marketing & Advertising, E-Commerce and App & Software Development. The city’s support organisations include Google Garage.

Finally, the cluster located in Sheffield (including Rotherham) has strengths in expertise in App Software & Development, and Enterprise Software and Cloud Computing, with recently established specialisms in Hardware, IoT and E-Commerce. Digital tech businesses in Sheffield and Rotherham recorded an average turnover growth rate of 45% (2010-2014). Dotforge and Electric Works provide strong support to digital tech companies in the area.

Contributing data partners for the Tech Nation 2016 report include AngelList, Burning Glass, Crunchbase, dealroom.co, Frontier Economics, Github, InvestNI, Leeds Data City, and Meetup.

Herb Kim, executive chair of Tech North, said: “Tech Nation 2016 provides an unprecedented insight into the growing economic importance of the North’s digital businesses.

“This report not only demonstrates the extraordinary growth rate of our digital tech industry, but also its profound influence on non-digital industries.

“We hope Tech Nation’s findings will prove invaluable to industry, investors and digital businesses themselves, acting as a detailed topography of the UK’s digital economy and signposting where future opportunities lie.”

Geoff Mulgan, CEO of Nesta, added: “Digital technologies are unlike any others – they change everything businesses do. That’s why, as this research confirms, digital jobs and activity are becoming ever more important in apparently non-digital industries.

“And it’s why the pay premium is so high, at an average of over £15,000 for digital over non-digital jobs. I hope that parents and teenagers will get the message – that acquiring digital skills pays off, wherever you are.”