Technology businesses will benefit from government plans to transform east London into Britain’s own Silicon Valley, according to the prime minister David Cameron, who unveiled plans earlier today.
The government initiative is intended to help create private sector jobs and fuel growth in the economy, while redeveloping the Olympic Park area of east London into a high-tech global hub to rival California’s Silicon Valley.
Plans for the east London Tech City will start with new investments from internet giants; Google, Intel and Facebook.
Cameron will also set out plans to introduce a new “entrepreneur visa” to allow businesses from outside the UK with strong ideas and the backing of investors to start-up more easily, following concerns about the new immigration cap.
Furthermore, the prime minister announced a change in intellectual property (IP) copyright laws in a bid to attract more high-tech companies to the UK.
In a speech to entrepreneurs and businesses, Cameron said: "Right now, Silicon Valley is the leading place in the world for high-tech growth and innovation. But there's no reason why it has to be so predominant.
"Our ambition is to bring together the creativity and energy of Shoreditch and the incredible possibilities of the Olympic Park to help make east London one of the world's great technology centres."
Many UK based entrepreneurs welcome the government's plans to support technology start-ups, Growing Business has discovered.
Jason Trost co-founder of Smarkets, an online betting company, said: "It's fantastic that the government is taking a strong interest in the start-up sector and wants to continue to build on the success of the emerging tech scene in London.
"When I started, my co-founder and I came to this country on a highly skilled Tier 1 visa. The UK's immigration policy is much more business friendly than the States’ and this makes it especially attractive to entrepreneurs. The UK is a great place to start a business, and is well on its way to becoming a major world tech hub."
In last month’s Spending Review the government announced a four-year plan of public spending cuts to reduce the country’s deficit, which will see half a million public sector jobs losses.
The government hopes the creation of a stronger technology sector will generate better conditions for the private sector to generate jobs and growth that the public sector will no longer be able to provide.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2010