The City of Doncaster is rapidly becoming recognised for its industry expertise around Artificial Intelligence, with the work of established Doncaster businesses providing a solid foundation for taking the next step towards an ambition to be a centre of excellence for AI.
To enable this, City of Doncaster Council is building a new flagship digital tech hub to be a catalyst for driving wider inward investment and growth in this key sector; securing industry leader, and Doncaster firm, Automated Analytics as a founder member.
The development will sit at the heart of Doncaster’s City Gateway area, adjacent to Doncaster Railway Station. It will be funded through the Doncaster Town Deal fund and overseen by the Town Deal Board, a sub-group of the new City Centre board. Work is expected to start on site in early 2025, with completion expected mid-2026.
The establishment of a new specialist digital tech hub will drive sector growth by acting as a magnet for leading digital and tech companies looking for opportunities to scale and grow their business to locate in Doncaster. Its city centre location provides these businesses with an advantageous opportunity to tie-in with Doncaster’s education and skills provision and utilise fast rail connections to the UK’s major cities.
In addition, the innovative building design will enable businesses and entrepreneurs to co-locate with other likeminded businesses and industry leaders to collaborate, develop local supply chain opportunities, access local, regional, and national business support provision, and strengthen industry links with education and skills provision.
Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, said: “Our city is rapidly becoming recognised for its industry expertise around Artificial Intelligence, and I am keen to build this momentum and drive forward our ambition to regenerate our city centre and develop our economy for the 21st century.
“This is an exciting time for Doncaster city centre, with work taking place across several key areas and I look forward to seeing businesses across the city and region take advantage of this state-of-the-art facility.
“I recently updated my priorities going forward, including to regenerate our City Centre for the 21st century – working with South Yorkshire Police to create a Safer Doncaster, tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, continuing to push for more culture, leisure, education, hospitality, residential and health services within our city centre which should increase footfall, and supporting the retail sector and promoting enterprise.”
Tariq Shah, Chair of the new City Centre Board for Doncaster, said: “This is a new era for the city of Doncaster. With the city beginning to be at the forefront of the digital and technology sector, more businesses across the region are beginning to see the benefits of basing themselves in the city.
“With the announcement of a new Digital Technology Hub for Doncaster, we will have the capabilities to do just that, hosting industry leading businesses who will bring expert knowledge, innovation and enhance the city’s reputation further.”
Paul Senior, Chair of the Town Deal Board, said: “I am excited to hear that before the hub has even come to life it is attracting excitement from across the region. Embracing the future of technology – with AI at the heart of it – is the direction of travel for all of us across the nation and none more so than in the digital and tech sector.
“It is important that as a city we remain forward thinking and I am excited to see what the future holds in this sector for the City of Doncaster.”
Mark Taylor, Automated Analytics – A Doncaster AI Business and a founder business, said: “Doncaster is a city on the cusp of becoming the UK’s leading destination for innovative digital and technology businesses to locate and grow.
“The new digital tech hub will enable businesses to bring their trailblazing work in the development and adoption of Artificial Intelligence to a global customer base and put Doncaster firmly on the map. I look forward to being a part of this new era for the city of Doncaster.”
