Prime Minister officially opens IDEALondon centre in Tech City

Prime Minister David Cameron officially opened IDEALondon - an initiative between Cisco, DC Thomson and UCL - today. Speaking at the centre - the first of its kind in Tech City which aims to nurture and grow both new and existing early-stage start-ups in the area - the Prime Minister outlined how the strengths of the respective partners would accelerate growth in Tech City which, in turn, would benefit the country. The partnership behind the centre - the Innovation and Digital Enterprise Alliance (IDEA) - is a collaboration between Cisco, DC Thomson and UCL and will support the growth of rapidly expanding digital, tech and media start-ups in and around Tech City in London's Shoreditch. IDEALondon provides bespoke support, tailored to individual start-ups, with mentoring and a strategic acceleration programme. It will initially house around fifteen companies and around one hundred entrepreneurs and staff. Those housed in the facility have been chosen by the partners through different routes: Cisco through its British Innovation Gateway programme (BIG) has granted space to the most promising digital and tech start-ups it has discovered and UCL Advances - UCL's centre for entrepreneurship and business interaction - will select the best and brightest of UCL's digital entrepreneurs for intensive support to enhance their growth. IDEALondon will ensure the future growth and prosperity of start-ups across the area - Professor Stephen Caddick, VP Enterprise Leading media organisation DC Thomson will focus on supporting start-ups working in digital content creation, advertising technologies, ecommerce, educational technologies and analytics.