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With Brexit, London risks losing its status as capital of tech

With Brexit, and if London ceased to be the capital of tech? This status could then be coveted by Paris or Berlin.

While the United Kingdom will leave the European Union after a victory of the Brexit camp, the tech nebula is agitating and wondering what tomorrow will be done. Already, because according to a techUK study conducted with more than 250 start-up executives in the country, 70% felt that keeping the UK in the European Union was essential in order to remain attractive for investors around the world .

But also, because no longer belonging to the European Union, is also potentially see soon to slow down the brain drain - these European graduates who were once delighted to cross the Channel to work in the heart of London.

Foreign workers will have to apply for a work permit

Thus, the foreign work force will have to systematically apply for a work permit - steps that are known to be more tedious than simply justifying a European nationality. . While the city of London has capitalized on an effervescent bubbling of ideas from all corners of the continent, Brexit may offer the country a sympathy capital (form of "soft power") much less important. That's without counting the effects that this exit induces on the price of the pound , which may have the effect of frightening investors.

© BLOOMBERG / GETTY IMAGES brexit-main.jpg A less important soft power

Today, the terms of the output remain to be discussed. But we already know that a number of European countries (including France) will refuse to make the terms of withdrawal too easy, for fear of offering an additional argument to eurosceptics on all sides. Thus, unless bilateral agreements are put in place, going out of the common market will inevitably mean setting up customs and taxes.

Some companies will want to relocate

The co-founder of Skype, Niklas Zennstrom , had already said that the Brexit would necessarily lose London entrepreneurs like him. Because in 2003, if he chose to install the offices of Skype in the capital of the United Kingdom rather than Sweden, where he comes from, it is good for his side "financial hub" and the possibility to attract employees from all over Europe.

The British tech sphere wonders more than ever

It must be said that the European ecosystem is a particularly exciting breeding ground for a sector as new as that of tech. A week before the referendum, Brent Hoberman, co-founder of the LastMinute.com travel site, launched a campaign for a "single market for start-up", a kind of new legal framework that would help start-ups to develop . For the entrepreneur, it is essential that the UK continues to have access to the digital single market , Brexit or not.

In the meantime, elsewhere in Europe, other capitals - like Paris or Berlin - could take advantage of it to attract the disillusioned London. In any case, there is at least two years left (the time for negotiations on withdrawal conditions) in the UK before leaving the European Union for good. The British tech sphere is questioning more than ever, halfway between the temptation to relocate and waiting to see what the agreements will be made. Some funds, like the Partech fund, already promise that they will continue to bet on the English tech. One thing is certain: Brexit was mainly driven by the over-60s ... when tech companies are mostly populated by thirties europhiles graduates.