Tech City – the inside story

Newham Chamber of Commerce, Friday 16 December

Chris Orange, Gateway to London

The inward investment agency for east LondonPublic/private sector partnership, established 2002Free and confidential business location advice: Promote east London for business Attract new investment Support existing businesses Make connections

Gateway to London

4 November 2010 announcement – east London Tech CityUKTI – Tech City Investment OrganisationGateway to London roleCommitments from major corporates: Facebook, Intel, Cisco, etcMay 2011 – TweetDeck acquired by Twitter for $40mMay 2011 – Digital Shoreditch FestivalSept 2011 – Google LaunchpadNov 2011 – Entrepreneurs Festival

A brief history - milestones

“a hub that stretches from Shoreditch to the Olympic Park...”Concentrated in EC2A/N1/E1, but... Work-space supply dwindling, rents risingFocus widening – east London, London-wide, rest of UK...

Tech City – where is it?

June 2008 – “Silicon Roundabout” list – 15 tech businessesOctober 2009 – Wired list – 100 May 2011 – Digital Shoreditch – 550 November 2011 – Tech City Map – 819Gateway to London – 350 “genuine digital tech businesses”However defined, remarkable

growth in middle of recession

Tech City – how big is it?

Tech City – who’s there?

Tech City – work-space

Entrepreneur Visa – high-potential businesses can come to UK with £50k funding, rather than £200k for standard Tier 1 visa

Entrepreneurs Investment Scheme – income tax relief up from 20% to 30%; maximum up from £0.5m to £1.0m

Life-time Capital Gains Tax relief – maximum 10% on first £10m on sale of assets (from 4/9ths of first £5m previously)

Entrepreneur First – 2-year programme to help graduates start their own business, backed by Microsoft, McKinsey and others

R&D Tax Credits – from April 2012, amount of tax relief claimable by tech SMEs against R&D spend to rise from 200% to 225%

Tech City Launchpad – competition for 50% funding for innovative new projects; £1.8m awarded in first phase

Mentorship programme – advice and support from leading entrepreneurs in Tech City area

Tech City – incentives

Tech City – where next?