A tale of two Scotlands is the assessment from techUK, as it publishes the latest version of the Local Digital Capital Index .
The technology trade association's report reveals that a rural versus urban divide may prevent the overall growth of its digital economy.
The index assessments are made across six components: digital infrastructure, finance and investment, skills, digital adoption, research and development, and trade.
Eastern Scotland scores well in skills and trade support and finishes 11th overall, with no single component scoring outside the top third of measures across all the UK’s regions.
Digital adoption, particularly on measures such as a regions digital employment share and share of digital occupations, is higher in Eastern Scotland than in Greater Manchester, Bath and Bristol or East Anglia.
Meanwhile, West Central Scotland scored well in digital infrastructure.
However, more rural areas of the UK score poorly, with the Highlands and Islands finishing lowest overall, despite pockets of strength in finance and trade being identified.
Southern Scotland also scored in the bottom half across every measure and overall finished just a few places above the Highlands and Islands.
TechUK therefore called for closer collaboration between local and central government and the tech industry to fill these gaps, and has listed 10 recommendations to government to achieve urgent levelling up across the UK’s nations and regions:
- Ensure that Project Gigabit reaches all areas of the UK, particularly rural communities.
- Investment Zones announced by the government must also be ‘tech zones’ to attract people to work, base their business in them and secure new future investment.
- Improve skills data to ensure that activity, such as funded digital bootcamps, and comparisons of these activities are consistent across the UK.
- Digital actions and activities should be identified in future Levelling Up bids and projects made by local councils to help address regional divides and exclusion.
- Data should be shared more regularly on initiatives such as Help to Grow Digital to allow local activities to support national schemes.
- Conclusive and consistent data to measure data ecosystems across the UK. Government should look to running a testbed with a combined authority to build a working model that can be adopted UK-wide.
- Devolved government and elected mayors should publish and regularly update their digital strategies.
- Improved access to venture capital and angel investment, better signposting to support and test new proposals, such as the creation of new ring-fenced regional funding.
- Implement changes to the standard industrial classification and standard occupation classification to better mirror the tech sector and changing occupation.
- Local collaboration to ensure digital connectivity reaches all areas of the UK and mayors and local authorities have an important role to play.
Julian David, techUK chief executive, said: “Scotland has shown that it has a growing tech sector and successful companies providing excellent foundations to build on.
“However, this isn’t consistent across the country and there is a risk that some communities could be left behind at a time when digital technology is being embraced and enhanced.
“The success seen in more urban areas of Scotland is to be applauded and competes with some of the best areas across the UK, but the more rural areas lag behind.
“This isn’t an easy challenge, and is replicated in other areas of the UK, but it is one that should be addressed when considering future growth and ensuring digital inclusion.”
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