Johnny Rose. Pic: Fiona Nicole Mee
The Re-Launch of Croydon Tech City got off to a great start last night with more than one hundred people attending the meeting in Matthews Yard, Croydon.
Jonny Rose, founder of Croydon Tech City and software professional, kicked off the evening reintroducing the concept of setting up social media connections within the community. His aim is to create a hub where people can come together. Croydon’s Tech City started as an idea in Rose’s blog and has now been running for over three months.
Benjamin Southworth, Deputy CEO of Tech City Investment Organization which works to encourage investment in the Shoreditch Tech City, gave a keynote presentation at the meeting.
Southworth said, the community should be “buying into something they want to be part of.”
“It’s about culture, it’s about community.”
He added that the Shoreditch Tech City grew from coffee shops functioning as a place where people gather to pitch ideas to others in the community. The function that Matthews Yard provides in Croydon.
“It’s about independence, not the big boys anymore.”
He added that Croydon has the potential to create the buzz that Shoreditch Tech City has, by creating a Tech hub, an office space for the community to get together and work, and he thinks Matthews Yard can be that hub. “I think collaboration is great and Mathews Yard and Tech City are going to be part of it.” Rose said.
“Croydon is already a Tech City with just over 620 businesses in the digital market,” he pointed out.
A Croydon business, dotMailer, which was set up over a decade ago, now employees 150 people in the UK and New York, while maintaining their roots in Croydon.
Fambury Tree is in its infancy: set up by a group of local people, it is a Facebook-like site for families. Then there is the ‘Stop and Search’ app which was set up by a three man team. It allows the user to tag where they’ve been stopped and gives a list their rights.
Rose added, “I think there is a prejudice that Croydon is out of London, its only fourteen minutes away, there are links to Victoria and Shoreditch.”
