Member Article

Croydon Tech City hailed as blueprint for the future

An up and coming tech cluster in South London is being vaunted as a blueprint for future innovation and job creation in the capital.

Croydon Tech City, London’s fastest-expanding technology hub, houses over a thousand digital, technical and creative startups scattered in and around the Number 1 Croydon building.

The ‘Silicon Valley of South London’ started four years ago and enjoyed 38% growth between 2011-13, outstripping other clusters in the city.

Speaking at the Croydon Tech City 2016 Conference, Minister for the Cabinet Office, Matt Hancock, was impressed by the work the technology hub was doing with young people in the area through its ‘Future Tech City’ and ‘Apps for Good’ schemes.

Matt said: “The Croydon Tech scene is really going full throttle. Tech City is reaching out into the community and helping young people learn the right skills to start and grow a business, and to connect to a network.

“It’s clearly the start of something – and I want the government to do all we can to get behind initiatives likes this. I’m here to listen to our new tech stars and find out what we can do to help.”

It is set to be a bumper year for tech investment in the capital following the creation of a £500m investment fund by Chinese firm Cocoon Networks, and University College London’s announcement that it is to set up a £50m technology innovation fund to support promising startups.