New analysis from Sussex Intelligence finds the region’s technology sector has grown faster than any other since 2004 yet lags far behind national rates. According to research, the real engines of Sussex’s £14 billion of real-terms growth are finance, transport and property.
Technology looks like the engine of Sussex’s growth until you compare it. Between 2004 and 2023, the economic contribution of Information & Communications – the closest available proxy for the tech sector – grew by 134% in real terms. That is faster than any other sector in Sussex, ahead of Finance & Insurance (+103%) and Transport & Storage (+86%). Taken on its own, it reads as a clear local success story.
Set that same figure against other places and the picture inverts. Nationally, tech has been one of the fastest-growing parts of the economy: the sector grew by 275% across England and 376% in England outside London over the same period. Sussex’s tech sector grew at roughly half the national rate and barely a quarter of the rate seen beyond the capital.
The likely explanation is structural. Sussex has very little large-corporate tech presence which means the major employers and tech-park clusters that drive Information & Communications value elsewhere are largely absent. The activity the county does have is concentrated in and around Brighton and weighted towards smaller firms, which constrains the sector’s overall value. Developments such as the Burgess Hill Science & Technology Park point to future potential, but the current base is thin.
It matters because tech is a strong national growth engine. If Sussex continues to grow the sector at half the national rate, the county’s relative position will keep slipping – even as the local numbers look healthy.
So what really drives Sussex’s growth? The genuine engines lie elsewhere, and they hold up under comparison. Between 2004 and 2023 the Sussex economy grew by over £14 billion in real terms, and a small number of sectors account for most of it: Real Estate added nearly £3 billion, Finance & Insurance over £2 billion, and Transport & Storage just over £1 billion.
Finance & Insurance is the standout. It grew at five times the England rate – +103% in Sussex against +21% nationally — and rates as “much stronger” on every comparison. Transport & Storage grew +86% against +12% for England, a strength closely tied to the growth of Gatwick Airport. Real Estate, already a major part of the economy in 2004, has broadly held its strong position, anchoring the county from an already-high base.
Tech, by contrast, is the exception that proves the rule: the fastest-growing sector locally, yet the weakest once compared. The strategic question for Sussex is whether the region is being left behind on tech, and what it would take to change that.
The wider lesson runs through all of it: headline growth on its own can mislead. For Sussex, the comparison is where strategy should start.
Read the full analysis, including the sector-by-sector comparisons and method:
SIU Data Briefing 6.1 — What Really Drives Sussex’s Growth →
Meet the team at EVOLVE26. The Sussex Intelligence Unit will be exhibiting at EVOLVE26 this Friday 26 June. If you’re attending, come and find us – we’d welcome a conversation about what the data is really telling us about the Sussex economy.
Source: ONS — Regional Gross Value Added (Balanced) by Industry: All ITL Regions, 2025. Figures use Chained Volume Measures (2023 prices) to allow real-terms comparison.