To say that Milton Keynes has evolved quickly is a vast understatement. Since being founded as a new town in 1967 and then achieving city status in 2022, the growth of Milton Keynes has been fast and profound. By 2024, The Times ranked the city as the fifth best place to live in the UK[1].
The history of business within the city has been equally impressive. Building on the tradition of logistics, the city is now home to the likes of Red Bull F1 Racing, Volkswagen, Deloitte, Santander, and Mercedes-Benz. Again, the accolades are substantial: in 2023, Milton Keynes was recognised as the most competitive city in the UK.[2]
Technology has been a critical component of this evolution. It remains at the forefront of the smart city movement, with autonomous vehicle trials and drone delivery programmes throughout the city. The area has been a testbed for 5G[3], and the first multi-national agreement on the future of Artificial Intelligence was signed at Bletchley Park.
It is unsurprising that the city outpaces the national average of knowledge businesses. 45,000 people work in the 2,400 technology businesses in the city. Overall, the sector contributes just under £3.5bn to the local economy[4].
Yet, there remains work to be done. As part of the Cambridge – Milton Keynes – Oxford Arc, Milton Keynes was noticeably absent from the top 20 in the 2022 CBRE Tech Cities Report (it ranked 31st). Cambridge came 13th and Oxford 9th[5].
Driving a digital Milton Keyes forward
The 2024-2029 Milton Keynes Tech, Smart City, Digital, and Creative Industries Strategy from Milton Keynes City Council (MKCC) highlights four strands:
These areas draw on the strong creative talent pool and facilities within the area. They are complemented by the 2020 Milton Keynes and Artificial Intelligence Report that injects AI into every area of the technology at use within the city.
Milton Keynes City Council has already demonstrated a clear commitment to startups by funding Protospace - a not-for-profit initiative to support, connect, and grow the regional technology ecosystem[6].
But there are causes for concern. The digital evolution of enterprises – primarily driven by AI – depends on the digital infrastructure that underpins the software and services that can transform local economies.
The lessons of cities such as Manchester and Edinburgh are clear. Get the infrastructure right from the outset, and energised regional and creative technology clusters will follow.
Milton Keynes has a keen advantage: it is far closer to London. This matters because – in infrastructure terms – the closer to a data source, the better.
Proximity equals low latency, which means the opportunities for real-time analytics and AI capabilities can be harnessed faster.
We know because Pulsant has been a core part of the evolutions in Edinburgh and Manchester and is also much closer to London, with facilities in Croydon and Reading.
These latter ‘Silicon Corridor’ locations are now the focus of London-based enterprises looking to explore regional data centres in a bid to embrace cost-effective innovation.
Milton Keynes is superbly placed to become a ‘North of London’ alternative to these M4-based locations.
At Pulsant, we are leaders of this regional thinking. Our Milton Keynes facility is part of our portfolio of twelve data centres linked by our secure, low-latency private network that extends to the Internet, Peering Exchanges, public and private clouds and beyond.
These established infrastructure capabilities match the ambition of the Milton Keynes City Council Digital Strategy and enable the opportunity for regional businesses looking to capitalise on the history of Milton Keynes as it carves out a digital, AI-driven future.
[1] See Why Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, is one of the best places to live 2024 (thetimes.com)
[2] See Milton Keynes is UK’s most competitive city | Milton Keynes City Council (milton-keynes.gov.uk)
[3] See Milton Keynes 5G Create - Connected Places Catapult
[4] See Milton Keynes_Tech_Report_220922.pdf (milton-keynes.gov.uk)