The Tech side

tech capability

Of the many industries thriving in Leeds City Region, none have risen quite so successfully as the tech sector.

Home to 5,780 tech related businesses, employing 44,000 people and contributing c.£3bn to the economy (Whitecap Consulting, 2020), Leeds City Region has an interconnected and multi-sectoral digital tech capability including numerous prominent tech providers and digital consultancies.

According to the DDCMS (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, 2021), Leeds will have the highest growth in digital sector GVA over the next 5-years compared to the rest of Yorkshire and The Humber, reinforcing the city's status as the fastest growing digital economy in the UK. Leeds has also seen success in attracting large digital sector employers to the city such as Channel 4’s new National HQ and Sky's digital and technology hub.

The events on offer across Leeds City Region have also been instrumental in creating the digital tech network and in raising the region’s national and international profile. The annual Leeds Digital Festival is a shining example of this and is now one of the UK’s largest tech events.

With a diverse mix of employers, an extensive labour market, and large numbers of job opportunities at every level of seniority across digital tech, Leeds City Region has become a thriving hub for tech and innovation.

legaltech and innovation

The legal sector is in the middle of a major shift, as digital transformation becomes critical to the future of legal services. In small pockets, innovation and transformation programmes are well underway, primarily driven by the need to enable remote working practices as well as serve customers in an increasingly digital legal marketplace.

There are also pressures to grow, attract the best talent, operate more efficiently and maintain satisfactory margins - all of which are driving the adoption of technology across the sector. Those that are resistant or slow to change, run the risk of not being able to compete challenger startups and more progressive, established firms.

In such a critical time for legal technology, LegalTech in Leeds will continue to encourage and facilitate the collaboration across the Leeds City Region to accelerate the digital transformation of the legal sector.

The facts

·     8,500 digital tech companies 57,000 people employed in digital sector (66% of digital roles in Yorkshire are based in Leeds City Region).

·     Yorkshire’s tech sector attracted £120m in venture capital investment in 2021.

·    Leeds was the top ranked city in the ‘UK Tech Town Index 2020’.

·    258 tech scale-ups in Leeds City Region in 2020.

·    Digital tech productivity per worker in Yorkshire and theHumber is £115k, which is 16% higher than the national average (Tech Nation 2020)

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