We study skyrmion control in an artificial ultrathin magnetic film with perpendicular anisotropy. We simulate numerically the skyrmion motion induced by spatial gradient of the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) strength. We show that creating the DMI gradient is an efficient way to move skyrmions. In particular, experimentally achievable DMI gradients can be as effective as spin-polarized electric currents with 1011 A/m2 density. At that, the DMI gradient induces a much weaker skyrmion Hall effect. The DMI gradient can be created with a mechanical strain in a ferroelectric–ferromagnetic hybrid system. This opens an alternative way to manipulate skyrmions.