Silicon Roundabout
1
6.9
- proper noun
- UK
:
Silicon Roundabout
- The area around Old Street is widely referred to as Silicon Roundabout due to its vibrant tech startup community.
Examples
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Strategy Board has unveiled a new 1m fund to support "digital businesses" in the Tech City area around Old Street and Shoreditch in east London ("Silicon Roundabout" to you and ...
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So what has come to be known as the Silicon Roundabout area, the government is now calling "East London Tech City"—a tech cluster that they hope will stretch from Shoreditch and Old Street to the Olympic Park.
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... come to be known as Silicon Roundabout and which has informed the UK government's new "East London Tech City" initiative.
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Silicon Roundabout will succeed or fail regardless of government.
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Sadly, and yet again, the government causes brand dilution: this time with the "Silicon Roundabout" brand and "East London Tech City."
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Silicon Roundabout (yuk!) happened because office space was very cheap for London.
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This is purely a political gesture for TV driven by certain journalists and tech startups in London to justify their "Silicon Roundabout" desires.
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Many innovative companies have chosen to set up in Silicon Roundabout, making it a hub for technology in London.
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The growth of Silicon Roundabout has attracted entrepreneurs from all over the world to East London.
Synonyms
1
3.4
A city or area where many technology companies and startups develop new products
Surface Forms
Morphology
Silicon + Roundabout
The name pairs 'silicon' (which, via Silicon Valley, evokes the tech industry) with 'roundabout' (a traffic circle), so a learner who knows both words might infer it refers to a place associated with technology near a roundabout. However, the expression is a culturally specific toponym whose meaning as East London's tech/startup cluster depends on knowledge of the metaphorical use of 'Silicon' in place names, so the connection is not fully predictable.
Etymology
Silicon Roundabout may come from joining Silicon, a word from Silicon Valley that stands for tech, with the Roundabout at Old Street in East London, creating the picture of a small 'technology hub' around a traffic circle. That's why it now means the area and London's 'startup community'.