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London Tech Week underway as Boris Johnson meets burgeoning entrepreneurs

Boris Johnson is today marking the start of London Technology Week by meeting upcoming tech entrepreneurs.

Following last year’s inaugural event, the London Mayor is due to launch a new online hub for the London’s digital industry, as the capital aims to exhibit its technology credentials to a global audience in an attempt to attract companies from around the world to do business.

Five years since the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson MP and the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron launched the Tech City Initiative, new research shows London has cemented its position as the most important tech hub in Europe and is forecast to boost its economy by £18bn in 2015. The research coincides with the launch of London Technology Week, a week-long celebration of the capital’s tech sector.

London’s digital technology sector is growing faster than both the London and wider UK economy and will continue to do so for the next decade according to research from London & Partners, the Mayor’s promotional company for London.

The figures produced by Oxford Economics show that the number of companies in London’s digital technology sector has grown by 46 per cent since the launch of the Tech City programme. The sector now employs almost 200,000 people, 17 per cent more than in 2010.

Other research from the professional services firm EY released to mark the start of London Technology Week shows London’s dominance of tech across Europe, and the city’s attractiveness as a tech hub. According to EY more than 1,000 international tech investment projects located in London between 2005–2014, significantly more than the next most attractive city, Paris (381) or the whole of France (853).

Boris Johnson said: “With our unrivalled mix of investors, talent and creativity it is hardly surprising that tech businesses and entrepreneurs are clamouring to be part of the incredible London tech story.

“This sector has flourished beyond recognition in the last five years, creating thousands of jobs and outpacing the rest of the economy.

“London Technology Week is rightly a celebration of that success. Now we need to continue our work to boost connectivity across the capital and arm the tech stars of the future with the skills they will need to drive forward this valuable industry for years to come.”

Gordon Innes, Chief Executive of London & Partners, said: “Over the last decade more international tech investment projects have come to London than Paris, Dublin, Madrid, Amsterdam and Munich combined. It’s testament to London’s visionary tech entrepreneurs and international investors who have made London the most exciting place in the world for tech.”