Silicon Roundabout

"In 2008 followers of the technology industry began to talk excitedly about a cluster of internet start-ups in the Shoreditch area, near the ugly Old Street junction, to the north-east of the financial district. There are now around a hundred high-tech businesses in what has inevitably been dubbed Silicon Roundabout.

Measured by the concentration of technology firms and the availability of generous and informed investors, California’s Silicon Valley is still in a league of its own. But in the second division of hubs, this chunk of east London is near the top, along with the likes of Boston and Tel Aviv. That its growth took place so quickly, and during a recession, is remarkable enough: the high-tech zone in Cambridge has taken decades to evolve. But the fact that Silicon Roundabout also emerged without government support, or even direct links with universities, should pique the interest of countries that have tried to cultivate technology hubs without the same success."

The Economist November 2010