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AI Action Plan: Where could Matt Clifford’s AI growth zones be located?

Parts of the UK with existing tech expertise and several new data centres could be among the strongest candidates

Image credit: Shutterstock AI Generator

Under the new AI Opportunities Action Plan, serial entrepreneur Matt Clifford has called for the creation of a group of ‘AI Growth Zones’ dotted across the UK to attract clusters of AI expertise, in which normal planning processes would be overturned in favour of a fast-track approval system.

The first of these zones has already been named as Culham, Oxfordshire – home to the UK’s Atomic Energy Authority and a stone’s throw away from some of the UK’s top tech firms such as Oxford Nanopore, Oxa and Oxford Instruments.

But where might the other zones be? The team at UKTN have identified three of the top candidates for the initiative.

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle startups
Image credit: Shutterstock

If Keir Starmer is looking for a place to designate as an AI Growth Zone, he should certainly consider the North East. The region already has a burgeoning tech cluster in Newcastle and has significant growth potential. The UK’s second-largest tech company, enterprise software and fintech firm Sage, is already headquartered in the city while other top companies have significant bases there too....