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London's huge new innovation centre Plexal reveals official opening date

Plexal, the massive new innovation centre housed within the Olympic Park, is set to open on 12 June with an official opening ceremony headed up by the Mayor, Sadiq Khan.

The technology and innovation centre, which will be one of Europe’s biggest when it fully opens, encompasses 68,000 sq ft of space at Here East and has been designed as multi-use complex offering everything from business services for startups, to desk space, a maker’s lab, incubator and everything in between.

Featuring a uniquely designed ‘high street’ and ‘town square’ layout by architects Grimshaw, the rationale behind the complex has been focused on encouraging collaboration and networking amongst the startups and entrepreneurs who will be based there, as well as hooking up startups with global corporations.

The facility itself soft-launched earlier this year, with the full launch slipping a few months later than originally planned, but still handily falling on the eve of London Tech Week.

Initially, the new complex will focus on startups and technologies centered around emergent innovations such as wearables, Internet of Things (IoT), smart cities, fashion, sport and inclusive finance, although this is likely to shift with the times over the coming years.

Steering the ship will be FinTech stalwart Claire Cockerton, who is perhaps most famous for founding the Level39 FinTech accelerator based out of 1 Canada Square in Canary Wharf.

Ahead of the big launch, Cockerton commented: “Plexal will become a truly unique innovation centre not only for London but the rest of the World.

“Our mission is to become the beating heart of inventive enterprise; connected, intelligent & dynamic - where people join forces, idea spark & new business is born.

“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 & services that emerge from Plexal.”

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