Prime Minister of Great Britain, David Cameron, is set to announce big plans for establishing East London as one of the world’s great technology centers.
Looking to spur the creation of private sector jobs to make up for public sector losses due to state spending cuts, British Prime Minister David Cameron has identified the tech industries as a safe bet for government backing and investment in the UK.
Later today, he is expected to announce that the likes of Facebook and Google are set to invest in the East London Tech City plan. He wants the area, which include Olympic Park, to give Silicon Valley a run for its money over the coming years.
“Right now, Silicon Valley is the leading place in the world for hi-tech growth and innovation,” Cameron will say in a speech to businesses and entrepreneurs. “But there’s no reason why it has to be so predominant. Our ambition is to bring together the creativity and energy of Shoreditch and the incredible possibilities of the Olympic Park to help make east London one of the world’s great technology centres.”
He will report that the response from international technology firms and venture capitalists to the plan has been overwhelming, and announce several firms that have agreed to invest in the area, including Intel, Cisco and BT.
Result for: silicon valley
Apple has noted that they have reached the 300 million download milestone for the App Store, almost five months after the store went live. Despite being a large number, a deeper look shows that growth has flattened.
Silicon Valley Insider estimates that it took 61 days to hit the first 100 million apps downloaded, and then 43 days each for the next hundreds.
Although Apple must be disappointed with the flat numbers, compared to the floundering mobile app industry the numbers are certainly impressive.
SVI also estimates that there are about 25 million iPhones and iPod Touches out on the market which means that each user could possibly be downloading up to 15 apps per device, an average far higher than that of any other mobile device.
Result for: silicon valley
During a speech to Silicon Valley executives at the Tech Museum of Innovation, Attorney General Michael Mukasey warned that the “enormous” profits made from counterfeiting and piracy is flowing into the hands of terrorists and terrorist organizations.
Mukasey added that the “economy and national security of the United States are increasingly threatened by violations involving copyrighted software code, patented inventions and trademarked properties.”
Terrorists are starting to perform more like organized crime and are increasingly using piracy and counterfeiting money to fund their operations, Mukasey says.
The Attorney General also noted that his department was now giving more resources to prosecuting intellectual property crimes, which has led to a 40 percent increase in IP cases since 2005.
“Criminal syndicates, and in some cases even terrorist groups, view IP crime as a lucrative business and see it as a low-risk way to fund other activities,” Mukasey said. “A primary goal of our IP enforcement mission is to show these criminals that they’re wrong.”
