Leeds-based consultancy The Data City secures six-figure project with Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

The project will see expert analysts from Leeds-based The Data City working closely with both organisations to explore science, technology, research & innovation cluster formation and performance.

It involves identifying groups of businesses with a high potential for growth and sharing characteristics that can be defined as a cluster.

Alex Craven, chief executive officer at The Data City, said: “It is a testament to the hard work of our team that we can work in partnership with leading organisations to play an important part in the UK’s Growth Plan.

"The innovative approach we have proposed will prove more effective in identifying a wider selection of clusters of different types than any single approach would be capable of, leading to a much more comprehensive and detailed picture of the UK cluster landscape that will ensure that support is targeted to companies with great potential for growth and job creation.”

The Data City is working to map the UK’s emerging economy, providing researchers, policymakers and investors with real-time data on dynamic sectors and the companies within them.

The primary focus of the multi-stage study is to identify groups of firms that meet the different criteria and can be considered ‘true’ clusters.

The project involves collecting, processing and analysing four primary datasets before data processing and analysis.

The Data City’s team will then identify groups of firms based on their patterns of activity and location.

The work will be undertaken through network analysis of the UKRI and Patent and Academic Activity Datasets. Both databases will then be linked, and a complete list of clusters will be finalised.

As registered secure data users, Cambridge Econometrics will process all secure microdata and ensure non-disclosive before sharing it with other partners.

Once the data has been collected, processed and checked, it will be used to produce the final report, added to the cluster database, and built into an interactive website created by The Data City.

The Data City is a data-as-a-service company which provides real-time industrial data on emerging economic sectors.

The firm was founded in 2014.

In 2016 and 2017, it worked on projects including the UK Tech Innovation Index.

It also worked on the Government’s independent review into the AI industry in 2017.

2018 saw The Data City complete its first work abroad, as well as winning a contract with Greater Manchester Combined Authority to create an evidence base for the region’s industrial strategy.

The company was incorporated in 2018 after raising a six-figure seedcorn investment.