Stop the Silicon Valley chat

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to a packed edition.

Silicon Valley was first mentioned in Parliament during a debate in 1979 on how to finance industrial innovation. 47 years later, politicians still look to Silicon Valley as something to emulate.

But rather than aspire to a poorly-defined place 5,500 miles away, that most of us have never visited, the UK has quietly created something that rivals the Valley in terms of innovation concentration and economic importance to a single country in a one-mile radius of King's Cross Station.

I’m not going to cover how great King’s Cross is because that's been done well. Instead I’ll look at how so much of the country’s potential became concentrated in three square miles, how politicians and policymakers have largely ignored it and how hard it is to replicate.

Happening Today 📆

Charm offensive: OpenAI announced a "European Youth Safety Blueprint" this morning with policy suggestions for EU and UK policymakers on chatbot safety. The company also said it was giving grants to two UK groups, Parent Zone and Mental Health Innovations.

Going live: Local elections are the big one this week. Join our expert panel and Q&A on Monday May 11 to chat through their impact on tech policy.

Full events calendar is here.