London to get Europe’s largest tech innovation centre

London is to become home to Europe’s largest technology innovation centre. The Innovation Centre is a joint venture between property developer Delancey’s evergreen investment fund, DV4, and tech consultancy firm ENTIQ.  

The facility will support start-ups from a wide range of industries, including fashion, health, design and the Internet of Things, promoting collaboration and helping them to grow.

Opportunities

Members of the centre will be able to have access to a wide range of services, including education for entrepreneurs, accelerator and incubation programmes and a technology lab. There will also be funding opportunities.

The facility will be located at the city’s Here East digital campus on the Olympic Park and will provide space for 500 start-ups. It is set to launch in October but will be opening fully in January 2017.

According to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, the city’s digital technology sector supports nearly 200,000 jobs and will generate a “massive” £18 billion for the capital’s economy in 2016.

Commenting on the centre, Khan stated that it will be a “big boost to the sector” and will provide a hub for “exciting new innovation.”

Rooted

ENTIQ Founder and Innovation Centre CEO, Claire Cockerton, commented: “Our business values are firmly rooted in the local and Olympic history: creativity and making, multi-disciplinary working, inclusivity and internationalism, and we will remain a launch pad for British-based scale-up businesses and a soft landing pad for companies coming to the UK for the first time.”