East London Tech City

East London Tech City
  • Silicon Roundabout[1]
Old Street Roundabout in 2010
East London Tech City is located in Greater London
East London Tech City
East London Tech City
Location within Greater London
OS grid referenceTQ325825
• Charing Cross2.5 mi (4.0 km) WSW
London borough
Ceremonial countyGreater London
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLONDON
Postcode districtEC1, EC2
Dialling code020
PoliceMetropolitan
FireLondon
AmbulanceLondon
UK Parliament
London Assembly
Websitehttps://eastlondontechcity.com
List of places
UK
England
London
51°31′33″N 0°05′15″W / 51.5257°N 0.0875°W / 51.5257; -0.0875

East London Tech City (also known as Tech City and Silicon Roundabout) is a technology cluster of high-tech companies located in East London, United Kingdom.[2][3][4] Its main area lies broadly between St Luke's and Hackney Road,[2] with an accelerator space for spinout companies at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

A cluster of web businesses initially developed around the Old Street Roundabout in 2008. The area had historically been relatively poor compared to the City of London, and was known as the City Fringe.[5] The 2008–09 recession further suppressed rents through the closure of numerous firms, making it affordable to technology startups, while redundancies from financial services companies, such as investment banks, released a local pool of experienced talent interested in entrepreneurship.[1]

From 2010, as the cluster developed, both local and national government supported its growth, with the goal of creating a cluster comparable to Silicon Valley in the United States.[2][6] Cisco, Facebook, Google, Intel, McKinsey & Company and Microsoft are among the companies that have invested in the area.[7] City, University of London, London Metropolitan University, Imperial College London, Queen Mary University of London and University College London are all academic partners in projects based in the cluster.[8][9]

  1. ^ a b de Quetteville, Harry (18 March 2018). "The Silicon joke? From roundabout to revolution". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "Cameron reveals Silicon Valley vision for east London". BBC News. 4 November 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  3. ^ "UK's Cameron To Reveal Plans For Tech City In East London". The Wall Street Journal. 4 November 2010. Archived from the original on 7 November 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  4. ^ Grice, Andrew (4 November 2010). "Silicon Valley – but in the East End, promises PM". The Independent. London. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  5. ^ "City Fringe Opportunity Area | London City Hall". www.london.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  6. ^ "First came the artists, then came the hackers: The strange history of London's own Silicon Valley". Tech Republic. 16 January 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  7. ^ "PM announces East London 'tech city'". Number 10. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  8. ^ "East End tech city speech". Number 10. Archived from the original on 9 January 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  9. ^ "Mapping the Digital Economy: Tech City and the University" (PDF). Cities Institute, London Metropolitan Business School. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2012.