Leeds AI: City Ranks 8th in UK Readiness Index

A new index from analytics firm SAS places Leeds among the UK’s ten most AI-ready cities, with its university strengths doing much of the heavy lifting

Leeds has been ranked the eighth most AI-ready city in the UK in a new industry index. The Leeds AI economy scored well in the annual AI Cities Index from analytics company SAS, now in its fifth year, which measures how prepared cities are to turn artificial intelligence into economic growth. Leeds placed eighth of the ten cities named, ahead of Liverpool and Cambridge but behind regional rival Manchester, which topped the list for a third year. Much of the city’s score was driven by the strength of the University of Leeds.

Why This Matters For Leeds

AI readiness is becoming a real factor in where investment and talent go so an independent ranking that places Leeds in the top ten is a useful marker. The detail matters, though: the city’s strength here sits with its university and the graduates who stay, rather than a deep base of AI companies. That is a solid foundation, but converting academic strength into commercial scale is the harder task ahead. For a city building a genuine tech and health-innovation cluster this is encouragement to keep going, not a signal that the job is done.

What the Leeds AI Ranking Is Based On

SAS scored cities across eight weighted indicators, drawing on external data sources rather than its own: graduate outcomes in computing and engineering from HESA, AI job availability from Indeed, business broadband speeds, average Innovate UK funding per business, the number and proportion of AI businesses using LinkedIn and ONS figures, council roles referencing AI, and AI-related university courses from UCAS. Leeds scored particularly well on graduate retention, students from the University of Leeds staying in the city for AI-related roles, and on the breadth of AI course provision. The university also leads a UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in AI for medical diagnosis, working with Leeds Teaching Hospitals, and takes part in the Alan Turing Institute. It is a talent-and-research story more than a company-density one.

“Leeds achieving eighth place in this year’s index is a great achievement and a testament to the region’s ongoing dedication to AI research, enabled by the University.”

— Glyn Townsend, Senior Director of Education Services EMEA, SAS

Strong Foundations, With Room to Grow

The ranking sits alongside real momentum in the city’s tech and health-innovation scene, from the healthtech cluster’s relaunch to Leeds Teaching Hospitals’ recent global pathology deal. But it is worth reading the index honestly; Leeds ranks eighth, a solid mid-table position and trails Manchester, which recorded 655 AI businesses to lead the table. The unevenness is regional too: while Leeds performs well, nearby Wakefield appears among the index’s least AI-ready places, a reminder that AI opportunity is not spread evenly across West Yorkshire. The methodology also leans on proxies such as LinkedIn business counts, so the Leeds AI result is best read as a directional signal rather than a precise measure. The direction, encouragingly, is upward.