The capacity of digital Newcastle refers to the ability of Newcastle upon Tyne to utilize digital technologies to drive economic growth and provide services to citizens. As a leading digital city in the UK, Newcastle has invested heavily in digital infrastructure, skills training, and innovation to increase its digital capacity.
Quick Answers
Some quick answers to key questions on Newcastle’s digital capacity include:
- Newcastle has over 50,000 digital tech jobs and contributes £1.7 billion GVA to the local economy annually from digital tech.
- There are over 1,100 digital tech businesses in the city.
- Newcastle University produces over 500 computing and tech graduates every year.
- The city has two dedicated tech incubators – Ignite and The Biosphere.
- There is over 460,000 sq ft of tech office space in Newcastle.
- Newcastle has 5G connectivity and widespread fiber broadband availability.
- Smart city initiatives in Newcastle include intelligent lighting, air quality monitoring, electric vehicle charging, and open data platforms.
Investment in Digital Infrastructure
Newcastle City Council and local partners have invested heavily in digital infrastructure to increase connectivity, bandwidth, and tech enablement across the city. Key investments include:
- Full fiber broadband – Newcastle has partnered with Openreach to make fiber broadband available to 100% of businesses and 95% of households.
- 5G rollout – Newcastle trialed 5G in 2018 and now has extensive 5G coverage from multiple providers like Vodafone and EE.
- Smart city sensor network – Hundreds of sensors monitor air pollution, noise, traffic, waste, and more, supported by an IoT network.
- Public WiFi – Newcastle was one of the first UK cities to offer free public WiFi through the NE1 public access WiFi scheme.
- Network infrastructure – There has been investment in metro and wide area networks to provide connectivity for sites like the Helix technology hub.
This extensive infrastructure provides the foundations for digital adoption across sectors like transport, energy, healthcare and tourism in Newcastle.
Supporting Digital Skills and Education
Developing a highly skilled local workforce is crucial to sustain Newcastle’s digital growth. The city has worked closely with schools, colleges, universities and industry to boost digital skills at all levels:
- CoderDojo clubs help school kids learn coding and build websites, apps and games.
- Raspberry Pi projects encourage computing creativity in primary schools.
- Secondary schools work with businesses to promote STEM and tech career paths.
- Newcastle University and Northumbria University produce over 500 tech graduates annually.
- Newcastle College offers cybersecurity, game development, digital marketing and coding qualifications.
- DigitalUnion is an initiative between academia and industry to develop work-ready digital talent.
Developing digital skills for all ages and backgrounds will provide Newcastle with a highly capable workforce to drive the digital economy.
Support for Digital Startups and Innovation
In addition to infrastructure and skills, Newcastle provides an attractive environment for digital startups and innovation through targeted initiatives like:
- Ignite accelerator programme – supports around 20 tech startups annually.
- The Biosphere business incubator – housing over 60 tech SMEs.
- Digital Catapult North East Tees Valley – helps businesses adopt digital technologies.
- Newcastle City Council tech fund – £5m investment fund for digital SMEs.
- Digital Union partnership – connects industry and academia to support digital innovation.
- Meetups and events like Newcastle Startup Week promote digital entrepreneurship.
This ecosystem for nurturing startups helps Newcastle turn academic research and ideas into scalable digital businesses creating jobs and growth.
Smart City Initiatives
Newcastle City Council has spearheaded smart city initiatives leveraging data, connectivity and digital technologies to create more sustainable urban environments and improve services for residents:
- Smart lighting – LED streetlights with sensors reduce energy use and maintenance costs.
- Environmental monitoring – Sensors track noise, air quality, traffic, and more to inform policy.
- Traffic optimization – CCTV cameras, vehicle sensors and adaptive signals optimize traffic flow.
- Electric vehicle charging – Over 100 public charging stations encourage EV adoption.
- Open data platform – Data on energy, pollution, transit and more is publicly available to developers.
- Smart tourism – Digital signage, WiFi, and apps enhance visitor experience and spending.
These initiatives demonstrate how Newcastle is successfully integrating digital technologies across critical urban infrastructure and services.
Key Statistics on Digital Newcastle
Some key statistics highlighting Newcastle’s advanced digital capacity include:
Over 50,000 | Digital tech jobs |
£1.7 billion | Annual GVA from digital sector |
Over 1,100 | Digital tech businesses |
Over 500 | Annual computing graduates |
2 | Dedicated tech incubators |
Over 460,000 sq ft | Tech office space |
100% | Businesses with fiber broadband access |
95% | Households with fiber broadband access |
This data demonstrates Newcastle’s strengths in digital jobs, skills, infrastructure and innovation – powering the city to be a leading digital hub.
Case Studies of Major Tech Employers
Some of the major digital tech employers that benefit from Newcastle’s digital capacity include:
Sage
- Sage is a multinational software company headquartered in Newcastle.
- It employs over 2,000 software engineers, developers and other roles in the city.
- Sage has leveraged Newcastle’s talent pool, universities and quality of life to grow.
- It now has a £34 million headquarters campus at the Helix site.
- As the region’s largest tech company, Sage demonstrates Newcastle’s ability to nurture major digital employers.
Accenture
- Global professional services firm Accenture set up a Newcastle hub in 2019.
- It employs around 2,000 highly skilled staff for technology consulting and services.
- Accenture cited Newcastle’s digital infrastructure and skills as attractions.
- It acquired local technical consultancy SMR to bootstrap its Newcastle presence.
- Accenture helps position Newcastle as a center for global digital innovation.
Atom Bank
- Atom Bank is a leading UK digital-only challenger bank founded in Durham.
- It moved operations and dozens of tech jobs to Newcastle in 2016.
- Atom Bank has benefitted from Newcastle’s fintech assets and talent availability.
- As a disruptor of high street banking, Atom Bank represents Newcastle’s emerging fintech cluster.
The choice of Newcastle as a base by these major digital employers demonstrates the city’s strengths as a hub for tech skills, innovation and growth.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Newcastle has steadily built up exceptional digital capacity and capabilities across infrastructure, skills, startup support and smart city initiatives. It now boasts a thriving community of over 1,100 tech businesses that contribute billions to the economy and provide over 50,000 digital jobs. As initiatives like investment in next-generation networks and training continue, Newcastle is poised to further grow as a leading digital city at the cutting edge of technology, creativity and innovation.