Mapping DigitalCity

Our project was conceived in 2003, as a collaboration between Teesside University and the five local councils: Middlesbrough Council, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, Darlington Borough Council and Hartlepool Borough Council.

Since then, DigitalCity has helped create over 250 companies.

We’re based in Middlesbrough’s vibrant Boho Zone, making us an instrumental part of a thriving physical campus for collaboration and sharing ideas.

"DigitalCity’s ethos and culture of co-operation is a huge part of attracting outside businesses to the area. It’s almost like a university campus. It’s really inclusive and welcoming, and it provides something extra – an incentive for companies to be based here." Dan Watson,
Digital Manager, Middlesbrough Council

DigitalCity exists to provide a link between industry experts and local talent and make the Tees Valley the best place in the UK to start and run a digital business.

Our history is full of success stories, including independent game developer and publisher Double Eleven, and Big Bite, which builds digital content platforms for huge organisations like The Wall Street Journal, Gumtree and Amnesty International.

With the emergence of new technologies and leaner ways of working, our portfolio has expanded to support the wider Tees Valley economy in recent years.

Since 2016, digital transformation has been high on the agenda - with the primary focus being on assisting business owners in traditional industries with their digital plans.

Through our Accelerator, SCALE and – most recently – Bricks and Clicks programmes, we reach a broad cross-section of Tees Valley businesses.

But developing the region’s digital sector isn’t a standalone project – it takes a village to raise a DigitalCity!

Partnership has always been a key element of what we do, and initiatives like our Technology Futures Institute and our work with the Industrial Digitalisation Technology Centre help businesses in other sectors find practical techbased solutions to the problems they’re facing.

Connecting local digital business with their neighbours in industries like construction and manufacturing means that DigitalCity is a bridge between the Tees Valley’s past and future, melding historic expertise with new thinking and cutting-edge technologies.

The solutions are often deceptively simple, but their impact is significant and, ultimately, we help the region and its businesses become more productive and profitable.

After twenty years, we can be proud that the Tees Valley’s digital cluster stands shoulderto- shoulder with their regional, national and international peers.