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	Cornwall & PlymouthSouth West	Leeds & West YorkshireYorkshire and the Humber	Glasgow & the Central BeltScotland
Sectors	Space, Clean Energy, Robotics & Autonomous Systems Supporting: Advanced Materials, AgriTech & FoodTech, Digital Technologies	Life Sciences, Digital Technologies, Financial Technology Supporting: Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Manufacturing, Creative Industries	Space, Semiconductors, Quantum Technologies, Advanced Manufacturing Supporting: Clean Energy, Digital Technologies, Robotics & Autonomous Systems
Research	University of Plymouth Plymouth Marine Laboratory	University of Leeds	University of Glasgow University of Strathclyde
Companies	Not recorded on the map.	Leeds health data and digital health cluster	Glasgow small satellite manufacturing cluster
Infrastructure	Space and Earth observation capability, Cornwall Aerodrome and space capability, marine research and test facilities and naval infrastructure.	Not recorded on the map. Health data infrastructure, teaching hospitals and university research facilities.	National Manufacturing Institute Scotland Satellite manufacturing capacity, nanofabrication cleanrooms and national manufacturing research facilities.
Capital	Public programmes and a small local investor base; almost all growth capital is external.	Financial services depth locally, but early-stage health technology capital remains limited.	Public co-investment and specialist funds; hardware scale-up capital is scarce.
Government programmes	No place-based designation recorded.	No place-based designation recorded.	No place-based designation recorded.
What exists	Space launch and Earth observation capability, marine autonomy and ocean research, and a distinctive combination of coastline, test space and specialist facilities.	National health data organisations, medical technology, a large financial and professional services base and a research university with data and materials strength.	More small satellites built here than anywhere else in Europe, quantum imaging and nanofabrication research, and a large applied engineering, manufacturing and energy research base.
What's missing · UKIZ interpretation	Company density and connectivity. Excellent facilities sit a long way from capital, customers and complementary suppliers, and skilled people are hard to retain.	A clear route for companies to work with health data at scale, and clinical adoption pathways that move faster than pilot projects.	Downstream value. Satellites are manufactured here while much of the data and applications value is captured elsewhere. Scale-up finance for hardware is limited.
What could connect · UKIZ interpretation	Launch and Earth observation connected to Glasgow satellite manufacture and Harwell applications, and marine autonomy connected to Solent defence and offshore energy demand.	Leeds health data capability connected to Manchester clinical research and to medical technology manufacturing, giving companies discovery, evidence and production in one region.	Glasgow manufacture connected to Cornwall launch and Earth observation, Harwell space applications and domestic data customers — one national space chain instead of four regional ones.
UKIZ relevance	The proposed Cornwall & Devon mission treats the sea and the satellite economy as one system rather than two separate sectors.	Health data at population scale is a national asset. The proposed Manchester mission and Leeds capability are complementary rather than competing.	Manufacture, launch and data are three different geographies in Britain. The proposed Scotland mission connects them deliberately.
Last verified	15 August 2026	15 August 2026	15 August 2026

Proposed by UKIZ · independent · not a government designation

Back to the map →Methodology →