Today, Ive delivered presentations for regional innovation class. For the final coursework, the students are expected to submit essay on several topics related to regional dimension of innovation, from role of public policy in cluster formation, university-industry relation to smart specialisation. I choose to do clusters, specifically start-up cluster. The topic fits into my interest and i want to take the topic as my dissertation areas as well. Before submitting the final essay, the students would need to present first in order to get feedback and directions.
The case study that i chose is Silicon Roundabout which also known as East London Tech City. It is a high tech startup cluster in the east London area (Shoreditch and Hoxton). Digital economy is huge contributor to UK GDP. London in particular has turn over of 56 billion GBP from digital economy. Majority of this are contributed by cluster of tech startups around the old street roundabout in East London. The area has a history of being a creative hub from the early 1990s. Post dot com boom, several startups such as Moo, Dropplr and Last.fm relocated to this area and in 2008, the terms Silicon Roundabout was coined.
In 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron launched Tech City initiatives to support this cluster to become world class technology area. Two years later, Google developed seven stories co-working space / incubator called Google Campus.
For the presentation, i include a short history on the cluster, how the cluster grow without policy intervention, the pros and cons of Tech City initiatives and future challenges of the cluster moving forward. I need to be very concise considering 15 minutes time limit.
My presentation is embedded below. Write me in the comment if you have any questions.
All in all, i did okay on today session however as i think my presentation delivery need to be upped a notch. One deadline finished, a lot more to go.
This week is going to be a semester two hell week. All the best for you folks!.
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