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	Southampton & PortsmouthSouth East	Leeds & West YorkshireYorkshire and the Humber	Liverpool City RegionNorth West
Sectors	Defence & Security, Robotics & Autonomous Systems, Advanced Manufacturing Supporting: Clean Energy, Digital Technologies, Advanced Materials	Life Sciences, Digital Technologies, Financial Technology Supporting: Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Manufacturing, Creative Industries	Life Sciences, Engineering Biology, Advanced Materials Supporting: Digital Technologies, Clean Energy, Creative Industries
Research	University of Southampton National Oceanography Centre	University of Leeds	University of Liverpool Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Companies	Not recorded on the map.	Leeds health data and digital health cluster	Not recorded on the map.
Infrastructure	Not recorded on the map. Naval and maritime engineering facilities, photonics research centres and port infrastructure.	Not recorded on the map. Health data infrastructure, teaching hospitals and university research facilities.	Not recorded on the map. University research institutes, automated chemistry facilities and port and logistics assets.
Capital	Prime contractor supply chain finance and public programmes rather than venture capital.	Financial services depth locally, but early-stage health technology capital remains limited.	A modest local investor base; public and charitable research funding dominate.
Government programmes	Solent Freeport — Freeports	No place-based designation recorded.	Liverpool City Region Freeport — Freeports
What exists	Maritime, naval and defence engineering, marine autonomy, photonics research and a major port and logistics complex.	National health data organisations, medical technology, a large financial and professional services base and a research university with data and materials strength.	Infection and tropical medicine research of international standing, materials chemistry and automated discovery, a large port and a Freeport designation.
What's missing · UKIZ interpretation	Routes for smaller innovators into defence and maritime procurement, and a civil market for capability developed for defence customers.	A clear route for companies to work with health data at scale, and clinical adoption pathways that move faster than pilot projects.	Translation capacity: strong discovery science with limited local scale-up manufacturing and limited early-stage capital to hold companies in the city region.
What could connect · UKIZ interpretation	Marine autonomy and photonics connected to Plymouth marine capability, Bristol robotics and offshore energy operations — the same technologies serving defence, energy and shipping.	Leeds health data capability connected to Manchester clinical research and to medical technology manufacturing, giving companies discovery, evidence and production in one region.	Infection and biologics research connected to North West and Teesside biomanufacturing capacity, with the port used for export rather than only import.
UKIZ relevance	Marine autonomy is where defence, robotics and clean energy meet. The proposed Cornwall & Devon marine mission connects to this capability directly.	Health data at population scale is a national asset. The proposed Manchester mission and Leeds capability are complementary rather than competing.	Discovery and manufacture sit unusually close together here. The proposed Manchester mission treats the North West as one health and biomanufacturing geography.
Last verified	15 August 2026	15 August 2026	15 August 2026

Proposed by UKIZ · independent · not a government designation

Back to the map →Methodology →