Tech City Advisory Group Announced

No 10 is setting up a Tech City Advisory Group to provide strategic direction for the Government’s work supporting the fast-growing technology cluster in East London.

Chaired by Rohan Silva, Senior Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister, the Tech City Advisory Group includes: Michael Acton Smith (MindCandy), Alex Asseilly (State), Courtney Boyd Myers (General Assembly), Eileen Burbidge (Passion Capital/ White Bear Yard), Stephen Caddick (UCL), Judith Clegg (Takeout), Sherry Coutu (angel investor), Wendy Devolder (SkillsMatter), Ben Hammersley (PM’s Ambassador to Tech City), Victor Henning (Mendeley), Ian Hogarth/ Pete Smith (Songkick), Tom Hulme (Ideo), Robin Klein (Index), Mike Lynch (Autonomy), Richard Moross (Moo), Nik Roope (Poke), Joanna Shields (Facebook), Kevin Sneader (McKinsey), Reshma Sohoni (Seedcamp), Luke Taylor (LBi), Matt Webb (Berg), Dylan Williams (Mother) and representatives from the GLA (Eddie Lister) and TCIO (Eric van der Kleij).

Since the Prime Minister first articulated Government’s support for the cluster in November 2010, the Government has introduced policy at the national level that addresses directly the concerns and issues faced by entrepreneurs, start-ups and investors in the cluster, such as the Entrepreneur Visa, the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, opening up government procurement to SMEs and introducing generous new tax breaks for video game production.

The Government has also helped strengthen the existing cluster by bringing organisations such as Google, Intel, Cisco, General Assembly, University College London and Imperial College London to the area.

The Tech City Advisory Group will help to shape the next phase of Government support for the cluster, focusing on:

  1. The national policies needed to fulfil the Prime Minister’s vision that the UK should be the best place in the world to start, run and grow technology businesses
  2. Government initiatives specifically targeted at the Tech City cluster
  3. International investment opportunities, both for global companies to invest in East London, and for Tech City firms to expand overseas.

The first meeting is on July 25th 2012.

Notes to editors:

About TCIO

The Tech City Investment Organisation (TCIO) was set up by UKTI in April 2011 to support the growth of the tech cluster in East London, helping to make it Europe’s centre of innovation and the location of choice for tech and digital companies and investors. Our objectives are to: assist in securing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Tech City; engage with overseas VCs and help them to set up or start evaluating deal-flow in Tech City; and support the cluster, and raise its profile internationally.

In November 2010, the Prime Minister set out the Government’s ambition to help East London become one of the world’s great technology centres. Government is helping in two ways:

  • firstly, by ensuring that national policy promotes enterprise and growth. The Entrepreneur Visa, Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme and opening up Government procurement are three examples of action central Government has taken in direct response to concerns expressed by Tech City companies about access to talent and finance. No 10 is responsible for driving national policy; and
  • secondly, by attracting inward investment, and supporting companies in the cluster who want to expand into international markets. TCIO was set up to do this.

Venture-backed, high-potential companies like Airbnb and Yammer have landed in Tech City as a result of our support, and we have worked to secure investment from leading international technology firms including Cisco, and Intel. World-leading academic institutions like UCL and Imperial College, London are also setting up here.  Alongside the start-ups and small businesses like Songkick, EDITD and Lightbox, are leading international tech companies such as Google. A well-established network of incubators like Seedcamp and White Bear Yard provide early stage funding and support, and top international investors including Accel and Index are also here.

For more information, visit www.techcityuk.com, follow us at @techcityuk or contact us at [email protected]