英国退欧 科技企业会否退英

Dame Stephanie Shirley, one of Britain’s most inspirational entrepreneurs, has some bracing advice when it comes to Brexit.

英国最富感召力的企业家之一斯蒂芬妮.雪莉夫人(Dame Stephanie Shirley)对于英国退欧有一些令人振奋的建议。

Just get on with it, my friends, she told a tech crowd at Google’s London headquarters last week.

她上周在谷歌(Google)的伦敦总部向一群科技界人士表示：接受这个现实吧，我的朋友们。

As a child refugee who arrived in Britain in 1939, the founder of a pioneering all-female computer software company in the 1960s, and an active philanthropist to this day,

雪莉夫人在1939年作为一个儿童难民来到英国，她在上世纪60年代创立了一家开拓性的、员工全为女性的计算机软件公司，至今仍积极从事慈善事业。

Dame Stephanie has overcome far bigger challenges than Brexit during her lifetime.

她在一生中克服了比英国退欧大得多的挑战。

And, for the most part, Britain’s tech community has been following Dame Stephanie’s advice.

在大多数情况下，英国的科技界确实遵循了雪莉夫人的建议。

After the UK’s Europe referendum result, which few in the industry expected or welcomed, tech entrepreneurs have been trying to make the best of it.

在英国退欧公投之后（科技界没什么人预料到或者欢迎公投结果），科技企业家们一直试图随遇而安。

Those who love nothing better than talking about how to inflict disruption on others are learning to embrace a little of it themselves.

这些平素最喜欢谈论给别人带去颠覆的人们，现在自己也在学着拥抱一些颠覆性影响。

Some ominous clouds, though, are massing on the horizon.

然而，一些不祥的乌云正出现在地平线上。

There was a sharp slowdown of start-up financing in the UK in the third quarter, although that was matched elsewhere in Europe.

英国第三季度初创企业融资急剧放缓，尽管欧洲其他地区同样如此。

Rival European tech centres, from Lisbon to Berlin, have been actively targeting restless UK businesses.

从里斯本到柏林，与伦敦竞争的欧洲科技中心积极吸引心神不宁的英国企业。

Many entrepreneurs in Britain tell tales of foreign employees returning home while new foreign recruits (and their families) have been reluctant to move to the UK.

英国许多企业家谈到外国雇员回家的现象，同时近期新招的外国员工（以及他们的家人）不愿搬到英国来。

But a string of recent announcements has shown that the UK remains a strong magnet for tech companies, especially after the weakening pound has reduced the comparative cost of employing engineers in Britain.

但最近一系列宣布表明，英国依然对科技公司有着强大吸引力，尤其是在英镑贬值降低了在英国雇佣工程技术人员的比较成本之后。

Last week, Google said it would almost double its employees in London to 7,000 over the next few years, citing Britain’s pool of talented computer scientists, world-class educational institutions, and passion for innovation.

上周谷歌表示，将在今后几年将伦敦雇员人数增加近一倍，至7000人，理由是英国云集了才华横溢的计算机科学家、世界级教育机构，而且洋溢着创新激情。

Facebook quickly followed, saying it would add 500 jobs.

Facebook迅速跟进，表示将增加500个就业岗位。

Japan’s SoftBank, which recently acquired Britain’s chip design company Arm Holdings for $32bn, has promised to run its $100bn global tech investment fund out of London.

日本的软银(SoftBank)承诺将在伦敦运营其1000亿美元的全球科技投资基金。它最近以320亿美元收购了英国芯片设计公司ARM控股(Arm Holdings)。

Sir James Dyson, who backed Brexit, is investing in helping to educate a new generation of engineers.

支持英国退欧的詹姆斯.戴森爵士(Sir James Dyson)正投资帮助培训新一代的工程师。

The Chinese private equity firm CSC Group is teaming up with Founders Factory, a London incubator, to back artificial intelligence start-ups in the UK.

中国私人股本公司中科招商(CSC Group)与伦敦孵化器Founders Factory合作，支持英国的人工智能初创企业。

These investments are a shot in the arm for digital Britain, but three issues remain critical for its long-term health: migration, education, and regulation.

这些投资对英国数字行业来说不亚于一剂强心针，但该行业的长期健康仍取决于三个关键因素：移民、教育和监管。

Many tech businesses in Britain are heavily dependent on the creativity of foreign employees.

英国的许多科技企业严重依赖海外雇员的创造力。

London has to remain a place where ideas can come to have promiscuous sex, as one investor puts it.

正如一位投资者所言：伦敦将不得不依然是一个让创意能够自由交融的地方。

Britain’s universities, which underpin the tech sector, are similarly reliant on foreign researchers and students.

作为科技行业的后盾，英国大学同样依赖外国研究人员和学生。

They are seeking to reassure staff over the future loss of EU research funding and the openness of the UK.

它们正设法就未来失去欧盟研究经费和英国的开放程度安抚员工。

Theresa May appears to have heard those concerns.

特里萨.梅(Theresa May)似乎听到了这些担忧。

The prime minister is increasing spending on research and development, and promises to make Britain the global go-to place for scientists, innovators and tech investors.

英国首相增加了研发支出，并承诺让英国成为科学家、创新者和科技投资者的全球首选目的地。

The previous coalition government certainly made a great play for global tech investors by adopting one of the most responsive regulatory environments in areas such as driverless cars, commercial drones, and fintech.

上届联合政府在无人驾驶汽车、商用无人机以及金融科技等领域营造了反应最灵敏的监管环境之一，必定给全球科技投资者留下了深刻印象。

Although some may worry about the risk of crashes, both physical and metaphorical, regulatory flexibility appears vital for continued investment.

尽管一些人可能担心崩盘风险（包括物理碰撞和市场暴跌两方面的涵义），但监管灵活性似乎对持续投资至关重要。

For example, Amazon is basing much of its commercial drones business in the UK largely because of the company’s positive dialogue with local regulators.

例如，亚马逊(Amazon)将商用无人机业务的很大一部分放在英国，很大程度上是因为该公司能够与当地监管机构展开积极对话。

Brent Hoberman, chairman of Founders Factory, says the UK tech industry’s mood is based on the assumption of a soft Brexit.

Founders Factory董事长布伦特.霍伯曼(Brent Hoberman)表示，英国科技行业的情绪建立在英国软退欧假设的基础之上。

The tech community is full of entrepreneurial optimists, he says.

他说：科技界充斥着具有创业精神的乐观主义者。

People have the belief that somehow we are not going to commit economic suicide in the UK.

人们相信，英国怎么都不会干出经济自杀的蠢事。

The manner of Brexit therefore matters enormously.

因此，英国退欧方式至关重要。

But it is far from clear how the government can square popular demands to cut immigration with the tech industry’s needs to remain open to the world.

但目前远未清楚的是，英国政府如何既能顺应民意减少移民，又能满足科技行业的需求，保持对世界的开放。

So far, only a trickle of UK businesses has left following the Brexit vote.

迄今为止，只有一小部分英国企业在英国退欧公投之后离开。

But Mr Hoberman predicts the trickle will become a flood if that free flow of people comes to an end.

但霍伯曼预计，若人员自由流动被切断，涓涓细流会变成洪流。

It is worth watching what happens to Britain’s digital start-ups given they are among the businesses most connected to the rest of the world — as well as being the most mobile.

值得观察英国数字初创企业的去向，因为它们属于与其他国家联系最为紧密的企业，也是最具流动性的。

Where they go, the British economy is likely to follow.

它们的出走将是英国经济的损失。