A Light That Never Goes Out
Back in the early 19th century, the phenomenal growth of Manchester’s cotton trade, put the then quiet market town on the global map, as it spun and weaved its way to become the world’s first industrial city.
A perfect recipe of innovation, timing, location, and entrepreneurship, secured its place in history.
Manchester emerged from its smoky, steam and coal fired beginnings as a complex, progressive city, manufacturing, and trading goods of all descriptions.
Fierce competition with it’s rival nearby city of Liverpool spawned the construction of a masterpiece of Victorian engineering, The Manchester Ship Canal.
This positioned Manchester and its neighbouring City of Salford, as one of the busiest inland ports in the world.
A Brave New World
Fast-forward over a hundred years or so and the towering mills and bustling warehouses have long since been flattened or transformed into executive apartments, modern commercial offices, shops and entertainment venues.
The cotton may have gone, but Manchester continues to thrive and lead the way as it always has, through science, education, culture, music, technology, and innovation.
Textiles, steam railways and canals have now been replaced by an internet super-highway, fibre optics, eCommerce and digital design, as the industrial revolution pushes forward into the 21st century.
Resilience, drive and adaptation to change has always been the Mancuniun way!
The ‘Cottonopolis’ docks are now the location of MediaCityUK, the new home of the BBC, ITV, The University of Salford and a Mecca for creative agencies, digital marketing, technology, media and broadcasting companies.
Manchester is now officially the UK’s top Digital Tech City, with aspirations to self-propel its way into the top five digital cities across Europe.
The digital landscape and eco-system in Greater Manchester turns over a staggering £5 billion GBP per annum and is fast-growing. On top of that, the city is home to more than 10,000 digital and tech businesses. These range from start-ups and SMEs to large global players such as Cisco, Google, Microsoft and IBM.
These tech giants sit alongside Manchester’s homegrown talented businesses, where they work in partnership, collaborate and drive innovation across the region.
Since launching the world’s first computer programme and first commercial computer back in the early 1950s, Manchester has continued to be a pioneer in digital technology and commerce.
Cybersecurity, AI, service design, eCommerce, digital marketing and data management are now all areas of growth and specialisation in the city. This is heavily supported by the regions five leading universities who contribute both ground-breaking research and help equip future generations with the skills needed to place Manchester at the forefront of the new digital industrial revolution.
There are now over 86,000 people in Manchester employed in the creative, digital and technology industry. Businesses based in Manchester can access a valuable pool of highly-skilled and talented prospective employees, which is one of the largest in Europe.
There are over 7 million people within a one-hour commute of the city. Manchester is the perfect UK location for digital orientated companies aspiring to drive the future of the sector.