Whether it’s London or New York, major financial centers worldwide today need some drivers and visionaries who can deliver the growth needed in these sectors. Consequently, on Monday, London Mayor Boris Johnson took a step in that direction for his city.

He opened Level39, a major accelerator space for technologies for the U.K.’s most successful industry – finance.

Based in central London, the space will offer businesses a place to create, test, market and deliver technologies for finance as well as retail, reported TechWeek Europe. As per the report, testing will be carried out in a range of “sandboxes,” which was revealed last October.

The report indicates that Level39 will comprise a major part of the citywide industry, as the government’s attempt to make London the tech capital of Europe. In 2010, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said he hoped East London would turn into a sort of sibling of Silicon Valley, after the London Olympics were over.

With £50 million in funding, the area has seen rapid growth and development in the last two years.

Reports show that today, over 1,300 IT companies are based in East London. And major companies like Microsoft, Cisco (News - Alert), Research in Motion and KPMG have announced projects based around East London.

Similarly, a host of events have been organized for Level39, including the London Innotech Conference, the SWIFT Innotribe competition and WIRED’s Money Conference, wrote TechWeek Europe reporter, Tom Brewster.

“They will take place in the 200-seat event space,” said Brewster.

A statement from the Mayor read, “Attracting the brightest entrepreneurial minds is crucial if London is to maintain its position as the world’s foremost financial centre and Level39 will foster just the talent we need to future-proof the capital’s technology and financial sectors.”

As per the report, Eric van der Kleij, the former head of the Tech City Investment Organization (TCIO), is expected to lead Level39. He stated, “The timing could not be better to open Level39. London’s financial services sector is searching for new technologies to transform itself at the very moment that the tech sector is displaying the sort of growth required to move the U.K. economy forward.”