I mean, who knew there were vast swathes of Cumbria without a single level 3-7 digital education course available? The visualisation below maps digital and tech education across the North of England, and includes all courses from A Level to Masters Degree. What is clear is that the level and accessibility of education varies widely across the region, with key education clusters primarily developed around higher education institutions.

The Digital Jobs Action Summit will bring together stakeholders from across the sector to discuss the skills gap facing the region. During the day, Tech North is hosting a discussion about the possibilities for a Northern Digital Jobs Strategy, and will invite attendees to exchange ideas throughout the event. Particular attention has been paid to improving supply-side issues, with the following areas for consideration specifically focused on upskilling workers:

• Prioritise skilling up our local workforce to deal with the potential effects of Brexit, versus trying to secure global talent
• Run a Northern digital jobs awareness campaign to drive people to seek out training and jobs opportunities in the North
• Make digital mainstream in schools so that the ‘digital skills crisis’ fixes itself long-term
• Improve careers advice so that, no matter what your age, you know there are opportunities in digital
• Design and fund an alternative system to our traditional education to solve the problem

Vote on the ideas you think will have the biggest impact over on our voting page