Yorkshire and the Humber is emerging as one of the UK’s most promising technology regions, with broad foundations, world-class research and fast-building momentum, according to a detailed analysis by national law firm Mills & Reeve.
The findings are published in a new report from the national law firm, released to mark the conclusion of Top Tech Yorkshire 2026 – its annual programme connecting the region’s tech businesses with the mentors, investors and advisers they need to grow.
The report highlights a region with a broad and growing base of innovative companies, universities with a national-leading record of spinning out high-tech firms, a deep and affordable talent pool, and a rapidly expanding digital workforce, increasingly recognised through government backing and major investment programmes.
Across West Yorkshire alone, around 50,000 people are now employed in digital, tech and AI businesses, and Leeds is home to roughly 4,000 active tech firms – one of the largest concentrations outside London. The region produces more data science graduates and hosts more AI students than anywhere else in the UK, and has been recognised by the UK government, which has designated West Yorkshire a high-growth opportunity area for data and artificial intelligence.
For the report, Mills & Reeve analysed a range of authoritative data sources – including the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), Companies House and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority – to build a rounded picture of the components that make a region competitive in nurturing high-growth tech businesses. The firm’s experts found:
- The region’s universities are among the UK’s most productive at turning research into companies. In HESA’s UK spinout register, the University of Leeds ranks 10th in the country with 54 spinouts – one of only two northern English universities in the national top 10, alongside Manchester. Sheffield (35) and York (24) add further depth, and almost all of the region’s spinouts are rooted in high-growth science. 122 of 125 emerged from medicine and life sciences, or physical sciences, engineering and mathematics.
- That pipeline is fed by an exceptional talent base. Around 43,000 students graduate from the region’s seven universities each year, and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority reports that Yorkshire produces more data science graduates, and hosts more AI students, than anywhere else in the UK.
- Companies House data shows Leeds is the clear anchor of the regional economy, with around 4,000 active tech firms supported by substantial clusters in Sheffield, York, Bradford and Hull. After an exceptional 2025 – in which tech incorporations roughly doubled across the country – all five of Yorkshire’s tech cities are on track to form more new tech companies in 2026 than the year before, with Sheffield seeing the steepest rise between 2024 and 2025.
- There are distinct tech hubs across the region’s cities. Home to more than 90 games firms, Sheffield is a hotbed for games-development. Meanwhile, Leeds leans toward enterprise software, professional services and fintech – giving the region genuine creative and enterprise strengths rather than a single specialism.
- Yorkshire’s tech workforce is expanding quickly. The number of tech roles in Leeds rose 46%, from 23,734 to 34,742, with the city’s digital tech sector growing 125% faster than the national average. Cybersecurity stands out in particular; against a slight national decline of 0.6%, Leeds recorded a 9.9% rise in cyber roles.
Image provided by Mills & Reeve
