London’s Tech City – a hub of UK and international technology companies based in the East End – has appointed LinkedIn’s former European MD Kevin Eyres as a mentor.
Eyres will focus his role on offering entrepreneurs advice and support for their start-up projects. He is the first of what will be a series of mentors to join the programme. The mentoring will operate via webinars, teleconferences and face-to-face meetings. He will be part of the Tech City Investment Organisation’s (TCIO) advisory team.
"We have a real opportunity to help make Tech City the digital capital of Europe. The basic assets are already in place and the momentum is growing. Now we need to foster this in every way we can to ensure it reaches its full potential. One of the main ways to do this is through delivering and developing talent," he said.
"We are determined to support business developments in the UK, such as the one that has grown up in East London. The UK is already attracting strong investment from first-class technology entrepreneurs," said Minister for Trade and Investment, Lord Green. "By working with great mentors such as Kevin Eyres, start-up entrepreneurs will get extra support to grow into the successful, globally competitive businesses the UK needs to deliver balanced economic growth."
London’s Tech City is focused around the Old Street area of the city and stretches out to include companies in Shoreditch and Hoxton. Companies based there include TweetDeck, online business card firm Moo, Last.fm, Dopplr and Diary.com, a company focused on online time management applications.
The area forms the centrepiece of plans to turn the East End of London into a rival to Silicon Valley. The plans include turning the Olympic Park press and broadcast centres into an ‘accelerator space’ once the 2012 Games are finished.
Announced by Prime Minister David Cameron last year, the initiative has already attracted interest from the likes of Vodafone, Google, Facebook, Cisco, Intel and McKinsey & Co.
