What are the UK’s top 20 Big Data cities?

The UK Tech Innovation Index – published by the Digital Catapult and the Open Data Institute (ODI) – measures current activity and potential for bid data innovation.

It does not surprise that the most significant region for bid data – by a considerable distance as expected – is London. However, other notable big data cities are Scotland’s capital and Manchester.

Jeni Tennison, CEO at the ODI, explained: “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.”

The research aims to offer a clearer picture of the UK innovation landscape, and help businesses and the public sector make better decisions around new investments and growth strategies.

The city rankings combine data from three sources: tech events, conferences and meet-ups; scientific and academic publications; and data on local skills measures, business start-up rates, and R&D spending.

Each UK city was appointed a scoring point, according to an algorithm, depending on metrics such as the percentage of people degree-level or equivalent qualifications and the amount of money being invested in innovation, for example:

CEO at the Digital Catapult, Dr Jeremy Silver explained: “This research confirms and subverts wide-held views on the UK tech industry. While London continues to be a heavyweight player on the global tech stage – innovation is by no means confined to the capital.”