Compare places

Two or three clusters, read side by side across sectors, research, companies, capital, infrastructure, government designations and UKIZ relevance. There is no score and no ranking: British clusters are different from one another, not better or worse than one another.

Choose up to three clusters

Side by side

Dimension	BelfastNorthern Ireland	EdinburghScotland	Newcastle & the North EastNorth East
Sectors	Defence & Security, Advanced Materials, Financial Technology, Creative Industries Supporting: Digital Technologies, AgriTech & FoodTech, Advanced Manufacturing	Artificial Intelligence, Financial Technology, Robotics & Autonomous Systems, Digital Technologies Supporting: Engineering Biology, Life Sciences, Quantum Technologies, Creative Industries	Clean Energy, Mobility & Transport Technology, Advanced Manufacturing Supporting: Life Sciences, Digital Technologies, Robotics & Autonomous Systems
Research	Queen's University Belfast Ulster University Centre for Secure Information Technologies	University of Edinburgh Heriot-Watt University	Newcastle University Durham University
Companies	Northern Ireland aerospace and composites cluster	Edinburgh financial services and fintech cluster	Not recorded on the map.
Infrastructure	Not recorded on the map. Cyber security innovation centre, composites and aerostructures manufacturing and agri-food research facilities.	National Robotarium Informatics research facilities, robotics commercialisation facilities and supercomputing capability.	Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult Offshore renewable test facilities, battery production investment and university research centres.
Capital	A small local venture base supported by public co-investment; growth capital typically comes from Dublin, London or the US.	Large institutional asset management presence; venture activity is smaller than the capital base implies.	Infrastructure and development finance, with limited venture capital relative to industrial scale.
Government programmes	No place-based designation recorded.	No place-based designation recorded.	North East Investment Zone — Investment Zones
What exists	Cyber security research and commercialisation of international standing, aerospace and composites manufacturing, agri-food research and a fast-growing software sector.	One of Europe's largest informatics research bases, robotics and autonomous systems commercialisation capability, and a substantial asset management, banking and financial technology sector.	Offshore renewable energy testing at national scale, battery and electrification investment, ageing and life sciences research and a strong engineering base.
What's missing · UKIZ interpretation	Scale-up capital and market access. Companies reach a ceiling and are acquired, and dual-market access advantages are under-exploited commercially.	A connection between the capital sitting in Edinburgh's financial institutions and the technology being created a mile away; and later-stage funding to stop companies relocating south.	Supply chain retention. Britain builds offshore capacity while importing much of the equipment; local firms often serve as installers rather than manufacturers.
What could connect · UKIZ interpretation	Belfast cyber capability connected to UK defence and financial services demand, and composites manufacturing connected to Bristol and Midlands aerospace supply chains.	Scottish institutional capital connected to Scottish deep tech, and Edinburgh AI and robotics capability connected to Glasgow manufacturing and satellite production.	Offshore testing capability connected to Teesside and Humber industrial land, Sheffield manufacturing research and domestic energy buyers — an energy supply chain rather than an energy market.
UKIZ relevance	Northern Ireland's position between two markets is a commercial asset that is under-used. The proposed Northern Ireland mission treats it as the organising advantage.	Scotland's research strength is not in question; its scale-up retention is. The proposed Scotland mission focuses on the capital and customer layer.	The region has the industrial land, the ports and the skills base. The proposed North East mission focuses on retaining the supply chain, not only the assembly.
Last verified	15 August 2026	15 August 2026	15 August 2026

Proposed by UKIZ · independent · not a government designation

Back to the map →Methodology →