Major firms to invest in 'Silicon Valley of London'; Huge graduate opportunity
British Prime Minister David Cameron is to announce this afternoon plans to regenerate part of East London, the area where the 2012 Olympics will be held, into a rival to California's Silicon Valley.
Dubbed the 'East London Tech City' or the 'Silicon Roundabout' from the nearby major transport connector nearby, the PM will mention in his upcoming speech that major firms such as Google, Facebook, Cisco, Intel, British Telecom (BT) are backing the new developments.
As University College London (UCL) is nearby, there are hopes that their students as well as those from the close-by British Library, and other London and nearby universities will jump at the opportunity to take on graduate jobs in the emerging UK technology market. This will allow graduates to fill some of the jobs left by the void of the spending review last week, which announced nearly half a million job cuts by 2015 in the public sector alone.
"Google will create an 'innovation hub' creative space for its researchers to work with developers and academics, while Facebook will create a permanent home for its programme bringing together talented developers and entrepreneurs and Intel will set up a new research laboratory."
Currently the main hub for technology in the UK is the M4 corridor; an area surrounding the M4 motorway in Berkshire between London and Bristol where many technology and communications companies are based. Some of the major subsidiary companies include Microsoft, AT&T, Vodafone, SAP and Citrix, offer tens of thousands of jobs in the region.
Cambridge also features as a focal point for emerging technologies, as businesses and student entrepreneurs often branch out from the university into private enterprise.
Not only will this be a chance for graduates to begin the difficult journey into employment post-recession and for businesses to invest in the local economy, but also an opportunity to adjust visa and immigrations request for the best and brightest foreign nationals, and to review intellectual property and copyright laws.
Part of the Prime Minister's speech will explain why these processes are necessary, saying:
"The founders of Google have said they could never have started their company in Britain. Over there, they have what are called 'fair use' provisions, which some people believe gives companies more breathing space to create new products and services."
The 'entrepreneur visa' will act in a similar way to that of the similar programme in the United States; building on existing principles to entice those with significant investor backing to be not only allowed, but "guaranteed" to set up business in the United Kingdom.
More will be announced later with the Prime Minister's speech. If there is any breaking news, this post will be updated accordingly.