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The West Midlands have been named the fastest growing tech sector in the country and the region’s thriving digital industries are expected to create thousands of new jobs by the end of 2025.
According to a new government report released ahead of Birmingham Tech Week, the region has been recognized as one of the top performers for digital growth and is expected to create an additional 52,000 jobs in the industry over the next four years – a record increase by 55% since 2019.
Technology growth in the region grew an average of 7.6% per year between 2014 and 2019, the fastest growing region in the UK. Going forward, it is expected to generate at least £ 2.7 billion for the local economy by 2025.
It comes as new figures compiled by job search engine Adzuna and Dealroom investment analysts for the UK’s Digital Economy Council and Tech Nation show that West Midlands tech companies are on the right track for Raise more venture capital investments in 2021 than they did a year earlier, and Tech sector job vacancies posted in the region have nearly doubled since December 2020.
West Midlands tech firms have already raised £ 454million in venture capital this year, up from £ 358million last year, while vacancies in the tech sector fell from 5,099 in December 2020 to 9,287 in October 2021.
Digital Minister Chris Philp said:
“As Birmingham Tech Week kicks off, it is great to see the West Midlands digital sector enter a golden age.”
“There are high-quality, well-paying employment opportunities for those who wish to pursue a career in technology and the region is rapidly becoming a hub of digital talent.”
We are determined to bring the country up to speed and we are working tirelessly to support digital businesses with pro-innovation policies to boost digital skills and create jobs so that everyone can benefit from this dynamic sector. “
Chris Philp, Minister of Digital, Government of the United Kingdom
The growth figures, released as part of the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) report Assessing the UK’s regional digital ecosystems, highlight the region’s thriving digital sector as Birmingham’s annual celebration of digital, technology and innovation kicks off.
The DCMS report examines the regional growth of the digital economy and will be used to support the government’s work on upgrading so that it can work with the sector to capitalize on untapped areas of potential and create more wealth and development. ‘jobs.
To ensure that people in the region have the skills to meet local employment needs, the government is supporting the West Midlands Local Digital Skills Partnership to bring together the public, private and third sectors to build skills digital technology and ensuring that people from all walks of life have access to training.
The work is bearing fruit with a new report last month showing that young people are increasingly aware of digital opportunities, that there are more digital skills and career opportunities available and that business confidence has increased. .
Along with local and national investments in digital skills, including digital law so that adults who need it can take on new digital skills for free, the Kickstart program for young people and the confirmation last week of more scholarships funded by government in AI and data science, the deployment of gigabit broadband will provide UK technology innovators with the bandwidth needed to process ever-increasing amounts of data and use new advancements in internet-connected technologies.
As more people are working remotely, it will also give tech entrepreneurs the reliable connectivity they need to start and run businesses from anywhere in the UK, even in remote areas.
Thanks to bold government action to encourage investment and remove barriers, gigabit coverage in the West Midlands has grown from less than 3% in 2019 to 63% today.
The West Midlands were recently named as one of the areas set to benefit from the government’s £ 5bn Gigabit project – the largest broadband deployment in UK history.
Around 194,000 hard-to-reach homes and businesses in Shropshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire will have access to gigabit broadband, thanks to a government investment of between £ 183 million and £ 311 million, with purchases set to begin in November 2022.
The region also benefits from having the highest proportion of households with Internet access at 97 percent.
Dr George Windsor, Data and Information Manager at Tech Nation, said:
“With 1 in 8 job opportunities currently in the digital sector, it is clear that strong employer demand is driving an astonishing growth in technology roles in UK regions and countries. “
“Following the launch of the UK government’s innovation strategy this summer, the rapid growth of the West Midlands tech sector is a testament to the quality of digital talent, innovation policies and opportunities in this thriving region of the UK. “
“At Tech Nation, we’ve been delighted to welcome tech scaleups from the West Midlands to our Applied AI, Libra, Upscale and Fintech cohorts over the past month – as they work across industries to shape the UK – and the world – for the better. “
Kim Leary, President of Birmingham Tech Week, said:
“The technology sector in our region is booming. We have a large number of successful start-up and growing companies and a growing ecosystem fueling FinTech with EdTech.
“Everyone has worked hard to shine the spotlight on the West Midlands, so there is a real sense of celebration and collaboration across the city. For me, it’s especially exciting to see and I’m proud that Birmingham Tech Week is able to play a vital role in this regard. “
An explosion of technological jobs
As the UK begins to recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the West Midlands digital economy is experiencing a growth spurt. Tech Nation analysis shows Birmingham is the second highest ranked city for cost of living relative to salary for tech positions, with those positions accounting for 22% of all job openings in 2020 – a growth of 17 % compared to 2018.
A booming startup scene
The West Midlands have been successful in attracting large digital employers, especially in Birmingham. The region is also home to 1,308 startups, which are transforming industries such as ed-tech, digitization and manufacturing, according to Tech Nation’s Data Commons.
A tech city among the top five
Birmingham has an average advertised salary of £ 51,774 for digital tech positions according to Adzuna. The highest paying jobs in the city include data architect, advertised average salary of £ 76,052; technical architect, average advertised salary of £ 74,043 and python developer, average advertised salary of £ 63,480.
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