UK government wants East End project to rival US's Silicon Valley
UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said the UK government want to create a rival to California's Silicon Valley in East End.
According to plans revealed for the new East London Tech City, a.k.a. Silicon Roundabout, the plans encompass Olympic Village with Facebook, Google and Cisco already committed to opening satellite business there, with new entrepreneur visas being handed out, reports VentureBeat.
The plan is to throw £200 million ($325 million) in equity finance for high growth businesses and match the amount for tech and innovation centers.
"We’re not just going to back the big businesses of today, we’re going to back the big businesses of tomorrow," the Prime Minister told investors and entrepreneurs in a speech. "We are firmly on the side of the high-growth, highly innovative companies of the future. Don’t doubt our ambition.”
Boston Consulting Group, commissioned by Google, released a report recently stating the UK’s internet industry was worth around $114 billion a year and 250K folks have jobs in the industry.The report also stated it expects the UK's digital economy to grow by 10 percent a year over the next five years.
Today, it was revealed TIGA had issued a report accounting for the loss of some 890 jobs in the UK games sector, which was a 9 percent employment decline over the span of two years. TIGA head Richard Wilson used the data to once again call attention to a much-need UK tax break for the sector before more jobs are lost to competitive overseas markets.