Birmingham in UK’s top ten digital technology cities

Birmingham is the sixth best city in the UK for digital technology, according to a report released today.

The report from The Data City shows that the city has 7,715 organisations in the sector, covering AI and Data, ECommerce, Cyber, Digital, Gaming, Internet of Things (IoT), MedTech and Fintech.  There were also 163 events or meetups for the sector over the last 12 months.

In the combined ranking for events and organisations Birmigham came in the top five for Cyber, Gaming, Fintech and Medtech, and it was the third best city in the UK for Ecommerce.

The UK 2019 Digital Technology Census, also shows that the number of digital technology companies active in the UK as a whole is over 25% larger than currently believed, by measuring emerging sectors such as AI which have previously not been quantified.

To uncover these findings, The Data City created R-TIC (Real-Time Industrial Classification) codes – which provide insight on new and emerging sectors of the industry not represented in the Standard Industry Classification (SIC codes) used by Companies House.

It analysed the 4.06 million active companies in the UK, using artificial intelligence to monitor their websites and digital footprint and correctly identify new areas of activity.  As a result, The Data City found that companies previously classified as, for example, manufacturing, are now also embracing new technologies such as IoT, Digital and Fintech.

When investigating these new and emerging sectors in isolation, removing well established ‘traditional’ digital and IT businesses using the R-TIC formula, The Data City found that as much as 58% of the sector was missing from previous analyses, clearly demonstrating the limitations of SIC code classifications.

The Data City classified the data geographically to reveal the top 29 cities in the UK, looking at active businesses combined with the number of events and meetups held, to find the most thriving innovation communities by industry sector, captured in an online interactive map.

The census provides a clearer picture of the UK innovation landscape, to help inform business and public sector decision-making around investment and growth.

Alex Craven, co-founder of The Data City, said: “The 2019 Digital Technologies Census provides the clearest picture yet of the digital technology landscape in the UK.  Using data from Companies House and individual businesses’ own websites it shows how active the community is across eight main sectors, and allows comparison between cities and regions.

“Our new classifications allow us to ascertain levels of activity in emerging sectors that have never previously been fully evaluated, making this a methodology for the 21st century.

“The Data City has created a useful tool for businesses, investors and public sector policymakers. Using real-time data such as ours to identify areas of strength can help inform innovation policy, provide an objective basis for investment and inform individual business decisions such as where to locate.”

The top ten cities overall are:

London

Manchester

Reading

Brighton

Milton Keynes

Birmingham

Leeds

Bristol

Edinburgh

Glasgow