Bristol has again been hailed as one of the UK’s top tech hotspots – this time in a report by electronics retailer Carphone Warehouse.
The city, which often heads national rankings for its tech strength, particularly in areas such as virtual reality, joins London and Edinburgh in Carphone Warehouse’s top three for industry strength.
This is based on factors such as the number of tech hubs in the city, the number of companies in the Fast Track Tech Track 100, and the number of unicorns – firms worth more than $1bn – based in the city.
While London scores 30 out of a possible 30 using these metrics, Bristol ties in second place Edinburgh with a score of 7.29.
Overall, Bristol ranks in fourth position – behind London, Birmingham and Edinburgh in the research, based on all the factors analysed such as investment in tech and average pay for software developers as well as number of tech centres and unicorns as well as others.
Bristol’s score of 31.34 out of 90 was based on its internet speeds, as well as its €22.2m in tech investment while it also performed well for STEM education. However, it did worse for high-speed internet availability, number of 5G deployments in the city and access to tech funding.
The average pay for software developers in Bristol is given as £31,000 compared to £40,000 in London and £33,000 in Cambridge, the highest and second highest.
However, Bristol’s relatively low score for STEM education put it ninth in the Top 10 cities for learning tech.
