London is making big strides to attract tech innovation, with Plexal being its new campus for innovation
Plexal, a new international technology innovation centre located at Here East on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, has opened its doors to start-ups, scale-ups and corporations seeking innovation collaboration.
Initial membership focus will support the development of products in emerging technologies including wearables, IOT, cybersecurity, smart cities, inclusive finance, sport, fashion and health.
With a capacity for 800 members over 68,000 sq ft, member benefits feature business support including accelerator programmes, access to funding, innovation ideas laboratory, industry-leading events, coaching, mentorship and entrepreneurship training, along with on-tap professional services from marketing, legal, accountancy and HR firms.
Plexal was launched during London Tech Week
Located in the giant Here East building, formerly the media centre for the 2012 London Olympics, the centre has been designed by award winning architects, Grimshaw to create a mini city environment.
The site features a Disneyland layout of sorts, where grouped areas like a ‘town square’, Plexal Park, prototyping and coding areas, and state of the art events spaces, are all linked by a central ‘high street’, to encourage collaboration and interaction between residents.
Membership to Plexal allows technology startups and scaleups to access office space comprising 4-30 desks, fixed desk-space and the ability to hot-desk, with prices starting from £220 per month for hot desks which offers access to Plexal events and programmes, as well as all hot desking shared areas.
A permanent fixed desk in the quiet Legacy Place cost £350 per desk, per month with private enclosed office space ranging from £350 per person, per month dependent on size and building location.
Led by CEO Claire Cockerton, whose team created Cognicity, a smart city technology pilot programme in London, and Level39, the fintech accelerator based in Canary Wharf, Plexal will spearhead Europe’s largest connected business campus.
“Our mission is to become the beating heart of inventive enterprise; connected, intelligent and dynamic – where people join forces, ideas spark and new business is born.” said Cockerton.
“I believe we have created a first-class space design to deliver this and look forward to telling the success stories of the new technology products and services that emerge from Plexal.”
Membership starts from £220 per month
Plexal’s Corporate Innovation division has already announced its partnership with the Global Disability Innovation Hub and called for partners to join the Disability Innovation Accelerator.
The first of its kind in the UK, this call to industry will bring together start-ups, established businesses, disabled people and NGOs to shape disability tech globally.
The Disability Innovation Accelerator will focus on three themes: Inclusive City Living, Assistive Technologies and Big Data and Analytics, with successful collaborations receiving incubation within Plexal.
