There has been a good amount of coverage on the recent announcement by the Prime Minister and the Mayor of London on their desire to catalyze investment in east London to transform it into one of the world’s great technology centres.

 

We know that areas like Shoreditch have been incredibly successful, largely without any state investment, thriving predominantly on the creativity of the tech community. This begs the question what kind of support should government provide to support start ups in London and to make sure that we keep the talent that we have while encouraging new tech talent to locate in London?

 

Several major IT companies have committed to supporting Tech City East, including among others Facebook and Google, but what will it really take to make sure that the digital cluster is sustainable in the long term with the right kind of eco system around it?

 

In City Hall we have been tasked with project managing the Tech City East project on behalf of Number 10 and we would really like to know the views of the tech community – what should we do and what shouldn’t we do? Not just in relation to the creation of a new physical space – but what things could we do to support tech start-ups and keep them here?

 

We want as many people as possible to participate in this discussion so please leave comments and suggestions and encourage as many others you know to do likewise.

 

It would also be great if you could join me and David Willetts, Minister for Science and Universities , at Tech Hub on December 20th when we will talking about Tech City East and when you will have a chance to give us your thoughts and ideas . Register here for tickets