Experts have said the town needs a rebrand if it is going to be recognised as a tech hub.
Croydon should dub itself as Silicon Towers or Silicon Heights according to a panel discussion at the Develop Croydon Conference.
More than 200 delegates heard the work being done by groups like Croydon Tech City who are running events like Code Clubs to encourage kids to get into computer programming.
Jonny Rose, founder of the CTC movement, told the conference the town had almost two thirds as many digital businesses as Shoreditch.
He was joined by two of Croydon’s digital success stories, Skip Fidura of dotmailer and Paul Barnett of ICUK.
Mr Fidura said: “The challenge is that Croydon is a Tech City: but it does need some sort of brand like Silicon Valley to make it cool and give it a bit of oomph.
“What Croydon needs is the hook; it needs to become the destination where the property manager from Google starts looking at good cheap office accommodation – and then we will start to see some real attraction of talent and investment.”
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