London has been named the world’s most high-tech city, according to the seventh edition of the Z/Yen Group Smart Centers Indexpublished today.
The British capital secured the top spot due to its leading financial services, large talent pool, quality of its business environment and international reputation.
London climbs from second place and is joined in the top five by New York, San Francisco, Zurich and Lugano. Oxford came in seventh, placing four European cities in the top 10.
The news that London has taken the top tech title out of New York will be undeniable welcomed by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has done so several times expressed his desire for the UK as a whole to become one tech and innovation superpower.
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In a rather humorous speech recently Sunak even labeled the country “Unicorn Kingdom”, in a not-so-subtle nod to the fact that the UK has so far spawned 162 startups worth $1 billion or more.
While the Prime Minister definitely shouldn’t be forging a career in comedy, he does have a point. By 2022, UK tech companies raised £24bn in funding, more than France (£11.8bn) and Germany (£9.1bn) combined, making it the world’s largest fourth largest technical sector.
Leading this investment is London, which is currently home to a number of emerging technology companies, including Deliveroo, Revolut and Wise, as well as emerging startups such as the AI research lab Deep Spirit and metaverse developer Unlikely.
