Technology

Posted on May 17, 2018 by staff

London second most connected tech hub on planet

Technology

The fourth report from Tech Nation has that the UK’s tech sector is in a strong position compared to the rest of the world.

Crucially, it found that London ranks as the second most connected place for tech on the planet, after Silicon Valley.

Gerard Grech, chief executive and co-founder of Tech Nation said: “Tech Nation 2018 is the first major milestone of Tech Nation, the organisation now working across the country to build networks that support ambitious entrepreneurs and shine a light on the achievements of our tech sector.

“The UK’s tech sector is growing almost three times faster than the rest of the economy. What started as Tech City is increasingly Tech Nation. London is the world’s second most connected hub after Silicon Valley.

“We need to make the most of that, as our new relationship with the EU will undoubtedly force us to be even more adaptive, innovative and ambitious.”

It also shows that London actually beats Silicon Valley when it comes to proportion of overseas customers. A third of London’s businesses have foreign customers, surpassing the 30 per cent of Silicon Valley companies that have overseas customers according to data from Startup Genome.

It also found that Berlin is also the only other European city in the top 10 list of global ecosystems and that 25 per cent of the world’s entrepreneurs report a significant relationship with two or more others based in London.

According to the research, London start-ups have the fourth most international workforce in the world. Only Singapore, Berlin and Chicago have a higher proportion of overseas workers.

Deliveroo founder Will Shu said: “Deliveroo was started in Britain, grew from Britain and London remains our global HQ.

“It’s here that we build the technology that allows us to deliver millions of orders around the world. And without the talent, creativity and expertise of the people who work here, none of that would be possible.”

When it comes to total capital invested in digital tech companies the UK comes just third behind the US and China.

Suranga Chandratillake, partner at Balderton Capital said: “The UK is a leader in technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain.

“We must do all we can to leverage this advantage so that we continue to attract the most skilled people from around the world to work in our successful tech businesses.

“If we can do that, I’m confident that Europe will one day soon produce its own global tech giant.”