Report on the Tech Nation Report 2018

The Tech Nation Report 2018 has been released, aiming to "map the evolution of the UK Tech sector." 

Claiming that the UK technology sector is worth nearly £184 billion to the countries economy, the report highlights how global connections are key to domestic success.

Although London is home to many a technology happenings and businesses, the city's "digital density" fell below the UK average with a score of 0.92. The triumph of being the UK's most technology specialised local economy was awarded to Newbury, with an impressive score of 15.5.

"Access to talent and investment continue to challenge tech communities across the UK."

Community perceptions of local technology ecosystems varied between the different locations in the UK. Areas in Scotland sighted being based in an "appealing are" as a Pro for them, yet was unfortunately coupled with the challenge of having "limited infrastructure". For more details on the different regions technology ecosystems click here.

The report states that London is the second most connected technology ecosystem in the world, with the 4th most international technology startup workforce. The digital technology sector has a highest proportion of non-UK national work force than the rest of the UK economy. The reports suggests that this may be down to international talent having a higher share of master’s and PhD qualifications compared to UK nationals. International teams, as argued in the report, could viably be a contributing factor in the high international connectivity of the technology sector in the UK.

​"Twenty-five per cent of entrepreneurs across the world report having a significant relationship with two or more entrepreneurs in London, compared to 33% for Silicon Valley."

The report highlights that employment for the UK digital technology sector is on the rise, as well as the salaries for such. Yet still only 19% of the workforce identifies as female. However ethnic diversity in the sector is higher than the UK average.

"This reminds us of the importance of taking a nuanced approach to understanding workforce composition."

Research has found that "The correlation between gender and ethnic diversity and financial performance generally hold true across geographies..." More diversity equals more talent available, which could solve the main issue preventing UK technology communities from evolving; Access to talent.

Yet allowing for more diversity in the work place, gender or other, is rarely as easy as merely suggesting it. Embedded societal structures of oppression and a history of discouragement from certain job sectors, has lead to a male dominated job sector which is in need of revolution in its ways of encouraging female participants in order to support them sufficiently.

As suggested in the final section of the Tech Nation Report 2018, to successfully encourage the engagement of female participants in the UK technology sector, support is needed to be employed at an early age.

"Relationships should be cultivated with student tech societies. Startups can also engage with students directly through career fairs like Silicon Milkroundabout. Working with a local code club for children can help future-proof your talent pipeline. Norwich’s Step Into Tech, for example, helps children develop their love of all things tech, while Raspberry Pi promotes digital making with their small, affordable computers." 

The Tech Nation Report 2018 successfully highlights the importance of team work camaraderie in collaboration - both international and domestic - and the need for nuanced approaches to understanding issues such as gender diversity in the workforce, whilst still incorporating views on business growth. For all of these factors are related.

Global connections boost domestic growth, geographically spreading the sector across the UK, allowing for more networks for collaboration. Consequently, diversity in the work place is desperately needed to ensure the success and continued growth of this. As evidenced by the report, technology ecosystems in the UK are failing to locate the amount of talent needed. 

​"Across the UK, employer demand is outstripping supply of digital tech skills."

Until females are also encouraged and allowed for - socially, economically and politically - to engage in the technology sector in the UK to the same degree and welcoming as men are,  a lack of talent across the UK may continue. Thus threatening the countries ability to sustain a leading and highly internationally connected technology sector in and ever digitalising and socially evolving world.

Tech Nation have made all of their research for their report available here.