UK Industrial Strategy Sectors: Inclusive Growth through Data-Driven Insights

Summary

Inclusive Growth ensures new investments benefit everyone, not just a few. It requires evidence-based understanding of local economic realities to connect big plans like the Industrial Strategy to people’s homes, jobs, and communities.

To support this Inclusive Growth agenda, here at Impact Data Metrics (IDM) we have mapped businesses by their operating locations and Industrial Strategy Sectors. This helps to better define economies (local and national), understand the unique features across our nation, and support better planning and decision-making. Looking across these Sectors, we see themes, underpinned by the importance of:

People and communities as drivers for growth,
The unique mix of industry and talent that can give rise to local opportunities, and
How using accurate, connected data is critical for developing successful growth plans.

This is relevant to a variety of stakeholders, including economic growth teams, developers, and government (local and national). Here we summarise some of the key insights that can be drawn from our data and analysis.

1. For Economic Growth Teams

Look Beyond Central London: While Central London and the South East dominate service-based sectors, significant, specialised clusters exist elsewhere in the Capital and areas beyond. Growth strategies should target these local strengths, such as Advanced Manufacturing in the Midlands and North, or Clean Energy in coastal and rural areas.

Data Accuracy is Crucial for Strategy: Relying on standard datasets like Companies House registrations can lead to a significant underestimation of local economic activity by 20%. To create effective growth plans, you need granular, location-specific data that reflects where businesses actually operate, not just where they are registered.

Connectivity Drives Economic Corridors: Business activity is heavily concentrated along major transport routes (like the M62 and M1/A1 corridors) and within a 60-minute drive of major cities. Future economic planning should leverage and enhance these corridors to foster inter-city collaboration and supply chain development.

2. For Developers

Sector-Specific Location Needs: Development opportunities are not uniform. Life Sciences cluster around research hubs like the “Golden Triangle” (Oxford-Cambridge-London), Defence is concentrated near strategic military and aerospace sites, and Creative industries thrive in specific urban hubs like Manchester and Bristol. Understanding these geographic patterns is essential for speculative development and attracting tenants.

Identify Hidden Opportunities with Better Data: Standard data sources miss a large number of operating businesses, meaning you might overlook the true economic vibrancy and tenant demand in an area. Using more accurate “Occupier” data can reveal unmet demand for commercial space and de-risk investment by providing a complete picture of a locale’s business ecosystem.

The “Mix” of Industries Matters: Success will be determined by looking for locations where complementary sectors co-exist (e.g., Digital and Creative, or Advanced Manufacturing and Foundation Industries) to foster innovation and create a resilient local economy that can support new commercial developments.

3. For Government (Local and National)

Industrial Strategy Requires Nuanced, Place and People-Based Policy: The national Industrial Strategy sectors have distinct and varied geographic footprints. A one-size-fits-all policy will fail. Effective policy and investment must be tailored to the specific industrial clusters that exist in different areas of the Country, from Clean Energy in coastal areas to Financial Services in major cities.

Improve Data Infrastructure for Accurate Decision-Making: Reliance on official data like Companies House and ONS estimates gives an incomplete and often inaccurate view of the economy. To effectively plan for infrastructure, skills, and local economic development, there’s a critical need to adopt more precise, location-based data that tracks actual business operations.

Focus on Foundational Strengths: The analysis shows that sectors like Advanced Manufacturing and Foundation Industries are more geographically dispersed and located in historic industrial heartlands. “Levelling up” and investment policies should focus on reinforcing the unique strengths of these regions rather than trying to replicate the success of the service-based economy of London.

4. The Importance of People

The data reveals where businesses are, but the unstated reason they are there is almost always people. Businesses follow talent, customers, and innovators. Integrating this human dimension is vital for a complete strategy.

Talent is the True Magnet: The clustering of sectors like Life Sciences in the “Golden Triangle” or Digital hubs near major universities isn’t accidental; it’s driven by access to a deep pool of specialised talent. Your growth strategies must be talent-led. Focus on skills development, university partnerships, and talent retention to create the conditions for high-value industries to thrive. Economic gravity is ultimately created by people.

Build for People, Not Just for Businesses: A successful commercial development is an ecosystem that attracts and retains a skilled workforce. Our data shows dense business activity, which implies a need for supporting infrastructure: quality, affordable housing, public transport, and amenities that create a desirable “place.” By investing in placemaking and creating environments where people want to live and work, and are proud to do so, you directly increase the appeal of your commercial developments to high-value tenants, ensuring success and longevity.

The geographic patterns we observe in the data reflect deep-seated human factors like population density, educational attainment, and quality of life. Policies aimed at “levelling up” or fostering industrial growth cannot succeed by focusing on businesses alone. The most sustainable investment is in people — through education, skills training tailored to regional strengths, and improving local infrastructure, housing and public services. A skilled, healthy, and connected population is the ultimate foundation of a prosperous economy.

We hope our data and analysts can help you explore these patterns in more detail to invest and build in the success of our collective future.

Introduction

With the release of the Government’s Industrial Strategy the scene has been set for this Parliament as to where it will focus investments over the coming years. It is therefore crucial for economic plans and development decisions to, at the very least, understand what an area looks like and track change over time.

The sectors are broad in their definition, and not always clearly defined in Government documents, so translating this to capture those businesses within a sector is complex. To compound this challenge still further, businesses may also fall within multiple sectors. For example, they may be creating new materials for use in energy generation, or AI-driven solutions in healthcare, meaning that they would fall within multiple sector definitions. What cannot be ignored though, is that irrespective of how many sectors a business falls within, they have to be identified and located.

Here we present a short overview of Industrial Strategy Sectors businesses distribution across the country. More detailed analysis, using multiple approaches weighted with additional datasets, can be undertaken for specific use cases such as new development sites, local authorities’ development plans, or for investment decision models using spatial analytics, time-series forecasting and a range of other advanced analytics techniques.

In this short report, we introduce some key features of our dataset and how it relates to the location of businesses in each sector.

If you would like to find out more about how we can help address growth opportunities, contact us.

Occupiers Dataset Metrics

Table 1 provides a summary of the numbers of business Occupiers across the UK that have been assigned to an Industrial Strategy Sector.

Table 1: Occupiers by Industrial Strategy Sector Membership

Our core Occupiers dataset currently tracks 6,684,133 business Occupiers for the country (August 2025). Of these, 2,392,350 have been assigned to one or more Sectors. In developing a methodology, we recognise that some sources of data that confirm membership of a Sector will have a greater weighting (e.g. is the businesses patenting technologies in that Sector, or receiving grants for R&D). We can use the weighting to be more inclusive or exclusive when defining a Sector membership. In this report, we have included all business Occupiers, that is, we have been inclusive and used the wider definition of Sectors provided in the Government documentation. If we were to be exclusive, with a more specific definition, the number of Sector-tagged Occupiers reduces to 1,423,488. We have taken this approach to provide our clients and partners with flexibility, as the original definitions of Sectors lacks resolution in some cases.

Sector Business Density

In this section, and rather than providing you with lists of data and long tables, we have chosen to display the information as a series of maps; one for each of the 8 sectors, plus Foundation Industries.

Figure 1: Spatial Density Distribution of UK Industrial Strategy Sector Business Locations

Figure 1 shows the distribution of businesses in 1km diameter hexagonal unit areas for the UK. Given that only business counts are shown, it provides one view only of where businesses are located. For example, we have not excluded businesses at ’brass plate` addresses, of which there are many, particularly in Central London. Despite this, there are several dominant patterns:

London & South East Dominance: The most significant concentration of business activity is consistently found in London and the surrounding South East region. This is particularly apparent in the service-based sectors. This is not unsurprising given the population of these areas of the Country, the extent of the Higher Education sector, transport links, and the existing critical mass of international businesses and head offices.

Major Urban Clusters: Outside of London, clear hotspots of activity are visible in other major metropolitan areas, most notably:
- Greater Manchester
- The West Midlands (around Birmingham)
- West Yorkshire (around Leeds)
- The Central Belt of Scotland (between Glasgow and Edinburgh)
- Bristol and the South West

Transport Corridors: You can often see lines of business activity linking major cities, likely following major motorway and rail networks (e.g., the M62 corridor connecting Liverpool and Manchester to Leeds, then the A1/M1 to Sheffield, Derby and Nottingham). Indeed, if you undertake a driving time analysis of these major centres, clusters of business activity are often found within a 60 minute drive time of these cities.

Rural Sparsity: Large rural areas, such as the Highlands of Scotland, central Wales, and the South West peninsula, show very low business density, which is expected, especially given that the economies of these areas do not always align well with the sectors defined by the Industrial Strategy

Sector-Specific Observations

Advanced Manufacturing

Distribution is more dispersed than service industries and less London-centric.

Strong clusters are visible in the historical industrial heartlands of the West Midlands, the North West, and Yorkshire. There is also a notable presence along the M4 corridor west of London and in the North East, and the Central Belt of Scotland.

Clean Energy

This sector has one of the most unique and least urban-centric distributions.

There is a significant coastal and rural presence, likely corresponding to the locations of wind farms (onshore and offshore), solar farms, and other renewable energy infrastructure.

Creative

This sector is heavily concentrated in London, which appears as the dominant central hub.

Other significant, creative hubs are clearly visible in Manchester, Bristol, Brighton, and the Glasgow-Edinburgh corridor.

Defence

The distribution is highly specific and clustered around key strategic locations rather than just large cities.

There are concentrations in the South West (around naval bases like Portsmouth and Plymouth and Bristol and Cheltenham) and the North West & Cumbria (home to major aerospace and defence contractors), the Midlands, the Central Belt of Scotland (particularly Glasgow) and the North East. It is much less concentrated in London compared to other sectors.

Digital

The pattern is very similar to the Creative sector, showing overwhelming concentration in London, and significant hubs co-located in places with a major University presence.

Financial Services

This map shows the most extreme concentration in London, which serves as the UK’s global financial centre. Other major financial centres are found Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, and Bristol.

Foundation Industries

Similar to Advanced Manufacturing, this sector is more geographically dispersed.

Clusters are found in industrial regions like South Wales, the Midlands, the North of England, and the Central Belt of Scotland, reflecting the location of industries like steel, chemicals, and materials processing.

Life Sciences

This sector is concentrated in specific innovation hubs, often linked to major universities and research institutions.

The “Golden Triangle” of London, Oxford, and Cambridge is clearly visible as the dominant area. Secondary clusters are present around Manchester and in central Scotland.

Professional & Business Services

This distribution closely mirrors the overall economic map of the UK, with a very strong hub in London and other significant hubs in every major city across the country (Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, etc.).

This brief analysis is a general overview and does not highlight the unique opportunities that a mix of industries can bring to a location. As you focus on specific areas, more nuanced and subtle patterns emerge, some of which are heavily influenced by the industrial legacy of an the area, with others driven by concerted efforts of policy-makers and investors to build on local talent.

FIND OUT MORE