This is the fifth edition of techUK's Local Digital Index. Our index provides useful data for policy makers, and the wider tech ecosystem, to show the strength of the UK's dynamic technology ecosystem and outline what more we can do to support a thriving future economy.
This Index comes at a critical time. The government has shown intent to focus on driving growth across all regions of the UK. Nowhere was this more evident than through the Industrial Strategy, recognising that stronger regional growth is critical for the competitiveness of the IS-8 and the resilience of the whole economy. But to achieve sustainable regional growth, the government must do more with less and seize the opportunities, and regions, that continue to lead.
This is why the government needs to back the winners. Where the UK will succeed is frontier technologies, including the likes of quantum, semiconductors, and AI. Where the UK continues to succeed in growing the whole economy is building the ecosystems to support clusters of excellence. This requires robust networks and links between key institutions, business, and local government.
In October 2025 the UK Government's Regional Investment Summit demonstrated the right commitment to deliver jobs and economic growth in regions across the country. Commitment like this is vital to drive up business confidence, but commitments without action will deliver nothing. To continue to "ensure that no region is locked out of investment" requires data and mapping of the UK's digital economy – where investment is flowing, where there is a supply of digital jobs to meet demand and where digital connectivity is including all to get online.
This data can help you, whether you are a policymaker, business or a government official, to make reasonable and evidence-based choices to ensure that we back the thriving tech clusters across all regions of the UK in 2026.
The Data City and Open Innovations have worked with techUK to build this tool. As part of our plan to maintain the index until at least 2026, we have created high-quality data infrastructure to power this site. Please get in touch if you feel additional data could be presented as we will look to add additional data sources in future years.