Jersey has a growing tech and creative community with more than 400 digital businesses, and over 3,000 professionals working in digital tech roles. This strong network of entrepreneurs and passionate individuals is developing a proactive tech hub enabling new opportunities for collaboration and growth.
Jersey’s great strengths in digital technology and innovation have been built from a base of strong professional services. The pro-business Government of Jersey has attracted leading financial institutions and world-class corporate services providers, making it a perfect place for pioneering tech businesses.
Stakeholders such as Digital Jersey, Jersey Finance, Jersey Financial Services Commission, Jersey Business and the Chamber of Commerce supports the digital sector in different ways : by providing regulatory support for the tech community, organising networking events regularly and raising awareness of the tech sector both locally and globally.
Digital Jersey has for instance created a start-up initiative dedicated to support entrepreneurs who are looking to launch innovative, scalable and tech-driven businesses in the island. This initiative includes business plan support and assistance obtaining working permissions and housing rights.
There is a strong collaborative tech community in Jersey that helps tech companies and start-ups build connections and grow. Networking groups are popular in Jersey, the most popular meetup being TEKEX, a networking group aimed at bringing like-minded business people together in the digital arena, and with an aim of accelerating digital business in Jersey. Tech Tribes was also popular and as was Channel Islands Alteryx User Group, a group focusing on software designed to make advanced analytics accessible to any data worker.
There also is a growing movement to promote diversity, with a number of initiatives aiming to reduce the gap between men and women’s employment in the sector: for example Women in Tech Jersey and Beaulieu Institute of Technology.
Over 1,000 jobs have been created in the digital tech economy over the last ten years, with over 3,000 individuals working in the digital tech economy in 2021, compared with 2,050 in 2010 which a significant contribution to the island’s economy.
However, likewise with many tech clusters, talent supply is a challenge for continuing growth of Jersey’s digital tech ecosystem. Employees with technical skills are the most difficult to recruit for, especially software developers, graphic designers and data analysts. This has led to a number of initiatives to support digital and tech businesses such as the Work Permissions assistance scheme implemented by Digital Jersey