A new study has revealed the top hotspots to launch a new technology company or innovative start-up in the UK.
According to research published this week by the Open Data Institute carried out in collaboration with Digital Catapult, London is the top UK location for tech innovation – but investors and overseas businesses looking to invest in or start a tech business in the UK should not rule out other cities.
The report suggests that prominent UK cities such as Reading and Liverpool are also leading the way in terms of tech innovation.
Meanwhile, it states that locations such as Nottingham, Sheffield, Cambridge and Leeds are all considered ‘top ten’ locations for innovation in Artificial Intelligence (AI), while Virtual Reality (VR) innovation is on the rise in Cardiff, and cities such as Birmingham and Coventry are fast-emerging as manufacturing tech hotspots.
The UK offers boundless opportunities to investors and overseas companies looking to do business in the tech sector, particularly in the City of London.
However, this study reveals that innovation is by no means confined to Britain’s capital.
Jeni Tennison, CEO of the Open Data Institute, said: “This new research reveals that innovation around data isn’t a London-based phenomenon, with the current methodology highlighting active communities in Edinburgh, Manchester, Brighton and Southampton.
“Using real-time data to identify clusters should help inform innovation policy, where it’s especially important to respond to how things are, rather than how they were, as well as the behaviour of businesses and jobseekers.
“Developing measures like this in the open also helps to increase our understanding about what drives innovation and which activities create real impact.”