Cameron plans UK answer to Silicon Valley

Prime Minister David Cameron is set to announce plans to turn east London into a technology city to rival Silicon Valley in California.

At a speech to business leaders today, he is set to say, ‘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.’

Google, Intel, Facebook and Cisco are among companies that will unveil investment in the area.

Google is to create an innovation hub, which will be a creative space for researchers to come together with developers and academics to create new applications and services. Intel is to establish a new research lab focusing on performance computing and new energy-efficiency technologies.

Facebook is to create a permanent London home for its Developer Garage programme, which brings together entrepreneurs and developers, while Cisco is to establish an innovation centre in the Olympic Park.

Cameron is also set to announce an overhaul of the UK’s intellectual property laws, which he says will ‘make them fit for the Internet age’.

He will unveil details of the new laws, which he says will be along similar lines to the ‘fair-use’ provisions currently used in the United States.

Start the discussionStart the discussion
  • Post a comment

Latest articles