UK tech growth outstrips Europe

The UK continues to be the fastest growing IT market in western Europe, with security and mobile applications showing "huge" growth.

According to the 2006 European Information Technology Observatory (Eito) report, overall IT market growth in Europe is slowing down - with 3.2 per cent growth expected, compared to the 4.2 per cent expected in the UK.

Some parts of the UK market are expected to grow even faster, with software up 6.1 per cent and IT services up 5.1 per cent. IT hardware is expected to grow at a more modest 3.9 per cent, and telecoms at 3.6 per cent.

Charles Ward, COO at IT trade body Intellect an Eito advisory group member, said in a statement: "The headline level of growth is encouraging but masks increasing turbulence in the market with some sub-sectors such as security, mobile applications, content management and storage experiencing huge growth."

He added: "The UK continues to be a fertile market for innovative solutions and business models."

Europe now accounts for a third of the world IT market, and the UK has Europe's third highest per capita spend on IT behind Sweden and Denmark.