The digital industries cluster known as Silicon Roundabout has been quietly growing in East London since the 1990s. Rebranded Tech City, it is the focus of huge public and government attention. National and local policy makers wish to accelerate the local area's development: such cluster policies are back in vogue as part of a reawakened interest in industrial policy. Surprisingly little is known about Tech City's firms or the wider ecosystem, however, and cluster programmes have a high failure rate. We perform a detailed mixed-methods analysis, combining rich enterprise-level data with semistructured interviews. We track firm and employment growth from 1997 to 2010 and identify several distinctive features: branching from creative to digital content industries; street-level sorting of firms; the importance of local amenities and a lack of conventional cluster actors such as universities or anchor businesses. We also argue that the existing policy mix embodies a number of tensions, and suggest areas for improvement.
AcemogluDAkcigitUBloomNKerrW R, 2013, “Innovation, reallocation and growth”, National Bureau of Economic Research, WP 18993, Cambridge, MA
2.
AghionPBlundellRGriffithRHowittPPrantlS, 2009, “The effects of entry on incumbent innovation and productivity”Review of Economics and Statistics9120–32
3.
AghionPDewatripontMDuLHarrisonALegrosP, 2012, “Industrial policy and competition”, WP 18048, National Bureau of Economic Research, NBER, Cambridge, MA
4.
AghionPBesleyTBrowneJCaselliFLambertRLomaxRPissaridesCVan ReenenJ, 2013, “Investing for prosperity: Skills, infrastructure and innovation”, Report of the LSE Growth Commission, Centre for Economic Performance/Institute for Government, London
5.
ArzaghiMHendersonJ V, 2008, “Networking off Madison Avenue”Review of Economic Studies751011–1038
6.
BakhshiHFreemanAHiggsP, 2012, “A dynamic mapping of the UK's creative industries”, Nesta, London
7.
BatheltHMalmbergAMaskellP, 2004, “Clusters and knowledge: Local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation”Progress in Human Geography2831–56
8.
BenjaminW, 1996Reflections (Hakibbutz Hameuhad Publishers, Tel Aviv) (in Hebrew)
9.
BOP, Consulting InPlace, FutureCity, 2011, “Tech City: Creating a new digital and media cluster in London's East End”, BOP Consulting, London
10.
BoschmaRFrenkenK, 2011, “The emerging empirics of evolutionary economic geography”Journal of Economic Geography11295–307
11.
BradshawT, 2008, “Silicon Roundabout: Is this the heart of the UK's new dotcom boom?”Financial Times 28 July
12.
BresnahanTGambardellaA, 2004Building High-tech Clusters (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge)
Centre for International Economics, 2005, “Australian digital content industry futures”, Report prepared for the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Centre for International Economics, Canberra
16.
ChapainCCookePDe ProprisLMacNeillSMateos-GarciaJ, 2010, “Creative clusters and innovation: Putting creativity on the map”, Nesta, London
17.
CharlotSDurantonG, 2004, “Communication externalities in cities”Journal of Urban Economics56581–613
18.
Cities Institute, 2011, “Mapping the digital economy: Tech City and the university”, Report for Digital Shoreditch Festival 2011, London Metropolitan Business School, London
19.
CombesP-PDurantonGOvermanH, 2005, “Agglomeration and the adjustment of the spatial economy”Papers in Regional Science84311–349
20.
CurridE, 2007The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art, and Music Drive New York City (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ)
21.
Department for Business Innovation and Skills, 2012, “Industrial Strategy: UK sector analysis”, Department for Business Innovation and Skills, London
22.
Department for Business Innovation and Skills, Department for Culture Media and Sport,2009Digital Britain: Final ReportDepartment for Business Innovation and Skills, London
23.
DueDil, TechHub, 2011, “The Real London Tech StartUps”, DueDil/TechHub, London
24.
DurantonG, 2007, “Urban evolutions: The fast, the slow, and the still”American Economic Review97197–221
25.
DurantonG, 2011, “California dreamin': The feeble case for cluster policies”Review of Economic Analysis33–45
26.
DurantonGPugaD, 2001, “Nursery cities: Urban diversity, process innovation and the life cycle of products”American Economic Review911454–1477
27.
EvansG, 2009, “Creative cities, creative spaces and urban policy”Urban Studies461003–1040
28.
FoordJ, 2013, “The new boomtown? Creative city to Tech City in east London”Cities3351–60
29.
ForayDMoweryD CNelsonR R, 2012, “Public R&D and social challenges: What lessons from mission R&D programs?”Research Policy411697–1702
30.
Foresight Horizon Scanning Centre, 2010, “Technology and innovation futures: UK growth opportunities for the 2020s”, Government Office for Science, London
31.
FreemanC, 1987Technology Policy and Economic Policy: Lessons from Japan (Pinter, London)
32.
GlaeserE, 2008Cities, Agglomeration and Spatial Equilibrium (Oxford University Press, Oxford)
33.
GlaeserE, 2011The Triumph of the City (Macmillan, London)
34.
GlaeserE LKerrS PKerrW R, 2012, “Entrepreneurship and urban growth: An empirical assessment with historical mines”, WP 18333, National Bureau of Economic Research
35.
GrabherG, 2002, “Cool projects, boring institutions: Temporary collaboration in social context”Regional Studies36205–214
36.
HallP, 1962The Industries of London since 1861 (Hutchinson Education, London)
37.
HallP, 1998Cities in Civilisation: Culture, Innovation and Urban Order (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London)
38.
HallP, 2000, “Creative cities and economic development”Urban Studies37639–649
39.
HamnettC, 2003Unequal City: London in the Global Arena (Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon)
40.
HamnettCWhiteleggD, 2007, “Loft conversion and gentrification in London: From industrial to postindustrial land use”Environment and Planning A39106–124
41.
HarrisA, 2012, “Art and gentrification: Pursuing the urban pastoral in Hoxton, London”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series37226–241
42.
HuttonT A, 2006, “Spatiality, built form, and creative industry development in the inner city”Environment and Planning A381819–1841
43.
HuttonT, 2008The New Economy of the Inner City: Restructuring, Regeneration and Dislocation in the Twenty-first Century Metropolis (Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon)
44.
JacobsJ, 1969The Economy of Cities (Vintage Books, New York)
45.
JavorcikB S, 2004, “Does foreign direct investment increase the productivity of domestic firms? In search of spillovers through backward linkages”The American Economic Review94605–627
46.
KerrWKominersS, 2012, “Agglomerative forces and cluster shapes”, WP 12-09, Center for European Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
47.
SmithH LawtonBagchi-SenS, 2011, “The research university, entrepreneurship and regional development: Research propositions and current evidence”Entrepreneurship and Regional Development24383–404
48.
LernerJPierrakisYCollinsLBioscaA B, 2011, “Atlantic drift: Venture capital performance in the UK and the US”, Nesta, London
49.
McCannPOrtega-ArguilésR, 2011, “Smart specialisation, regional growth and applications to EU Cohesion Policy”, WP 2011, Economic Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen
50.
McKinsey, 2011, “East London: World-class centre for digital enterprise”, McKinsey and Company, London
51.
MarkusenJVenablesA, 1999, “Foreign direct investment as a catalyst for industrial development”European Economic Review43335–356
52.
MarshallA, 1918Principles of Economics (Macmillan, New York)
53.
MarstonLCollinsLBravo-BioscaALaneH, 2013, “Unchaining investment: Barriers to US venture investment in UK internet and digital businesses”, Nesta, London
54.
MartinRSunleyP, 2003, “Deconstructing clusters: Chaotic concept or policy panacea?”Journal of Economic Geography35–35
55.
MeyerKSinaniE, 2009, “When and where does foreign direct investment generate positive spillovers? A meta-analysis”Journal of International Business Studies401075–1094
56.
MorettiE, 2012The New Geography of Jobs (Haughton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, MA)
57.
NathanM, 2011, “East London Tech City: Ideas without a strategy”Local Economy26197–202
58.
NathanMOvermanH, 2013, “Agglomeration, clusters, and industrial policy”Oxford Review of Economic Policy29383–404
59.
NathanMVandoreEWhiteheadR, 2012, “A tale of Tech City: The future of East London's digital economy”, Centre for London, London
60.
Office for National Statistics, 2012, “Business Structure Database, 1997–2010 SN: 6697”, Secure Data Service Access [computer file], UK Data Archive, Colchester
61.
OsborneG, 2012, “Speech by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon George Osborne MP, Google Campus Launch”, HM Treasury, London
62.
OsborneGSchmidtE, 2012, “California dreaming in such a British way”Financial Times 28 March
63.
PorterM, 1990The Competitive Advantage of Nations (Free Press, New York)
64.
PorterM E, 2000, “Location, competition, and economic development: Local clusters in a global economy”Economic Development Quarterly1415–34
65.
PrattA C, 2009, “Urban regeneration: From the arts ‘feel good’ factor to the cultural economy: A case study of Hoxton, London”Urban Studies461041–1061
66.
PrattAJeffcutP, 2009Creativity, Innovation and the Cultural Economy (Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon)
67.
ReedH, 2010, “Reinventing venture capital: Towards a new economic settlement”, Demos, London
68.
RodrikD, 2004, “Industrial policy for the twenty-first century”, WP 4767, Centre for Economic Policy Research, London
69.
Savills, 2012, “London occupier focus: TMT”, Savills, London
70.
SaxenianA-L, 1994Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128 (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)
71.
SaxenianA-L, 2006The New Argonauts: Regional Advantage in a Global Economy (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)
72.
ScottA J, 1997, “The cultural economy of cities”International Journal of Urban and Regional Research21323–339
73.
ScottA, 2014, “Beyond the creative city: Cognitive-cultural capitalism and the new urbanism”Regional Studies48565–578
StorperM, 1997The Regional World: Territorial Development in a Global Economy (Guilford Press, New York)
76.
StorperMScottA, 2009, “Rethinking human capital, creativity and urban growth”Journal of Economic Geography9147–167
77.
Tech City Investment Organisation, 2012, “TCIO Impact Report May 2012”, TCIO, London
78.
Tech City UK, 2013, “Tech powers the London economy: The Tech City 3rd anniversary report”, Tech City UK, London
79.
UyarraEFlanaganK, 2009, “Understanding the innovation impacts of public procurement”European Planning Studies18123–143
80.
van der LindeC, 2003, “The demography of clusters—findings from the cluster meta-study”, in Innovation Clusters and Interregional Competition Eds BroeckerJDohseDSoltwedelR, (Springer, Berlin) pp 130–149
81.
VandoreE, 2011, “The moulding of an East London cluster: Regeneration and foreign investment in Tech City”, MSc Thesis, UCL Bartlett School of Planning, London
82.
VarianH, 2005, “Technology levels the business playing field”New York Times 25 August
83.
WadhwaVFreemanRRissingB, 2008, “Education and tech entrepreneurship”, Kauffman Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Kansas City, MS
84.
Wired UK2010, “London's Silicon Roundabout” 29 January
85.
YuJJacksonR, 2011, “Regional innovation clusters: A critical review”Growth and Change42111–124
86.
ZukinS, 1982Loft Living: Culture and Capital in Urban Change (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD)
