Every country wants its own Silicon Valley, writes Steve Mullins. In London, the innovation territory is Silicon Roundabout, of course, and The Tech City organisation, which helps start-ups set up in the city, reckons there are now 1,300 firms active in the area – compared with a mere 200 in 2010 – employing more than 155,000 people. That’s not enough for some. Mayor Boris Johnson wants to bring the moribund Olympic Park, site of the 2012 Games, onboard Siliconia, calling it a ‘ripe location’ for start-ups, according to brand-e.biz.“Confidence in London is rising, start-ups are flourishing, you can feel the crackle of energy and potential in the air,” booster Michael Acton Smith, CEO of Mind Candy, makers of Moshi Monsters, tells AP.
And let’s not forget Cluj Innovation City – which launched as Cluj Silicon Valley in 2012 – in Cluj-Napoca, the second-largest city in Romania. The tech cluster has a mere 30 companies but Cluj IT, a grouping of tech outfits, academics and local authorities, has plans to build a tech-led city of around 100,000 people in just 15 years’ time.
No talk of libertarianism in either London or Cluj-Napoca, as yet, but that doesn’t happen until you get a clutch of tech billionaires cosying up to each other and wanting to do good (by not paying taxes).
