Britain is home to the biggest tech city in Europe – and just a few miles up the road, a new centre of excellence is being created.
London is the continent’s most popular destination for tech workers migrating from overseas and is a world-leading centre for start-ups and scale-ups. It is part of the so-called Golden Triangle of British tech, which extends out to the university cities of Cambridge and Oxford and which has received billions of pounds worth of government funding.
Incredibly, London has more software developers than either New York or San Francisco.
And you’ll soon see Broxbourne joining the tech hub landscape, with Google’s $1bn investment in a new data centre at Cheshunt – within the Oxford-London-Cambridge Golden Triangle.
The new Google site, which will help meet growing demand for Google’s AI and cloud services, is being built on the new Theobalds Business Park, next to the Theobalds Enterprise Centre – purpose-built for SMEs and start-ups and part of the Broxbourne Enterprise Centres.
Tech hubs attract major investment into an area, improving the local economy and creating thousands of jobs. When they’re outside major cities, they attract skilled workers and can help drive regional growth and levelling up.
They can also provide access to resources that might normally be out of reach for smaller companies and start-ups, helping them to grow and thrive.
Zoe Galea, Centre Manager, is keen to see Broxbourne Enterprise Centres become part of the growing tech hub.
“Our modern facilities are ideal for start-ups, with a great range of different office spaces. We are perfectly placed to be able to draw new tech companies to the area where they will find themselves neighbours with a sector giant.
“Our location means that we have easy access to London – and with three airports within 20 miles and Heathrow less than 30 miles away, we are ideal for international travel as well.”
Cambridge has built a reputation as a start-up hub, with companies such as Raspberry Pi, Darktrace and Arm – but it has major international players in town, too. Apple works on AI in Cambridge, Microsoft has an important research lab there, and there are also regional offices for IBM, Toshiba, Oracle and Huawei.
Other cities around the UK with tech specialities include:
- Belfast – cybersecurity, telecommunications, mobile, data analytics
- Birmingham – financial technology
- Bristol – robotics
- Edinburgh – financial technology, gaming
- Leeds – health technology, medical technology
- Manchester – eCommerce, health technology, biotechnology
- Reading and Thames Valley – software, research and development
The UK Government has been investing in innovation hubs around the country. After pilots in Liverpool and Teesside early last year, in October the Government announced £75m of funding for eight new Launchpads:
- Net Zero Industry Launchpad – south-west Wales
- Digital Technologies Launchpad – north-east England
- Health Technologies Launchpad – west Yorkshire
- Agri-tech and Food Tech Launchpad – east of England
- Marine and Maritime Launchpad – south-west England
- Bio-based Manufacturing Launchpad – Scotland
- Immersive and Creative Industries Launchpad – west Midlands
- Life and Health Sciences Launchpad – Northern Ireland
Interested in an office space in Broxbourne’s tech hub? Click here to find your space today.
