Growth in its use of Artificial Intelligence has resulted in Bristol being named as one of Europe’s ‘top-scaling’ tech cities.
The latest accolade for the city – which has regularly appeared at or near the top of similar league tables – comes in the latest annual Tech Nation Report.
It shows that venture capital investment into Bristol the firms increased by 45% between 2018 and 2019 – from £220m to £320m.
The report, which take the pulse of the UK tech sector and compares it to those across Europe, reveals that 25% of the continent’s top 20 highest investment tech cities last year were in the UK – Manchester, London, Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge.
It also highlights the strength of the wider South West in the sector, showing that:
- VC investment totalled £320m last year
- Some £438m was invested in emerging tech (2015-2019)
- £346m was invested in Artificial Intelligence (2015-2019)
- The median digital tech salary is £35,250
- two digital tech firms have ‘unicorn’ status
- two firms have the status of high-value tech scale-ups
Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said: “Bristol continues to be one of the top cities for tech investment growth in Europe paving the way for more jobs and innovation in the south west.
“Across the country we’re investing in digital skills, cyber security and research and development, as well as infrastructure such as gigabit speed broadband and 5G, to make sure people can seize the opportunities of the digital revolution.”
Tech Nation South West entrepreneur engagement manager Vicky Hunter said: “The South West has seen important growth in key sectors in the last year, highlighting our strengths in AI in particular. With two digital unicorns already realised, we are well on our way to seeing further stratospheric success with new businesses full of potential.”
