East London skyline. Photo credit: Harshil Shah/Flickr.

So, what is Tech City?

Tech City UK is ‘the digital capital of Europe’ and it is a hub for technology, digital and creative companies. It is a figurative ‘city’, similar to California’s Silicon Valley, in the heart of London’s east-end and spans a vast area including Old Street, Liverpool Street, Shoreditch and across to the Olympic site in Stratford. There are currently over 500 companies operating in the area known as Tech City.

The initiative started when the UK government noticed that the area was becoming a hot spot for tech businesses. In November of last year, David Cameron to invest in the area to help it develop even further.

The Tech City Investment Organisation (TCIO) was created as a branch of UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) as a means of managing the project. Its role is to help the area and those working within it to thrive, making it a centre of technological excellence.

Who actually works there?

Over the last three years the area has organically grown from being home to a mere 15 companies to now being the workplace for over 500 and counting. There is a wide range of companies to be found in Tech City which include small start-ups, SMEs and huge enterprises. Household names such as Cisco, Vodafone, Google, Facebook and Intel are also taking advantage of - or poised to do so - the 'dynamic technological hub' as a place from where to run parts of their global businesses.

And what is the TCIO?

The TCIO is entrusted with monitoring, managing and developing Tech City. Its dedicated team of IT specialists, investment directors and organisers works with a group of partners to allow Tech City to flourish.

It also provides valuable help and mentoring for companies working in the area. It is a government funded organisation aimed to help companies, whether it is a one man start-up or a large conglomerate, grow and mature to reach new heights in their respective industry.

How can it benefit companies?

Tech City presents various benefits and opportunities for those operating with its imaginary city walls. Many of these come from having the help and support of the TCIO on hand. The TCIO can help find companies offices from which to work. They can help workers get the necessary VISAs they require. They can offer expert advice and guidance to companies who are looking to grow and expand. They also put on a range of events to help inform and educate those working in the technology industry.

One of the key roles it performs is to secure investments from within the UK and abroad into the companies based in Tech City. This, in turn, allows the companies to establish themselves on a much larger scale which benefits the not only the company itself, obviously, but also the UK economy as Tech City grows to become a recognised centre for digital and technological commerce.

Recognising that the area appears to be extremely fertile ground for young, innovative companies that might just be the next creators of web 3, 4 or 5.0, some of the big cloud providers are also taking an interest. The latest to this end is Amazon Web Services which are going to be running a weekly surgery for companies in the area to come and learn about their hosting and computing needs.

The companies also benefit from being more, to some extent, than the sum of their parts, utilising each others’ products and services and standing together to promote their industries as they will on October 30 this year with a showcase day and jobs drive launch.

Government is said to be fully behind the drive and lobbying private companies to invest infrastructure in the area. Digital R&D tax credits for companies in the area have been mooted but are yet to materialise.