New Technology Reviews!.: hitech

PM outlines vision for hi-tech valley in east end

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/computing/internet-and-broadband/images/google-crop-200-200.jpg"> Prime Minister David Cameron wants to create a hi-tech rival to Silicon Valley in London's east end. Cameron wants the area around London's Olympic Park to attract cutting edge technology innovation and investment to this formerly run-down area of London. Google and Facebook are already lined up as investors backing the PM's new vision of the east end. Cameron is set to announce a new entrepreneurial visa, in order for innovators that want to work and invest in the area to move to the UK without facing too many bureaucratic barriers. The PM is also looking to change the UK's laws surrounding intellectual property, following lobbying from Google, with the company claiming that UK laws are far more restrictive than the US. Google and 'fair use' "The service they provide depends on taking a snapshot of all the content on the internet at any one time and they feel our copyright system is not as friendly to this sort of innovation as it is in the United States," is in the PM's speech. "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." Cameron is also set to note that there is already a flourishing tech start-up scene in and around London's Old Street and Shoreditch areas. "Silicon Valley is the leading place in the world for hi-tech growth and innovation. But there's no reason why it has to be so predominant," the PM will say in his speech today. "Our ambition is to bring together the creativity and energy of Shoreditch and the incredible possibilities of the Olympic Park to help make east London one of the world's great technology centres." Google, Facebook, Intel and McKinsey & Co are some of the investors already lined up to invest in the new hi-tech east end Innovation Hube..