Alex Craven, co-founder of The Data City, established the Leeds-based organisation after realising that there was no source of data for finding companies outside of outdated Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes.

He told The Yorkshire Post: “The SIC code system was last updated in 2007. Obviously quite a lot has happened in the economy since then. It’s a very rigid system and it’s designed for a 20th century way of looking at industry.”

The Data City instead has come up with its own system that also incorporates SIC codes, which Mr Craven says still have a use.

Alex Craven is a co-founder of The Data City in Leeds.

“We decided to invent our SIC code alternative and it’s called RTIC, which stands for Real Time Industrial Classification,” Mr Craven said.

The current system is missing out large parts of the economy, the co-founder of The Data City says.

“That basically undermines all economic policy development and decision-making at every level of government,” he added.

The Leeds-based business has created 258 new classifications, which also cover emerging economy sectors. It uses artificial intelligence to classify businesses according to the text on their website.

The Data City has created 258 new classifications.

The Data City’s customers include the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Transport for The North, Local Enterprise Partnerships and councils. It also works for private equity and corporate finance firms.

Mr Craven believes there’s still value in the SIC codes system in that it gives a historical view of industrial sectors.

However, he says the flaw is that companies choose a code when they incorporate and then over time, even if their business changes drastically, they’re still stuck with the original classification.

He added that the system doesn’t recognise the complexity of the modern economy with the likes of Uber actually fitting into a variety of different categories.

Mr Craven said: “Lots of companies do lots of things. What we have built is a poly-hierarchical system so a company can be classified into as many different types of activity as it does, so you can understand all of that complexity.”

Data will have an “extremely important” role in helping offset carbon emissions. Firstly, the problem needs to be quantified, says Mr Craven, and then progress needs to be tracked.

He added: “It’s easy to talk about at a macro level but when we come to implementing changes, they will get implemented at a local level by local authorities and councils with hardly any resources.

“A lot of them don’t even know where their polluters are. The first bit of data that they need is where are your carbon-intensive businesses. The second bit is do you have a local supply chain or solution providers that can help them decarbonise? They need data on that.

“Then finally you need data to track that your interventions have been successful and you’re hopefully achieving your net zero targets.”

The Data City, which has ten staff, is currently doing some work for Transport for the North on remapping the Northern Powerhouse economy.

Mr Craven said: “There is clearly a need for a definitive point of view on the relationship between infrastructure investment and economic performance.

“The problem is it’s a political decision but the better the data, the more hope we have that politicians will reach the right decision.”

Record-breaking year

The Data City enjoyed a record-breaking 2021, winning 20 new clients over the year. It also attracted investment from Venturian Funding and Investment Group.

As a result, the Leeds-based business will be recruiting in sales, marketing, analyst and development teams.

“We’re also buying third party data,” Alex Craven said. “We’ve launched a load of new data points including investment data. We’ll also be able to provide that sort of inward investment picture for companies.”

It will also enable the firm to trial its first two overseas territories with Europe and North America in its sights.

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Thank you

James Mitchinson

Why a better approach to data sourcing is needed and the current coding system for companies is outdated