UK tech sector grows a third since 2010 says KPMG

The number of tech-related enterprises in the UK private sector has risen by 31 percent since 2010, according to the latest KPMG/Markit Tech Monitor UK Survey.

This represents a net gain of approximately 45,000 enterprises over a five year period, or one additional tech sector enterprise every hour of the day for the past five years.

The growth of tech sector enterprises is double that of all private sector enterprises over the same period (16 percent), said KPMG. Reading has taken the top spot of all tech clusters in the UK, as more than one in five enterprises in the area are tech sector firms (22 percent), a proportion significantly higher than the national average (eight percent).

Top tech sector enterprise clusters in 2015:

1) Reading 22% (% of tech enterprises out of all businesses in the area)

2) Wokingham 21%

3) Slough 19%

4) Hounslow 18%

5) Milton Keynes 17%

The M4 corridor hosts three of the top five tech clusters in the country, however the Tech Monitor UK Survey reveals that regions across the UK are generating growth through the tech sector. Clusters in the UK are also moving increasingly towards specialisation in a particular sub sector of tech.

South Cambridgeshire has become a world renowned biotech centre. Nuneaton & Bedworth dominates the field of automotive-related tech. A cluster of businesses in Woking specialises in air/spacecraft machinery tech. And the City of London continues to house a successful fintech community.

Fastest increase in tech sector enterprises over the last year:

1) Warwick +28%

2) Hackney +25%

3) Rotherham +21%

4) North Lanarkshire +20%

5) North Tyneside +20%

Commenting on the Tech Monitor UK Survey, Tudor Aw, partner and head of KPMG’s technology sector, said: “It is important for the UK to have a strong tech sector and it is therefore hugely encouraging to see that not only has the UK Tech sector delivered six years of continued growth, but that this has happened throughout the country with some 63 local authorities experiencing double digit growth in the last year alone.”

@AntonySavvas

Antony Savvas

York, UK-based Antony Savvas has been a technology journalist for 25 years and has expertise in all major areas of enterprise and consumer IT. He has worked for a number of leading technology magazines and websites and his work is syndicated across the internet. He also undertakes corporate work for some of the world's leading technology companies.