Our ambition is to build on our current strengths to create an unrivalled, thriving, dynamic and inclusive digital and tech community. Our area has great assets in our innovation businesses, international connectivity, talent, and world leading academic institutes.
We are committed to a collaborative approach that enables the right conditions for ambitious people and organisations in our area to prosper, realise their full potential and compete globally and our collective actions will ensure the area is a great place to start, scale, invest and innovate.
Projects in this programme aim to:
- break down barriers for start-ups
- raise aspirations and demonstrate the opportunities in digital for all
- kick-start digital innovation
- provide a seamless service and journey for individuals and companies
- grow the talent pipeline
- attract digital and tech companies to the area
- create new jobs
Our region at a glance
Our £2 billion+ digital industry employs close to 35,000 people in over 3,500 creative and digital businesses. The North East is recognised as a vibrant, fast-growing tech hub and our digital connectivity and infrastructure make us a leading UK smart city region. We have one of the largest and most important land-based and rural economies in the UK providing a large proportion of the UK’s domestic food supply and timber produce.
Newcastle Helix, a flagship £350 million innovation quarter, brings together academia, the public sector, communities, business, and industry.
There is strong representation from the Catapult network, including Offshore Renewable Energy, Digital Catapult NE&TV, NE Satellite Applications Centre of Excellence, High Value Manufacturing Catapult.
Newcastle is the centre of one of the fastest growing tech clusters in the UK, including FTSE 100 company Sage PLC, Ubisoft’s largest UK Games Studio and a new BBC Tech Hub.
Newcastle University’s Urban Observatory maintains the largest set of publicly available real time urban data in the UK. The NBS National BIM Library is the primary source of free-to-use building information modelling content in the UK.
Sectors
- Health and Life Science
- Offshore Renewable Energy
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Digital (subsectors including Fintech)
Strengths
- Game and Software Development
- Data Analytics
- E-commerce
- Cybersecurity + Data Protection
- Agriculture Technology
- Rural Enterprise
Innovation Centres
- Rural Enterprise
- Data
- Aging
- Agritech (Livestock & Digital Innovation)
- Crop health and protection
Our digital priorities
The North East’s Digital programme is underpinned by 6 priorities, identified in this diagram. This includes:
- Digital Connectivity
- Digital Economy
- 5G Innovation Region
- Autonomous Transport
- Digital Talent
- Digital Inclusion
A number of projects and initiatives are underway or are planned to support the delivery of these priorities. Follow the links below to find out more.
Digitial innovation
Our digitial innovation prioirty includes three main themes, including: