Tech business is thriving, as locals get involved in Cardiff Start Events
South Wales has been named as one of the fastest growing technology clusters in the UK.
In an official report published by Tech Nation found that digital job growth is set to outperform all other occupational categories by 2020. Digital employment in South Wales Currently Stands at 28,308.
South Wales was named as one of the places with the greatest average company turnover, alongside Greater Manchester, Belfast, Sheffield, Inner London and South Wales. Currently 1.46m people, approximately 7.5 per cent of the entire UK workforce, are employed in digital industries.
The report says although inner London accounts for the highest number of jobs of any single technology business cluster, with 251,590 jobs. The rest of the country accounts for 62 per cent of all UK digital jobs.
The UK’s fastest growing tech clusters of new digital companies formed since 2010 include: Liverpool, Inner London, Belfast, Greater Manchester, Bournemouth, Brighton & Hove, South Wales and Bristol & Bath.
Digital clusters have emerged with their own competitive identities and advantages, says the report, including financial technology in inner London, gaming in Liverpool, media in Manchester and health in Cardiff.
Most of the companies in the South Wales hub are located in Cardiff or Swansea and a number make use of the Welsh ICE co-working space in Caerphilly and FoundersHub in central Cardiff. The key sectors of digital employment in South Wales are Health tech, Data management and analytics and E-commerce. Health, travel and gaming companies are also emerging.
The report sited groups like Unified Diff, Cardiff Start and GamesDev South Wales as key supporters of Cardiff’s technology industries. Cardiff Start co-founder Neil Cocker said: “With Cardiff’s rapid growth it’s fitting that the figures show that we have a technology start-up community growing just as quickly.
“The Tech Nation report is the first time such detailed data has been available, and shows just how rich and diverse the UK tech economy is. Cardiff in particular is a fantastic city in which to build a start-up, with a great quality of life and low overheads.
“The growth of the “Cardiff Start” community, and the success of my own start-up Ramp Commerce is testament to this.
4 out 5 UK properties can now access superfast speeds. The superfast broadband rollout has reached 345,681 homes and businesses in Wales alone.
Three Cardiff-based businesses tipped to succeed in the future are:
Pwinty: Pwinty provides an easy-to-use website to order photos online. Users have the ability to order photos and prints from within the application or website. Pwinty offers a simple yet powerful API to allow you to do just that.
Landmax.pro: A software solution for landlords and property agents to manage accounting, maintenance, lettings, sales and communication. They store absolutely everything businesses would need, and share what they want with their clients. A powerful tool that simplifies industry standard processes and allows you to manage your business more effectively.
Cardiff Dizzyjam: This online merchandise company allows artists struggling to make money in the wake of internet downloads to print t-shirts for their band without worrying about printing costs or big-batch ordering. Dizzyjam.com allows musicians to upload their logo to the site, which automatically generates a shop with the clients’ logo on t-shirts. When one of their fans orders a t-shirt, it is printed to order, dispatched directly to the fan, and the band gets 25 per cent of the retail price.
Article on Dizzjam’s bid to save the music business here: http://www.theguardian.com/cardiff/2011/jan/18/dizzyjam-1000th-sign-up
Wales Office Minister Alun Cairnes said:
“We live in an increasingly digital world, where reliable broadband is vital at home and at work. Wales is embracing this digital transformation and thriving as a result – with Superfast broadband being rolled out to homes and businesses across Wales.”
“South Wales is already home to two superconnected cities and Cardiff’s internet exchange – making it one of the UK’s fastest growing tech clusters. This is great news and continues to form part of the UK Government’s long term economic plan.”
