The Northern England segment of the UK has, in the past, been neglected by the state in favour of attention heaped on the south?s capital of London. However, this has not brought small business and innovators to a halt, with The Guardian repeating late last month that tech startups were flourishing in Manchester, which holds the biggest digital hub outside of London, and Leeds, swelled by EU enterprise funds. Further north, Edinburgh leads the way for Scotland.
With membership of the EU still in place, technology startups across the UK are benefiting from the vast array of EU tech projects. The North, more than ever, is seizing on these opportunities.
Yorkshire
People have long preached the value of Leeds, the UK’s second largest economic centre after London. A proud industrial heritage has given way to financial services, and, latterly, technological development. A key reason that Leeds has attracted technology professionals is through the investment focused in the region. The EU has brought in partnership with the strong academic presence within the city, leading to a knock-on proliferation of startups including Cocoon. Most recently, a project lead by the Universities of Huddersfield and Leeds have used EU funding to develop futuristic railway safety AI.
Liverpool
Liverpool has had a recent strong association with the EU through the proliferation of funding into city development projects, from Queens Square, to the Echo Arena, to the wide-ranging European Social Fund. However, tech startups have started to blossom in the region’s thriving Baltic Triangle area. Whilst the industry is fledgling, the super low cost of living in Liverpool, paired with the wider industry links from there through to Yorkshire, it’s a good place to look at.
Manchester
As covered above, Manchester is a thriving digital hub within the UK. With growth forecasted at 17.1% over the next few years, it’s only set to blossom, too. The reason for this is the background scene attracting larger companies. Startups and infrastructure have been carefully managed in some of the crane-laden, thriving redevelopment scene, such as Salford and MediaCityUK. The result is big business like Cisco moving into Manchester to pursue cutting-edge IoT development.
Tech innovation has been blossoming in the north of the UK for a while now; it’s just been bubbling under, as London affairs dominate headlines, as always. For those looking for their next tech innovation opportunity, this could be the internationally linked and vibrant region they need.
