TWO Scottish cities have been ranked as the second and third best places in the UK for tech business outside London.
A report published today by global commercial property consultancy firm CBRE found that Glasgow climbed three places to become the UK’s second-top tech destination outside the English capital. Edinburgh maintained its third-place position from the previous year.
The report, entitled Tech Cities, highlights Scotland’s strengths as a leading technology sector destination. Following an inaugural CBRE study in 2017, and using the same methodology to analyse data on 65 cities throughout the UK, the new report provides an update on the top 25 locations for companies in the sector.
All markets were scored and ranked according to a wide range of locational pull factors for tech businesses, such as level of education; concentrations of tech firms; and employment, cost of living, cost of office space and
wage levels.
The report highlights various shifts in the cities’ tech and creative industries profiles over the last two years.
CBRE Scotland chairman Doug Smith said: “The fact that Scotland’s two principal cities are ranked so highly in the UK outside London is an incredibly positive story.
“The digital tech sector added £14 billion to the UK economy in 2018, up 8% since 2016, and the sector is growing three times faster than the rest of the economy.
“The creative industries sector – which encompasses businesses from tech to media and telecoms – is therefore fundamental to the future success of Scotland.”
Factors contributing to the very strong rankings scored by both Glasgow and Edinburgh are highlighted in the report. These include high concentrations of tech businesses and tech professionals, generational diversity and a strong creative arts legacy.
The two cities are also advantaged by high levels of educational attainment and access to a number of world-class universities, with strong research and computer science degree rankings, as well as high numbers of Information & Communications SMEs (Edinburgh fifth highest and Glasgow seventh out of 65) and high numbers of people employed in the sector.
Scottish Government Minister for Public Finance and Digital Economy, Kate Forbes MSP, said: “It is great to see Glasgow and Edinburgh once again recognised as powerful twin centres for tech investment in the UK.
“With only 45 minutes between these two complementary cities, they have rightly established themselves at the vanguard of gaming, cloud computing, biotech, cyber security and data-led solutions.
“Their combined strength in universities, research and talent markets should see them stay at the peak of this CBRE index for years to come.”
Manchester topped the list, with Birmingham, Reading and Leeds placing just behind the two Scottish cities in fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.
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