Tech City Chair Denies London’s Tech Success Is At The UK’s Expense

Tech City Chair Eileen Burbidge has denied that a focus on London’s technology sector is not to the detriment of the UK, claiming the digital sector is poised to give the country a chance to be a world leader and is on a verge of a “fourth industrial revolution.”

“What’s happening in the tech sector is really phenomenal, it’s outstanding,” she told Cloud Expo Europe in London. “I’m really proud of what’s happening here in Britain.

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“It’s a fourth industrial revolution, and a chance for Britain to lead to the world. It’s an exciting time…the digital sector has become very important to the British economy.”

Burbidge paid particular attention to the UK’s financial technology sector and claimed Tech City had provided an opportunity for startups to thrive.

“I think that Britain has a real chance to lead the world in financial services,” she said.

When asked by TechWeekEurope if Tech City was not in danger of taking investment and interest away from other areas of the UK, Burbidge said that this was definitely not the case.

“We have a really good opportunity here in Britain,” she replied. “To not just be one city, but a network, where you can choose to work where you want….or we’re limited by what one city can do”

Noting that Tech City actually covers the whole of the UK, Burbidge highlighted the good work being done in a number of hubs around the country, from app development in Edinburgh to robotics in Cambridge.

She also noted that the recent Tech Nation report showed that the entire of the UK technology industry is in rude health, with the findings discovering a £161 billion turnover for UK tech firms last year, equivalent to 11-12.5 percent of overall GDP, and that going forward, the future looks bright.

“We have a perfect storm of what Britain can achieve over the next 2-5 years.”

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