Worcester and Malvern

Digital tech employment up 6% and turnover 7% beating UK economic performance

£287 mDigital tech business turnover (2017)

£93 kDigital tech turnover by employee (2017)

£303 mGVA
(2017)

3,098Jobs in digital tech
(2017)

8,207Digital tech jobs
(2017)

Developments

With a history in cyber security, Worcester and Malvern are now home to one of the UK’s most active cyber security clusters. Agritech is another of the area’s strengths, with local Pershore College leading the way.

In May 2018, Worcestershire Innovation 2018 hosts a two day festival at the iconic Hive library. The festival brings together the best and brightest innovators in the region, the Malvern Festival of Innovation follows in October 2018.

The Kiln, a project to encourage new ideas and innovations, is developing a co-working space in Worcester city centre. The location has been secured and additional funding from the Local Enterprise Partnership will see the project open this year.

Worcester has been awarded £5 million by the UK Government to host a 5G testbed. Companies at Malvern Hills Science Park will trial the technology before it is made public, with defence technology company QinetiQ using it to test advanced cyber security applications.

Rowena Innocent

VP R&D, Malvern Panalytical

About Malvern Panalytical
Malvern Panalytical is a leading provider of scientific instrumentation for material analysis in many applications such as pharmaceutical, food, chemicals, advanced and raw materials.

Why Worcester and Malvern?
Being a technical company we have a high proportion of degree and Phd qualified scientists and engineers. Although we are not located in a big city, we are close enough to Worcester, Birmingham, Gloucester and Cheltenham for commuting. The local area is attractive, especially for those who enjoy outdoor pursuits and there are many good local schools.

National & International focus
Malvern Panalytical has 20,00 employees worldwide of which 300 are based in Malvern. Over 90% of our products are exported. Our highly technical sales, application and customer support teams are located across the globe. We often collaborate with universities and customers on funded projects such as EPSRC, Innovate UK and Horizon 2020 programs.

Founded: Malvern instruments was founded in the late 1960s. In January 2017 it merged with it’s sister company PANalytical to form Malvern Panalytical.

Popular meetups in Worcester and Malvern

370 members

WooWeb

317 members

The Kiln

181 members

Worcester Source Meetups

Community perceptions survey findings

The Tech Nation 2018 Survey was conducted between January 2018 and February 2018, in partnership with Streetbees. This year’s survey received the largest response yet from members of the UK tech community. In a total of 3,428 submissions, people told us about the opportunities and challenges their local ecosystems face, and the digital tech leaders they admire. The majority of respondents (33%) were founders and CEOs.

What Worcester and Malvern startups say is a strength

1Good internet speed

2Appealing area

3Business opportunities

What Worcester and Malvern startups say is a challenge

1Access to talent

2Access to funding

3Bad transport links

Who Worcester and Malvern startups say is influential

Emma Philpott

CEO, UK Cyber Security Forum

About you
I have always focused on small companies working in emerging technologies. When we moved to Malvern I was impressed by the number of innovative entrepreneurs starting small cyber security companies in the area and I set out to help grow this exciting area.

Unique to Worcester and Malvern?
Due to the history of radar research in Malvern, there is a culture of technical curiosity and invention in this region. The regional groups of unusual individuals support the formation of fantastic technical companies, many of which have become extremely successful.

Strengths & Challenges
There are already a large number of great grassroots initiatives in the region which bring together and support technical companies. Although there are some exciting new initiatives, such as the 5G test bed, more longer term support and focus on the initiatives which exist rather than trying to create new ones would be helpful. The restrictions of artificial geographic boundaries can also be a distraction when supporting companies competing globally.

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