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Facebook has followed Google\u2019s lead by trumpeting plans to expand its presence in the UK\u00a0\u2014 despite ongoing uncertainty over the impact of this summer\u2019s\u00a0Brexit<\/a> vote for the country to\u00a0leave the European Union.<\/p>\n Speaking at the annual CBI conference<\/a> in London today, Facebook\u2019s Nicola Mendelsohn, VP EMEA, announced plans for the social network to increase its UK headcount by 50 per cent by the end of\u00a02017, and open a new HQ in the country.<\/p>\n Mendelsohn said the aim is to grow headcount from 1,000 to 1,500 by then \u2014 with \u201cmany\u201d of the new jobs touted as \u201chigh skilled engineering jobs\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe came to London in 2007 with just a handful of people, by the end of next year we will have opened a new HQ and plan to employ 1,500 people. Many of those new roles will be high skilled engineering jobs as the UK is home to our largest engineering base outside of the US and is where we have developed new products like Workplace,\u201d she said, also\u00a0noting the company\u2019s presence in Somerset \u2014 where its\u00a0Aquila facility is working on designing and building solar power unmanned planes to bring\u00a0connectivity to remote regions.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear exactly what proportion of\u00a0the\u00a0additional\u00a0jobs would\u00a0be engineering roles vs other jobs such as sales. We asked\u00a0but the company declined to provide any further\u00a0details.<\/p>\n Facebook\u2019s announcement of an intention to increase UK headcount follows\u00a0Google\u2019s UK-focused publicity last week<\/a> when the company re-announced a long planned\u00a0expansion of its London\u00a0campus \u2014 couching the move\u00a0as a continued commitment to the UK in spite of Brexit.<\/p>\n Reporters were told that the capacity of Google\u2019s new London HQ\u00a0is 7,000 vs the 4,000 of\u00a0its current building\u00a0\u2014 with the implication being the company\u00a0could employee 3,000 more staff in the UK<\/a>\u00a0by 2020. Assuming, that is, business conditions in the UK prove favorable \u2014 with CEO Sundar Pichai talking about the \u2018absolute\u2019 importance of open borders<\/a> and free movement for skilled migrants. Two things that,\u00a0absolutely, cannot be guaranteed, given the UK\u2019s impending Brexit. So\u00a0quite how many of those potential 3,000 additional Google UK jobs end up existing remains to be seen \u2014 like so many things affected by Brexit.<\/p>\n Facebook\u2019s UK expansion plans don\u2019t mention\u00a0any\u00a0specific caveats or conditions for the company to grow headcount in the country. But in related PR it also makes a point of referencing its mission to \u201cmake the world\u00a0more open and connected\u201d. Which reads like a not-so-subtle argument for the UK government to push for\u00a0a \u2018soft Brexit\u2019, rather than the tough on immigration rhetoric of the hard Brexiteers.<\/p>\n Especially as a \u201cplan\u201d to add an additional 500\u00a0jobs is in no way\u00a0an irreversible guarantee. So again, it remains to be seen how many of the extra Facebook jobs survive the looming Brexit negotiations.<\/p>\n UK Prime Minister Theresa May has said she intends to trigger the start of the two-year negotiation process to leave the EU by the end of March 2017.<\/p>\n Also speaking at the CBI conference today, the Prime Minister\u00a0announced\u00a0a series of business-friendly measures<\/a> aimed at pouring some emollient oil on the troubled waters of Brexit \u2014 including a government funding boost for RD worth \u00a32BN per year by 2020; and a\u00a0review of the UK\u2019s corporate tax rate, suggesting it could\u00a0move to substantially cut the rate below the current 20 per cent. (Albeit, such a move\u00a0could\u00a0in fact complicate the UK\u2019s Brexit negotiations \u2014 given it would likely be viewed as a hostile move by EU governments<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Also on the table: a possible boost for RD tax credits to further support businesses conducting research in the UK.<\/p>\n May also announced a new\u00a0Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, overseen by UK Research and Innovation and funded by some of the \u00a32BN RD boost \u2014 aimed at supporting\u00a0the commercialization of what the government is dubbing \u201cpriority technologies\u201d, such as\u00a0robotics, biotechnology and AI.<\/p>\n Other emerging fields that could benefit from the new fund\u2019s support include medical technology, satellites, advanced materials manufacturing and \u201cother areas where the UK has a proven scientific strength and there is a significant economic opportunity for commercialisation\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Featured Image: Sean Gallup\/Getty Images<\/small><\/p>\n Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/BKBS2H1xAq0\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Facebook has followed Google\u2019s lead by trumpeting plans to expand its presence in the UK\u00a0\u2014 despite ongoing uncertainty over the impact of this summer\u2019s\u00a0Brexit vote for the country to\u00a0leave the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,7,14,15,6,12,11],"class_list":["post-1732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-update","tag-computer-news","tag-downloads","tag-microsoft-download-news","tag-networking-updates","tag-technology-update","tag-wordpress-plugin-download","tag-wordpress-theme-download"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t