How techUK uses The Data City to power the UK’s Local Digital Index
Find out how techUK uses The Data City’s real-time data to power the Local Digital Index—an interactive tool helping shape digital policy, regional investment, and economic strategy across the UK.
At a glance
Since 2023, techUK has partnered with The Data City to deliver real-time, data-driven intelligence on the UK’s evolving digital economy. This collaboration provides granular insights into digital clusters, investment flows, and workforce trends, helping decision-makers shape smarter local and national policies.
- Trade Association
- Data Services
- Platform License
- Lightcast Jobs & Skills
- Real-time Policy insight
- Strengthened Local Digial Index
As the pace of digital transformation accelerates, techUK needed to ensure the Index remained granular, relevant, and actionable.
The Local Digital Index was created to help policymakers and industry leaders understand the strength of digital economies across the UK. As the pace of digital transformation accelerates, techUK needed to ensure the Index remained granular, relevant, and actionable.
Building on the 2023 Index, which introduced insights from The Data City, techUK worked with The Data City in 2024 to refine the methodology and expand the dataset.
New workforce insights from Lightcast job market data tracked in-work digital skills, while deeper regional analysis revealed previously overlooked areas of growth. The partnership continues to evolve, ensuring the Index remains a real-time tool for shaping digital policy, investment, and economic strategy.
“ There’s probably not a day that I don’t go on the data City platform
Using The Data City’s real-time data and working collaboratively with the Data Services team, techUK has evolved the Local Digital Index into a real-time decision-making tool.
The integration of Real-Time Industrial Classifications (RTICs) allowed techUK to map emerging innovation clusters across AI, Life Sciences, Advanced Manufacturing, and other key sectors. Granular finance and investment mapping provided a clearer picture of funding flows, while Lightcast job market data enabled tracking of in-demand digital skills across regions.
Crucially, the Index shifted from a static report to an interactive microsite, giving users a dynamic way to explore, compare, and analyse local and national digital economies. This data infrastructure, built with The Data City and Open Innovations, allows for new updates and adaptability for future versions of the Index.
“ With The Data City, you get a partner that you can rely on that’s experienced, that knows the information and the data.