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Cornwall - the new Seattle?
Time to swap that latte for a nice cream tea...

By Steve Ranger

Published: Thursday 14 September 2006

Cornwall could be the new Seattle if it sets out the right IT strategy, claim local tech businesses.

Cornwall Enterprise's actnow broadband partnership has set out its vision for the future of IT in Cornwall - with the aim of making the holiday county the ideal place to start or grow a business by 2015.

Surfing the Cornish tech wave

silicon.com has visited businesses across Cornwall to find out how they are using technology. Click on the links below to find out more about organisations including the satellite Earth station at Goonhilly, the St Austell Brewery and the Eden Project.

Around half of local companies are using broadband - above the national average - and Cornwall has 200,000 domestic subscribers. More than 99 per cent of homes and businesses are now able to access broadband, according to BT.

actnow project director Nigel Ashcroft said the region needs to develop an IT strategy that can allow Cornwall to become the "silicon peninsula" of the UK.

He said Cornwall can be the UK's leader in flexible working and IT can make a "big contribution to people's work-life balance".

And Paul Clark, managing director of local tech company Packet Ship Technologies, added Cornwall had a "real opportunity" to become an IT hub like Seattle but that it would take a year or two to tell whether the region could pull that off.

The actnow programme is a £20m project aimed at encouraging businesses in Cornwall to move into the broadband economy.

It is one of the largest private and public sector partnerships in Cornwall since the county was granted Objective One status by the European Union in 2000, with financing from the EU.