The government-backed Made Smarter review, released last year, estimates that technology could add as much as £455bn to the British economy across all major manufacturing sectors. Certain regions stand to benefit more than others, due to the concentration of high-value, technologically driven manufacturing.
The scale of the region’s success can be seen in its rising land rent costs. Industrial rents in Cambridgeshire grew by 13.7% in 2017. The Golden Triangle is key to spurring tech growth and innovation, with the 2018 UK Powerhouse Report by Irwin Mitchell naming Cambridge, Oxford and Milton Keynes the fastest-growing cities in the UK.
Cambridge, in particular, has attracted over £153m in digital technology investment, and now employs over 30,000 people in the sector, making it one of the world’s leading areas for Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies.
Milton Keynes is now one of the UK’s top smart cities thanks to years of investment and innovation in the latest technologies. The city has also become a hotbed of Fourth Industrial Revolution innovation, meaning manufacturers have flocked to the area in recent years.
