Shitty what? Almost half of MPs have never heard of Tech City

If Tech City UK is the beating heart of the local tech digital industry, someone forgot to tell almost half of MPs about the taxpayer-funded initiative.

In a Parliamentary Snapshot Survey paid for by think-tank The Entrepreneur Network, 48 per cent of 105 MPs polled had not even heard of the venture, launched by David Cameron in late 2010 in East London.

According to Dave and co, Blighty’s Silicon Roundabout will rival America’s Silicon Valley for job creation and maybe it will… in the next thousand or so years. To date it seems to have benefited blustering marketing, media and politico types.

For time being, many of those helping to shape government policies remain ignorant of what the thing does or is supposed to do; another four per cent claimed Tech City has had no impact and another 14 per cent weren’t sure. Lovely stuff.

Other policies designed to foster innovation and entrepreneurial thinking are also similarly falling on deaf ears; 66 per cent had never heard of the Angel CoFund, billed as a £100m investment programme to support "promising UK businesses"; and 50 per cent were unaware of GrowthAccelerator, an education and networking scheme for business looking to expand.

In a canned statement, Philip Salter, director of The Entrepreneurs’ Network, said a lack of awareness about government-backed initiatives to help businesses grow is “worrying”.

“As things stand, MPs don’t appear adequately informed to vote on future policy changes impacting entrepreneurs. Also, MPs should be familiar with these schemes so that they are able to pass on details to many entrepreneurs they meet in their constituency,” he added.

Preferring to take the glass half full approach, Katie Turner, cheif marketing officer at Tech City UK, told El Reg that more than half of MP's had heard of her organisation nearly three years after its launch.

"This provides a strong indication that the work of Tech City UK is being recognised across the political spectrum. Britain’s technology sector is a shining example of the UK’s growth story and we continue to work closely with all political parties and the digital community to accelerate the growth of Britain’s digital economy.”

Some £1.79m was initially sunk into Tech City in 2011 but a spokesman told us that figure was now out of date.

"As part of the government’s investment in the technology sector, Tech City UK has been granted a national budget of £2.4 million, used to support the growth of digital businesses across the UK.”

Just imagine all the scooters, top hats and skinny jeans that could buy. ®