Download the Tech Nation report
Visit our Tech Nation Interactive Guide Powered by 
Birmingham
There are communities of startups and digital creative agencies emerging all around Birmingham’s ‘Silicon Canal‘, and other key areas. There is a rich heritage of advanced manufacturing in the Birmingham and West Midlands region, and Jaguar Land Rover, Moog and JCB all have major operations in the area.
The talent base in the area is growing, with just over 20,000 people in digital employment in the area, supported by five local universities. Emerging hubs include Birmingham Research Park and the city’s production and animation studios; Digbeth and the Custard Factory, one of the UK’s largest hubs for digital, creative and technology businesses.
As with all growing startup communities, it is vital that support networks emerge to assist entrepreneurs with all of their needs. Birmingham has this in abundance with the Silicon Canal network and over 50 events for technologists and startups per month. The Entrepreneurs for Future Centre within Innovation Birmingham Campus is providing key support services.
With the level of support and networking available, its no wonder that the cluster has produced some fantastic startups such as Droplet (payments transfer), Soshi Games (mobile app developer), and Meducation (social network for doctors).
Support:
- Silicon Canal – set up to connect, support and engage the tech community in Birmingham
- Birmingham Research Park – specialises in biomedical sciences
- Entrepreneur’s for Future – targeted at early stage tech and cleantech businesses
- Innovation Birmingham – hot desk offices for tech startups
- Business & IP Centre – an EU-backed support service
- Impact Hub Birmingham – innovation lab, business incubator, and community centre
- Fazely Studios, Co-working space
- Moseley Exchange – Co-working space focused at independent workers
- Orchard – Co-working space with space for 40 hot desks, with meetings rooms and other services available
Funding:
- Finance Birmingham – Invests £50,000 in pre-revenue early stage tech startups
- Mercia Digital Fund – Mercia Digital Fund aims to provide investors with access to a portfolio of investment opportunities across the UK digital sector
- Midven – invests in early stage and small businesses within the West Midlands
- Entrepreneurial Spark – The world’s largest free business accelerator for early stage and growing ventures
Time etc is a service that allows the customer to outsource tasks to approved assistants. Admin, customer service, copywriting and marketing are completed at a much lower cost than hiring.
CrowdControlHQ is a social media risk management and compliance platform. The technology delivers social engagement and compliance features through a single dashboard for multi-channel campaigns.
Whisk.com is a smart shopping list tool that helps people around the world enjoy recipes online. A “Create Shopping List” button allows people to quickly create a shopping lists from recipes online.
Subscribe
Get the latest Tech City UK news and events delivered to your inbox.