Reading, in the UK county of Berkshire, has the highest employment rate in IT, software and computer services after London and beats the capital on highest gross value added.
Although London has the highest employment rate and largest business count, Reading has the highest gross value in terms of the number of employees employed in the IT, software and computer services.
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OnBuy said this indicates that the value of IT in Reading has increased by 5.69%.
Guildford and Aldershot follow with an increase of 3.57%, Slough and Heathrow at 2.25%, Cambridge at 1.65% and Luton at 1.49%.
The lowest increase in the value of IT in the top six UK cities was London, with a growth of 1.37%.
Top 5 UK cities for tech startups
In spite of Brexit and no-deal looming, UK cities are emerging as hubs for tech and cutting-edge business.
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By GlobalDataGrowth in the digital economy and improved connectivity outside London is letting businesses grow outside the capital and compete on the startup scene.
Merchant services provider Paymentsense picked its top 15 UK cities for starting a business, and London was not top of the pile.
The ranking considered business survival rates, weekly salary, average rent, population and the number of employed adults in the area.
The top five UK cities to start a business were:
- Sheffield – with tech sector potential of 70% according to Tech City and a five-year startup survival rate of 44.9%.
- Nottingham – home of many major companies and with more than half the city’s residents under 30 exposing it to younger talent.
- Sunderland – jobs in digital tech rose by 26% here from 2014 to 2017 with the number of tech businesses experiencing the largest growth of any UK city and a five-year startup survival rate of 41.9%.
- Leicester – Simply Business found that the city has the third highest number of female entrepreneurs and Paymentsense gave the city a five-year startup rate of 40.5%
- Bristol – although there is substantial growth here in creative, media, electronics and aerospace industries, Bristol has higher rent than most cities which pushed it to the bottom of the top five list for UK startup hubs.
The top 6 UK cities in IT
Credit: OnBuy.com
London employs 147,055 professionals and Reading employs 37,370, according to OnBuy, a British business and consumer marketplace.
Slough and Heathrow follow with 35,615 employees in IT businesses and Guildford and Aldershot have 25,705.
Luton follows with 14,475 and Cambridge trails behind with 9,265 employees in IT, software and computer services.
London provides the most opportunities for IT professionals, with 37,960 businesses in that area.
Slough and Heathrow follow with 9,358, Reading has 3,805, Guildford and Aldershot have 3,180, Luton 3,020 and Crawley 2,320.
