As part of Amazon’s drive to expand its UK workforce, the company plans to double its research and development staff in London. Amazon currently have 450 workers in its London R&D team and plans to increase this to 900 by the end of 2017.

The London R&D team focus on developing Amazon’s prime Video Service, which broadcasts The Grand Tour, The Man in the High Castle and Outlander. Most recent projects also consist of building a mobile downloads feature that allows users of Prime Video to watch programmes without being connected to the internet.

In order to make room for the new R&D team, Amazon will be opening a new development centre and new head office in Shoreditch. The new centre will open within a week and will consist of 15 storeys and 600,000 sq ft, making it one of the biggest headquarters in the city.

Amazon’s increased investment in developing cutting-edge technology in London is showing to be a vote of confidence in the UK as a world leader for creativity and innovation.

Since 2010 Amazon has invested £6.4bn into research in the UK, and by the end of this year will have created 5,000 new permanent roles.

Amazon also currently has R&D sites in Edinburgh and Cambridge, which are working on voice recognition services, drones and further developing online and mobile shopping services.

Amazon knows the value of investing into R&D and utilising the talented and creative people by creating teams of innovators in a purpose built workplace.

The Government strongly supports R&D investment and is offering significant R&D tax relief incentives. If you believe your company may be eligible for an R&D Tax Relief, contact a Swanson Reed Tax Advisor today for an assessment. We look forward to speaking with you.