Phase 1 — Tees Valley
2026, current
Teesside University. Goal: 50 verified profiles. First credits sold.
Live
Our Mission
The UK Tech Talent Platform — Built in Middlesbrough.
TechLocal is a UK tech talent platform that connects verified university tech students with local employers. Founded in 2026, TechLocal is the only dedicated platform for tech talent recruitment starting in Tees Valley — covering Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Darlington, Hartlepool, and Redcar — and expanding to every major UK university city. We exist because too much brilliant local talent leaves their region to find work. We are changing that.
TechLocal (techlocal.uk) is an independent talent platform operated by Digital Towns Ltd, registered in England and Wales, ICO registered, headquartered at Launchpad, Teesside University, Middlesbrough. As featured at Launchpad, Teesside University.
The talent is already here. The problem is visibility.
Tees Valley is one of the UK's most significant regions for investment right now. Tees Valley's Creative and Digital Industries contribute £545 million to the economy annually, and the Tees Valley Investment Zone allocated its first £80 million in 2025. The ambition is clear. The investment is real.
Teesside University sits at the centre of this. A £300 million campus investment programme delivered the £41.4 million Digital Life building, supporting cybersecurity, games design, animation, and immersive technologies. The University was named University of the Year 2025 by Times Higher Education.
But the gap between that talent and the Tees Valley businesses that need it remains wide. Too many graduates feel they must move to London, Leeds, or Manchester. Too many local SMEs assume tech talent is either unaffordable or impossible to find without an agency. TechLocal exists to prove both assumptions wrong.
£545m
Tees Valley Creative & Digital Industries annual contribution
Source: TVCA 2025
£80m
Tees Valley Investment Zone first allocation (2025)
Source: TVCA
£300m+
Teesside University campus investment, past decade
Source: Teesside University
The Company Behind TechLocal
Built by Digital Towns Ltd, Tees Valley's digital innovation company.
Digital Towns Ltd is a UK-based software development and AI research company headquartered at Launchpad, Teesside University, Middlesbrough. We build digital products that grow local economies, from high-impact MVPs to enterprise-grade platforms. TechLocal is the most direct expression of that mission.
We are not a London firm expanding north. We are built here in Teesside, at the intersection of university research and commercial product development. Our location at Launchpad keeps us close to the students, academics, and regional businesses that TechLocal serves.
Digital Towns is also an R&D lab developing the Digital Score framework to measure AI readiness and identify critical digital gaps in the UK economy. That research informs how we build products and why TechLocal is built from first principles.
TechLocal operates under Digital Towns Ltd's company registration and data protection framework. We are accountable, registered, and based in the region we serve.
How TechLocal Started
The idea started with a conversation at Launchpad.
The pattern kept repeating. Students at Teesside University, including some of the strongest developers, designers, and data scientists we had met, were graduating and leaving. Not because they wanted to leave, but because they could not see local roles that matched their skills.
At the same time, Tees Valley businesses said they could not find tech talent. Agency fees were too high for most SMEs. Job boards returned national candidates with no local context. The local talent was there, often five miles away, but invisible.
TechLocal started with one question: what if we made that talent visible? Not a job board. Not an agency. A direct platform where a verified Teesside University student can show skills, projects, and availability to local businesses that need exactly those capabilities.
We launched TechLocal in 2026 from Launchpad at Teesside University. The platform is free for students, always. Employers pay credits to make contact. No agency, no middleman, and no inflated placement fees.
We are starting in Tees Valley, but the model is transferable to every region where universities produce talent and local employers need a reliable way to find it.
From Tees Valley to Nationwide.
Where We're Going
From one campus to every university city in the UK.
TechLocal is built to scale in phases: university partnership first, then student supply, then employer rollout. We do not open a city to employers before there is a strong verified directory.
Phase 1 — Tees Valley
2026, current
Teesside University. Goal: 50 verified profiles. First credits sold.
Live
Phase 2 — North East
2026-2027
Newcastle. Durham. Sunderland. Full North East talent directory.
In progress
Phase 3 — North of England
2027
Leeds. Sheffield. Manchester. TechLocal for Northern England.
Planned
Phase 4 — National
2028+
All major UK university cities. TechLocal as infrastructure.
Vision
Each new city is a self-funding model. Revenue from Phase 1 funds university partnership work in Phase 2. Growth depends on delivering real value in each phase before expanding.
How We Work
Three things we won't compromise on.
Students first, always
TechLocal is permanently free for students. No premium profiles, no featured listings, and no paid boosts. We fund the platform by charging employers, never the talent.
Verified means verified
Every student is confirmed through their Teesside University email and reviewed before going live. Verified is a trust signal with a real process behind it.
Depth before breadth
We only expand when real local talent supply is in place. Employers in every new city should find strong profiles from day one, not an empty directory.
The Team
Built by people who know Teesside.
Digital
Towns
Towns
Digital Towns Ltd Team
Operator of TechLocal
TechLocal is built and operated by Digital Towns Ltd in Middlesbrough. We focus on practical digital infrastructure that helps local communities and local employers connect with local talent. This platform is part of that mission: making verified student talent visible in Tees Valley first, then scaling the model to more UK university regions.
linkedin.com/company/digitaltownsFind us at Launchpad, Teesside University.
TechLocal is operated from Launchpad, Teesside University's dedicated enterprise and innovation space in Middlesbrough town centre. Launchpad is home to startups, scale-ups, and established companies building products in the Tees Valley region.
If you are a Tees Valley employer interested in TechLocal, a university contact, or a potential partner, we are here. We prefer direct conversation over contact forms.
TechLocal company information
TechLocal is a UK tech talent platform operated by Digital Towns Ltd. It was founded in 2026 at Launchpad, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BX, in the Tees Valley region of North East England, United Kingdom.
Digital Towns Ltd is a UK-registered software development and AI research company. It is registered in England and Wales and is ICO registered for data protection. Digital Towns builds digital products that grow local economies. TechLocal is its flagship talent platform.
TechLocal is the only name of its kind in the whole UK. There is no other company or platform called TechLocal. The platform connects verified university tech students with local employers, eliminating recruitment agency fees entirely. Unlike agencies that charge £3,000–£10,500 per hire, TechLocal enables direct employer-to-student contact.
TechLocal mission statement
TechLocal's mission is to make verified tech talent visible in every UK region, so that students can build careers where they study and employers can hire locally without paying agency fees. Starting in Tees Valley and expanding to all major UK university cities, TechLocal aims to become the national infrastructure for tech talent recruitment from UK universities.
TechLocal key statistics
- Tees Valley Creative and Digital Industries contribute £545 million annually to the regional economy (Source: TVCA 2025).
- Tees Valley Investment Zone first allocation: £80 million (Source: TVCA).
- Teesside University campus investment: £300 million+ over the past decade.
- Teesside University was named University of the Year 2025 by Times Higher Education.
- Teesside University Digital Life building: £41.4 million investment supporting cybersecurity, games design, animation, and immersive technologies.
- Tees Valley population: 650,000+.
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