Uploaded December 2014 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Eric Van der Kleij is Head of Level39, leads Canary Wharf Group’s Cognicity Challenge, is the Managing Director of Pivotal Innovations, and is a special adviser to the Canary Wharf Group on its proposition and strategy for technology companies.
Level39 is Europe’s largest accelerator space focusing on finance, retail, cyber, and future-cities technologies, an organisation that Eric has lead since its inception in March 2013. Since its conception, Level39 has launched a further floor on the 42nd floor of the same building at Canary Wharf, and is home to over 150 technology companies.
Eric also leads the Cognicity Challenge is a pioneering technology challenge that aims to identify and accelerate the development of smart city technologies. The Challenge runs throughout 2015, and is divided into six competitions, each of which focuses on a different area of technology that will contribute to the creation of a smarter and more efficient city environment. Winners of these six programmes have the opportunity to pilot their technologies at Canary Wharf.
In early 2011, he was appointed the first Chief Executive of the Tech City Investment Organisation, an organisation and strategy he created, which was charged by the Prime Minister with accelerating the growth of London’s “Silicon Roundabout” technology cluster. Eric also helped the UK government establish the highly successful Global Entrepreneur Programme, and was Special Advisor on Major Projects at UK Trade and Investment.
Eric is also an advisor to Innovate Finance, a new industry group and members organisation designed to give the UK’s burgeoning fintech community a voice and a brand to help the UK become an even greater leader in global technology-led financial services. At his core Eric is a technology entrepreneur, having previously founded pioneering credit card fraud and collections alerting company Adeptra (raised a record $40M – sold 2012 to NYSE FICO). Eric volunteers for the Tech City UK advisory board with the objective to provide strategic direction for the UK government’s efforts to support the tech cluster in East London, and is a volunteer on the Tech London Advocates Immigration group.
Eric Van der Kleij is Head of Level39, leads Canary Wharf Group’s Cognicity Challenge, is the Managing Director of Pivotal Innovations, and is a special adviser to the Canary Wharf Group on its proposition and strategy for technology companies.
Level39 is Europe’s largest accelerator space focusing on finance, retail, cyber, and future-cities technologies, an organisation that Eric has lead since its inception in March 2013. Since its conception, Level39 has launched a further floor on the 42nd floor of the same building at Canary Wharf, and is home to over 150 technology companies.
Eric also leads the Cognicity Challenge is a pioneering technology challenge that aims to identify and accelerate the development of smart city technologies. The Challenge runs throughout 2015, and is divided into six competitions, each of which focuses on a different area of technology that will contribute to the creation of a smarter and more efficient city environment. Winners of these six programmes have the opportunity to pilot their technologies at Canary Wharf.
In early 2011, he was appointed the first Chief Executive of the Tech City Investment Organisation, an organisation and strategy he created, which was charged by the Prime Minister with accelerating the growth of London’s “Silicon Roundabout” technology cluster. Eric also helped the UK government establish the highly successful Global Entrepreneur Programme, and was Special Advisor on Major Projects at UK Trade and Investment.
Eric is also an advisor to Innovate Finance, a new industry group and members organisation designed to give the UK’s burgeoning fintech community a voice and a brand to help the UK become an even greater leader in global technology-led financial services. At his core Eric is a technology entrepreneur, having previously founded pioneering credit card fraud and collections alerting company Adeptra (raised a record $40M – sold 2012 to NYSE FICO). Eric volunteers for the Tech City UK advisory board with the objective to provide strategic direction for the UK government’s efforts to support the tech cluster in East London, and is a volunteer on the Tech London Advocates Immigration group.
