Blackpool makes top ten of tech savvy towns in UK

Fintech specialist Dojo created a nationwide index to find out which UK cities are improving their technological capabilities and access to technology at the fastest rate.

The study looked at five relevant metrics in each city, which were scored to create an overall ‘tech-savvy index’ score out of 100.

And Blackpool came tenth in the list, after Edinburgh and London which took the top two places, with Manchester fifth and Leeds ninth.

For each city, the metrics included:

Internet connection - The increase or decline in the percentage of connections subscribed to 30+ Mbps (2019 vs 2020)

Population who don't use the internet - The percentage of non users (2012 vs 2018)

Digital Skills - The percentage of the population who have the '5 basic digital skills’

Tech jobs - The number of tech jobs available per 10,000 people

Tech salaries - The average salary of those tech jobs.

The Dojo sturdy said Blackpool had a total index score of 59 out of 100.

It said there were 141 tech jobs available at the time in Blackpool for those wanting to get into the tech industry. and that 78 per cent of the population held the key digital skills needed.

The resort however had just 6 tech jobs per 10,000 people, meaning competition was high in the area to get into the tech industry. But it estimated the average salary for a job in the tech industry in Blackpool was £59,452, the highest in the top 10 tech savvy locations ranked.

Jonathan Knott, Head of Customer Insights at Dojo said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how the world uses technology forever. Advancements have been forced to progress instantly to respond to user needs.

"This is a shift in the adoption of tech that we have never seen happen so quickly before. However, some cities across the world were more prepared than others due to their pre-existing technological infrastructure and landscape.”