Why is Amazon opening a pop-up loft?

Amazon already has a few Pop-up Lofts dotted around, including one in San Francisco and another in New York City, but now another loft will be located in London.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) will open its first loft in London on September 10th, 2015, which invites developers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and tech enthusiasts to come along and get the help and guidance they need to build on AWS or to build their own startup.

Visitors can also take part in training courses, boot camps, meetups and other events, or they can come along and work on their app in the office space free of charge.

The loft will also hold host to various features, including Ask an Architect where visitors can make an appointment with an AWS architect, and Self-paced Hands-on Labs, which offers beginners a session to help sharpen their AWS technical skills.

Werner Vogels, CTO and VP of Amazon, said: “The UK is a hotbed of innovation and London is one of the main places where we see talented, ambitious entrepreneurs coming together to test ideas, and start new businesses that leverage cloud computing.

“With the AWS Pop-up Loft in London we will be bringing together a host of AWS resources, and some of the brightest and most creative minds in the industry, to help startups across the UK. We look forward to working alongside the next generation of UK businesses and helping them to reach their full potential.”

Tech firm Intel and Chef, an automation company that helps enterprises configure their IT infrastructure, are supporting the new loft.

In addition, Intel will host talks and hold demonstrations of the firm’s latest technologies at the Pop-up Loft.

Patrick Bliemer, MD for Intel Northern Europe, added: “The opening of the AWS Pop-up Loft in London will provide a great opportunity for startups to receive deep technical guidance, and hands-on experience working with the latest Intel and AWS technologies.

“The startup community is a fundamental driver of technology innovations fuelling the rapid growth of the digital services economy. Intel is excited to be working closely with AWS on the AWS Pop-up Loft program, to help enable environments around the world, where users have access to the tools and expert guidance they need to bring new ideas and innovations to market.”

The Pop-up Loft will be open from September 10th until October 29th between 10am and 6pm from Monday to Friday in Moorgate.