Connect with us
DAPA Banner
DAPA Coin
DAPA
COIN PAYMENT ASSET
PRIVACY · BLOCKDAG · HOMOMORPHIC ENCRYPTION · RUST
ElGamal Encrypted MINE DAPA
🚫 GENESIS SOLD OUT
DAPAPAY COMING

Business

Most AI-ready UK city 2026: Manchester tops SAS index

Published

on

Most AI-ready UK city 2026: Manchester tops SAS index

Manchester has been named the UK’s most AI-ready city for the third year in a row, and the message for business owners is hard to miss: the country’s AI economy is no longer a London story.

The SAS AI Cities Index 2026, now in its fifth year, ranks cities outside the capital across eight criteria, including AI job opportunities, innovation funding, education, broadband speed and business activity in the sector.

Manchester’s grip on top spot rests on sheer commercial depth. The city hosts 655 AI businesses, the most of any location in the index, representing 2.8 per cent of its entire business landscape. It also boasts some of the strongest AI employment outside London, second only to neighbouring Salford and its Media City cluster.

For founders weighing up where to base or expand a business, the funding picture matters just as much. Innovate UK grants for AI and the Data Economy average more than £279,000 per business in Manchester, while the city council has approved a budget exceeding £1 billion for the first time to support infrastructure and long-term growth.

The talent pipeline is being built deliberately. New ‘MEGA hubs’, a collaboration between Salford-based IN4 Group and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, will give more than 3,000 secondary school pupils access to technology learning and an AI Academy, with sites planned for Rochdale, Salford, Tameside and Wigan. The Future of Work Alliance, a five-year, £5 million initiative announced in May, and the University of Manchester’s Unit M Deep Tech Accelerator add further weight. Little wonder the city was also recently crowned the best city outside London for women founders.

Advertisement

The chasing pack is the real story for SMEs elsewhere. Bristol climbed from fourth to second on the back of strong R&D funding and its semiconductor cluster, Birmingham rose to fifth with the largest number of AI-related university courses, and Derby entered the top 20 for the first time, securing the highest average Innovate UK funding per business of any city at more than £2.6 million. Southampton jumped 19 places into the top ten, helped by average Innovate UK support of £330,000 per business.

That regional spread should sharpen minds, given repeated warnings that smaller firms risk being left behind on AI and that UK businesses are underinvesting in the technology compared with global leaders. The infrastructure is increasingly on SMEs’ doorsteps; the question is whether they use it.

Glyn Townsend, senior director of education services at SAS for EMEA, said: “It’s great to see so much development in other cities too, proving that AI excellence doesn’t need to be London-centric. The likes of both Southampton and Derby, which have rapidly risen through the rankings, shows that cities are embracing and harnessing AI, recognising how it can be used to boost jobs, increase opportunities and assist in long-term economic growth.”

SAS is a founding partner in the government’s programme to train 10 million workers in AI skills by 2030, offering businesses free training materials and access to its AI experts.

Advertisement

Kanishka Narayan, AI minister at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, said: “We’re mobilising the UK’s businesses, innovators, and our trade unions to unlock AI’s potential for Britain – with more than £200 million earmarked for work that will drive responsible AI adoption in every part of the country.”


Amy Ingham

Amy Ingham

Amy Ingham is a reporter at Business Matters, covering UK business news with a focus on breaking news, business policy, late payments and insolvency. She joined the magazine in 2026 after completing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow College’s journalism school. Her recent reporting includes British Steel’s nationalisation and its impact on SME suppliers, the decline in late payments by large firms, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Reach her at aingham@cbmeg.co.uk.

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Business

Oil prices to hit $120 soon? Goldman Sachs makes big prediction as Hormuz concerns loom

Published

on

Oil prices to hit $120 soon? Goldman Sachs makes big prediction as Hormuz concerns loom
Wall Street major Goldman Sachs has warned that Brent crude could surge to $120 per barrel if disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical oil transit route, persist, even as its base case assumes an eventual easing of tensions in the Middle East.

Goldman Sachs expects Brent crude to average $80 per barrel in the fourth quarter and $75 next year, assuming tensions in the Middle East ease. However, the risks to its forecasts remain “tilted to the upside” due to potential disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and possibly the Red Sea, analysts said.

Global energy markets have faced renewed volatility this month, with Brent climbing back above $91 per barrel amid fresh fighting between the U.S. and Iran and a threat by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen to blockade shipments from Saudi Arabia. Red Sea routes have played a key role in enabling Persian Gulf crude cargoes affected by disruptions to reach buyers.

Also read: Relieved that crude has finally fallen? The real warning signs just began flashing elsewhere

Advertisement

Goldman Sachs said lower global inventories in the second quarter have increased the oil market’s vulnerability to supply shocks. However, weaker Chinese imports and greater demand elasticity could limit the potential for further price gains.

Crude oil price today

Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday as markets weighed reports of renewed diplomatic efforts between the U.S. and Iran, including a proposed 10-day ceasefire, against continued military exchanges and a threat by Yemen’s Houthis to impose a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran had received a 10-day ceasefire proposal from mediators. The initiative aims to preserve the interim agreement signed on June 17 and create a path toward a lasting deal to end the conflict that began on February 28 following U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.
The diplomatic push followed another night of U.S. strikes on Iranian cities and retaliatory attacks by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on U.S. military assets across the region. U.S. Central Command later said on Monday that it had launched another round of strikes on Iran.
The U.S. carried out its 10th consecutive day of strikes after President Donald Trump vowed that Iran “will pay” for the killing of American soldiers. Iran responded with attacks on Kuwait.

The conflict began on February 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran. Tehran retaliated with strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host U.S. military bases. U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, along with Israeli strikes on Lebanon during the conflict, have killed thousands of people and displaced millions.

Also read:Oil is crude once again! Is $95 the new normal and what it means for Indian investors?

Advertisement

Over the past week, Trump has also threatened to widen the scope of U.S. strikes in Iran to include energy facilities and bridges.

The 1949 Geneva Conventions, which set rules for humanitarian conduct during war, prohibit attacks on sites considered essential to civilian life. Following Trump’s earlier threats to target such infrastructure, international law experts in the U.S. said earlier this year that such attacks could potentially constitute war crimes.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Business

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IBKR) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Published

on

OneWater Marine Inc. (ONEW) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript