The UK is expected to grow its digital exports to £31.45billion in the next five years as high-growth tech start-ups flourish post-pandemic and post-Brexit.
The country is now the fifth-biggest digital exporter in the world behind India, the US, China and Germany. It is also third in the world for the number of UK tech unicorns, and number one in Europe.
According to Tech Nation's Unlocking Global Tech report, the UK contributed £23.3billion in digital tech exports in 2019 - and could grow this by more than £8billion by 2025.
UK digital tech services, which includes software services, telecoms, online retail, tech consultancy, e-commerce sales and cyber security, currently export a much greater value of goods than they import.
In 2019, the sector generated a surplus of 55 per cent - compared to 48 per cent globally.
And, over the last four years Britain's digital tech trade surplus increased by 68 per cent - from £8.7billion in 2015 to £12.8billion in 2019.
This fast-growing sector is now only behind the insurance industry (£16.9billion) and financial services (£43.4billion).
Tech Nation’s Chief Executive Gerard Grech said by doubling exports, UK tech could contribute an additional £23billion to the economy a year by 2025.
"[The UK could] move up the ranks to become a top global exporter of tech," he said.
“The UK is a natural home for many scaling tech businesses, and there are a proportionally high number of scaling tech businesses located here that are already well-established in delivering domestic tech services."
The US was the biggest importer of global digital tech services last year, at £34billion, followed by Germany (£33billion) and China (£21billion).
India, Japan, and Brazil have seen the biggest growth in the level of tech services they import - by 29 per cent, 24 per cent and 17 per cent respectively between 2018 and 2019.
But the US and UK are first and second in the world for digital tech trading opportunities, according to the Tech Nation report.