Just under three-quarters of technology jobs are not based in the UK capital, London, new research shows, in a hint of the breadth of the UK digital economy.

The Tech Nation report published by Tech City shows 1.46 million people are employed in digital technology companies across the UK.

That figure could swell by as much as 5.4% by 2020, a higher rate than expected for job growth generally.

While inner London is by far the biggest single market for technology jobs, with 251,590, some three-quarters of the total jobs figure are outside the city.

Bristol and Bath are collectively the second biggest UK tech hub with 61,653 jobs created to date; then Greater Manchester with more than 56,000, Reading with 54,500 and Leeds with just under 45,000.

And the report suggests there is more to come, with 45,000 positions within technology businesses currently being advertised. A total of 1 million jobs were advertised in 2014.

SETsquared, a partnership of the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey, is cited in the report as one of the organisations helping to support a “hotbed for future technologies”.

Nick Sturge, director at SETsquared’s centre in Bristol, argues the report highlights a growing trend for digital and technological innovation in regions outside the capital.

“What’s interesting about the report is that it has identified that regional clusters vary greatly in expertise and that a focus on certain capabilities by local education institutions has led to sector specialisms in certain clusters,” he said.

“This is something we have seen first-hand at our five sites across the South. Take for example Bristol and Bath, where we have high volumes of silicon, embedded, enterprise and mobile software development, data management and analytics and EdTech entrepreneurs.”