East London Tech City
East London Tech City (also known as Tech City and Silicon Roundabout) is a technology cluster of high-tech companies located in East London, United Kingdom. Its main area lies broadly between St Luke's and Hackney Road, with an accelerator space for spinout companies at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
East London Tech City
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|---|---|
Old Street Roundabout in 2010 | |
East London Tech City Location within Greater London | |
| OS grid reference | TQ325825 |
| • Charing Cross | 2.5 mi (4.0 km) WSW |
| London borough |
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| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | EC1, EC2 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly |
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A cluster of web businesses initially developed around the Old Street Roundabout in 2008. The area had historically been relatively poor compared to the City of London, and was known as the City Fringe. The 2008–09 recession further suppressed rents through the closure of numerous firms, making it affordable to technology startups, while redundancies from financial services companies, such as investment banks, released a local pool of experienced talent interested in entrepreneurship.
From 2010, 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, McKinsey & Company and Microsoft 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.