is london becoming (even more) exciting?

[This is day #19 of my 30-day microblogging challenge. You can and should still join!]

I’ve been visiting London for a week now. I hadn’t spent much time in the UK since ~2023. It seems like things have been becoming more exciting? For starters, I’ve been hearing about more cool startups and talent intending to move here, from biotech, AI, and deep tech in generally. Partly because of the heated political (and immigration) situation.

I haven’t been as social as I would have liked, but I’ve also heard about a few interesting events (a “running hackathon” where you’re only able to vibecode hands-free from your phone while running, a techno-optimist/futurist picnic, a meetup and presentation for Mirai Tech City, a new longevity biotech pop-up happening in Japan during October <– I’ll be there!)

And here’s some other cool things:

• Waymo has started testing FSD in the city
• ARIA & other orgs like Renaissance Philanthropy are supporting new original deeptech initiatives
• they’re expanding the Global Talent visas (friendly high-skill immigration signal!)
• psychedelic trials!
• Neuralink trials!
• (random fun fact: there’s more digital “mind uploading” companies in London than in the Bay Area! (Netho Labs, Duality Institute, EightSix vs EON Systems, Nectome)

I’ll be staying for one more week, and I’d be interested in connecting with more interesting communities & more folks with shared interests. Shoot me a DM on X! @techno0ptimist