Digital technology companies are driving growth and transforming the employment landscape in the UK. Tech City UK, in collaboration with Nesta, has published a comprehensive report on the nature and health of the UK’s tech industries.
The digital tech sector ranges from app and software development (accounting for 16% of the entire sector), through telecoms and networking (8%) to gaming (1.8%) and healthtech (less than 1%). The development of regional clusters of expertise is helping drive growth, giving companies access to local networks, talent pools and potential collaborators and partners.
Key findings
- There are 58,000 active digital tech companies in the UK – 75% based outside of London
- There are 1.56 million jobs in the digital tech economy
- 41% of these are with traditional industries
- Digital tech jobs are growing 2.8 faster than other roles
- 80% of these roles are based outside of London
- Digital role salaries are on average 35% higher than other roles
- 43% of digital entrepreneurs say that problems finding talent is the major challenge to continued growth
- While 39% say access to finance is their major barrier to growth
The full Tech Nation report can be downloaded here.