East London Tech City is a technology cluster located in Central and East
London. It broadly occupies the part of London's East End between Old Street and
the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, with its locus in the
Shoreditch area. It is the third-largest technology startup cluster in the world
after San Francisco and New York City. The cluster initially developed without
any government backing in and around the Old Street Roundabout. This had been a
relatively run down area, north of the City of London, and has historically had
much lower rents. Companies were encouraged into the area by the low
rents after the 2008-2009 recession. There had been many architectural firms
in the area that closed around 2009, further suppressing rents. Ironically
the area around Old Street was not served back in 2008-2009 by fibre optic
cable, but only a few hundred metres away, where rents were much higher in
the City of London, an extensive fibre optic cable infrastructure was already
in place. Later, as the cluster developed, there
was more support and encouragment by both local and national government, with
the goal of creating a cluster comparable to Silicon Valley in the
United States. Cisco, Facebook, Google, Intel and McKinsey & Company are among
the companies that have invested in the area. City University London, London
Metropolitan University, Imperial College London, Loughborough University
and University College London are academic partners in projects based in
the cluster. Name
The term Silicon Roundabout, coined by Dopplr founder Matt Biddulph in 2008,
refers to the high number of web businesses located near the Old Street
Roundabout, and as a reference to Silicon Valley in California. The terms
East London Tech City, Tech City and Silicon Roundabout can be used
interchangeably. History
Amongst the first technology companies located in the area were Dopplr,
Last.fm, Consolidated Independent, Tinker.it, flubit, TweetDeck, Berg,
Trampoline Systems, AMEE, Skimbit, Fotango, weartical.com, Rummble,
Songkick, Squiz, Techlightenment, Poke London, Kizoom, BrightLemon, Redmonk,
MOO, Believe.in, LShift, Livemusic and WAYN.
Plans to help accelerate the growth of the cluster were announced by Prime
Minister David Cameron in a speech given in east London on 4 November 2010. A
year later, Cameron announced that he was appointing entrepreneur Eric van der
Kleij to lead the initiative. In 2010 there were 85 startup companies in the
area. By 2011, approximately 200 firms were occupying the area, signifying a
rapid increase in interest. Wired magazine updated this figure in 2012 and
suggested some 5,000 tech companies were located in the wider area centred on the
Old Street roundabout. Wired maintains a topic on the area.
On 28 September 2011 it was announced that Google had acquired a seven-storey
building near Old Street roundabout. Google said that the building, in
Bonhill Street, would host "a range of activities, such as speaker series,
hackathons, training workshops and product demonstrations" in addition to
providing workspace for new companies. The building, known as Campus London,
opened in March 2012. In 2013 the Nominet Trust selected "5
startups making positive social change" which are based in the cluster:
Streetbank, Give What You’re Good At, Videre Est Credere, Buddy App and
PaveGen. Participants
= Technology companies= Notable technology companies active in
the cluster include: 7digital
Amazon - has opened its Digital Media Development Centre in the area
Aurora Fashions - the company behind Coast, Oasis and Warehouse occupies one
of the largest buildings around the Old Street roundabout and with mobile sites
and apps Avoiding Mass Extinctions Engine
BT - has agreed to accelerate the roll-out of superfast broadband in the
area Cisco - has agreed to establish an
Innovation Centre in the Olympic Park Decibel Digital - a digital agency based
in Shoreditch providing website and digital marketing services
Decibel Insight - a SaaS startup launched in Shoreditch providing
enterprise level behavioral analytics EE - has introduced 300Mbit/s 4G in the
Tech City area Fabrily - sold to US company Teespring
Facebook - has agreed to create a base for their Developer Garage programme in
the hub GoCardless
Google - has created an Innovation Hub in the area to develop next-generation
applications and services Gojimo - the UK's leading revision app
provider Growth Intelligence
Health-Connected Import.io
Inmarsat Intel - has established a new research
lab in the area focused on performance computing and new energy efficiency
technologies KweekWeek - a multi platform marketplace
connecting event organisers and attendees
Last.fm Livemusic
Lost my Name Memrise
Mixcloud PaveGen
Qualcomm - has agreed to provide intellectual property advice to start-up
companies based in the area Seedcamp
Simply Business SnapComms
Songkick Sports Interactive
Squiz Startup Weekend
Streetbank TransferWise
Tug - search engine marketing led agency specialising in pay per click, display
advertising, search engine optimisation, affiliate marketing and social media
marketing. Tweet Deck
Ve Interactive - an e-commerce solutions provider based in Clerkenwell
Workshare = Educational institutions=
Educational institutions active in the cluster include:
Imperial Innovations - has agreed to advise on the creation of an accelerator
space for spinout companies at the Olympic Park
Loughborough University and University College London - have agreed to work
with the Olympic Legacy Company to establish a bridge between academia and
enterprise in the Olympic Park = Financial and professional services
providers= Financial and professional services
providers active in the cluster include: Barclays - has agreed to create a new
facility to provide specialist banking services to technology companies based
in the area KPMG - opened a dedicated office in
January 2013 providing accounting and tax advice to early stage technology
companies McKinsey & Company - has agreed to
provide advice on the creation of the hub and help to new companies starting
out in the area Silicon Valley Bank - has agreed to
establish a UK-based bank to provide financing for technology and life
science companies based in the area Capco - relocated their UK headquarters
to Great Eastern Street in 2014, and is currently providing office space for
small FinTech startups Taylor Wessing - opened the cluster's
first dedicated law firm office in October 2011
= Community organisations= A number of not-for-profit organisations
have created a sense of community in the area including Independent Shoreditch, a
business alliance, and Digital Shoreditch, which organises monthly
meet-ups plus an annual festival of the same name, as well as for-profit
organisations like Silicon Roundabout, which is a conduit for office space in
the area. = Public sector organisations=
Public sector organisations active in the cluster include:
City of London Corporation - assisted in the creation of the Innovation Warehouse
Tech City Investment Organisation - a quango founded by the UK Government
department UK Trade & Investment to encourage the growth and development of
the Tech City cluster. Responses
The rapid growth of the cluster has met with some criticism. Think tank 'Centre
for London' said the development had little focus and could be
counter-productive. The think tank also raised concerns over a skills shortage,
connectivity, lack of mentoring and rising costs. Tech City has been called
a "marketing gimmick" on the wrong side of London which is still over 30% more
expensive than any city outside of London. James Dyson criticised the
government for spending money on the scheme to attract international
companies who drive up rents instead of helping start-up and hardware companies
who he argues have greater potential than software and internet companies.
Transport Tech City is well served by a number of
London Buses as well as London Underground, Northern line and National
Rail, Thameslink services at Old Street and London Overground, East London line
services at Shoreditch High Street. With the increase in passenger numbers using
the station, in 2014 Transport for London announced that it was to offer
pop-up retail space at Old Street station as part of a drive to increase
its revenue. See also
Silicon Fen Silicon Glen
MediaCityUK The Sharp Project
References Further reading
"London's moment: the tech cluster in the east of Britain's capital is on a
roll". Wired. 5 April 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
"Silicon Roundabout". The Economist. 25 November 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
Cellan-Jones, Rory. "Start-up Britain - Cambridge v Tech City". BBC News.
Retrieved 2012-05-09. External links
Tech City Investment Organisation East London Tech City on Twitter
Tech City News Department for Business, Innovation &
Skills Tech City Jobs
Jobs in Silicon Roundabout Tech City UK on turning Britain into one
big tech hub, Hot Topics 2014