Tech City | |
---|---|
Tech City shown within Greater London | |
OS grid reference | TQ325825 |
• Charing Cross | 2.5 mi (4.0 km) WSW |
London borough | |
Ceremonial county | Greater London |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | LONDON |
Postcode district | EC1, EC2 |
Postcode district | N1 |
Dialling code | 020 |
Police | Metropolitan |
Fire | London |
Ambulance | London |
EU Parliament | London |
UK Parliament | |
London Assembly | |
East London Tech City (also known as Tech City and Silicon Roundabout) is a technology district located in East London. It broadly occupies the area between Old Street and Shoreditch areas. It is the third-largest technology startup cluster in the world after San Francisco and New York City.
A cluster of web businesses initially developed around the Old Street Roundabout in 2009. The area had historically been relatively run down compared to the City, and the closure of numerous firms during the 2008-09 recession had further suppressed rents making it affordable to technology start-ups..
Later, 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.Cisco, Facebook, Google, Intel and McKinsey & Company are among the companies that have invested in the area.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.
Amongst the first technology companies located in the area were Dopplr, Last.fm, Consolidated Independent, Tinker.it, flubit, TweetDeck, Berg, Trampoline Systems, AMEE, Skimbit (now Skimlinks), Fotango, weartical.com, Rummble, Songkick, Squiz, Techlightenment, Poke London, Kizoom, BrightLemon, Redmonk, MOO, Believe.in, LShift, Livemusic and WAYN.