Hackney startups took over an entire block in downtown Austin, Texas this week showcasing the best of the borough’s creative and tech businesses.
The four-day event saw the ‘Hackney House’ team hold talks and debates, workshops and networking events under three themes: design, make and place. 30 Hackney-based businesses set up stalls in the specially created 6,000 square feet space at the South by Southwest (SXSW) technology festival.
Delegations from the area have been going to the SXSW for several years and last year’s Hackney House generated over £7.5 million of business leads.
This year’s event coincides with the twinning of the borough with Austin, announced by Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell at the House’s launch.
Hackney’s rising stature in the startup world
The twinning makes Hackney Austin’s 13th and smallest sibling. It is also the first relation not to be a city or borough in its own right, signifying Hackney’s stature on the global stage in technology and startups.
The official pairing also saw twelve students from Hackney Community College visit their equivalent school in Austin. They received tuition from major brands including British Airways, Adobe and RetailMeNot and presented their ideas on Monday.
Ian Ashman, Principal of Hackney Community College, told Tech City News that it was imperative Hackney benefit from the Tech City boom, “with such high levels of unemployment here in Hackney, it’s so important that our young people have positive role models who can show them what’s possible in their lives and careers.”
These developments follow a boom in new businesses flooding in to Hackney.
In the year up to 31 March 2013, 15,720 new businesses were set up in the EC1V area, far more than in any other postcode in the country. The research by accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young is testament to the area’s strength in new business and technology startups.
American companies make up a large proportion of the new businesses being set up in Tech City, also known as the Silicon Roundabout. According to James Layfield, the founder and CEO of Central Working, a members’ office space company: “there are lots and lots of sexy companies coming from America and they are coming to us. The economy’s picking up and everyone’s coming to London.”
One main reason for the influx of capital to the area is because of the ease with which companies can interact with one another. The proximity with the City of London allows investors to interact quickly with business.
The new campus of Central Saint Martins down the road at King’s Cross also allows creative minds to mingle easily with tech startups based at Old Street.
East London’s global position as an entrepreneurial hub is what encouraged Google to develop its new building at King’s Cross, which they will move to in 2017.
Although the figures showing new business moving to Tech City is encouraging, businesses are also leaving the area. Last.fm has already left the area and Berg faces eviction at the end of the year as the council have slated their offices for demolition.
