UK’s Tech Hubs Outshine European Powerhouses
Forget the notion that everything tech‑related in Britain is centred in London. A fresh study shows that UK’s regional tech clusters are actually taking on the big European capitals—Paris, Berlin, and others—at the same time.
Unicorns Everywhere
- 15 tech unicorns (companies worth over $1bn) now call the UK home.
- Six separate cities have produced at least one unicorn each, proving tech‑growth isn’t a London‑only story.
- The analysis, carried out for Tech Nation and the Digital Economy Council, arrived just before the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport’s first cabinet meeting on 24 October 2018.
Oxford & Cambridge: The Dynamic Duo
While many people think of Paris and Berlin as the “killer app” cities, the combination of Oxford and Cambridge have actually spawned more fast‑growing tech giants than either of those European capitals, one after another.
Those two UK campuses are powerhouses of research and scholarship. And that intellectual heft translates directly into the tech world: the next generation of world‑class companies springs straight out of academic brilliance.
Darwin‑Inspired Companies
- Darktrace—founded in 2013 by Cambridge mathematicians and former MI5, GCHQ and CIA staff—offers AI‑driven cyber‑defence to clients from Raspberry Pi to the power giant Drax.
- Chip maker CSR and chip designer ARM still keep close ties with Cambridge, even after being bought for £1.5bn (by Qualcomm) and £23.4bn (by SoftBank). They continue hiring top engineering talent straight from the university’s halls.
Charting the Future
With so many unicorns emerging outside London’s glow, the UK’s tech scene looks set to stay vibrant, innovative, and far‑flung — a real tech renaissance stretching from the university campuses to the forefront of global tech.
