In the middle of the economic discomfort, which followed the financial crisis of 2008 in Great Britain, the unemployment, the slow growth, the close budget consolidation-began to form a groundbreaking political drive.
This shift, which was driven by the conservatively guided coalition government at the time, was developed to transform the United Kingdom into “Incubator Great Britain” and to win software and tech entrepreneurs with generous tax benefits, the early stages supported by the government and to do the basics for the start-up hub today.
While these initiatives were successful to initiate the start -up growth, they did little to help these companies to scale. Despite the distribution costs, the British software companies take almost twice as long from GBP to 100 million GBP to income, such as their American colleagues, which are held back by a number of persistent obstacles that stun their growth potential.
Isn't it time that we applied the same strategic focus on the support of scale -ups against the current background of weak growth as we did with start -ups in the 2010s? With increasing geopolitical tensions, the structure of our local technology sector is a good business sense and bolstes our future security.
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The ScaleUp sector makes an oversized contribution to the economy, with only 1% of the British SMEs, but generates 22% of the SME turnover. The creation of the right conditions for flourishing powerful companies is therefore of crucial importance not only for the success of new companies, but also for the decisive mission of the government of central importance: economic growth.
Recognizing the obstacles to the growth of the scaling
Without meaningful measures to address these obstacles, the United Kingdom risks the loss of our most promising technology companies against foreign markets and takes up high-quality jobs, innovations and intellectual property with them that has already cost the United Kingdom billions. The country has the golden opportunity to break this cycle, especially in AI, where we have the potential to create important companies worldwide instead of growing it elsewhere or lifting it from US giants. The AI ​​sector alone has grown with its considerably Gross value added The increase of 1 billion GBP in 2022 to 1.2 billion GBP in 2023, and according to estimates, the British AI companies generated sales of over 14 billion GBP. Keeping these companies could be transforming.
In a recent by The Think Tank, The Future Governance Forum, the focus was on the obstacles with which ScaleUps were exposed. The participants included the Labor MP Josh Simons, the BVCA – the trading authority for the British private equity and risk capital industry – and my company, boardwave – a community of more than 2,000 European software managers and -CEOs. In the discussion, the results of the recent report of the Future Governance Forum “Skalieren a Berg” was reproduced, in which three critical areas were determined in which politics must change to enable this significant growth. These were: finance, talent and place.
Financing: Removal of the funding gap in the late stage in British technology
While a lot of capital is available for the investments of the series-A, Scaleups often have difficulty securing the financing of the later level they need to continue growing. This “valley of death” in financing is a well-documented problem with an estimated lack of domestic scale investment of 15 billion GBP per year.
The government cannot close this gap alone; It is essential to unlock larger pools of private capital. Sweden's model that promotes investments in the growth stages in companies offers a potential blueprint. The British agenda for the pension reform represents a similar opportunity to mobilize larger investments in the private sector.
Talent: Coping with the attitude challenges and skills gaps
The labor market dynamics also make it difficult for scale -ups to be able to thrive.
The recent roundtable emphasized the challenges in the hiring in Great Britain, since the recent political changes – such as the increase in the national contributions of employers – were on the company's trust.
In addition, this is the availability of technological talent. The Visa system Great Britain must better support the development of skills in high demand, especially in AI if the country remains competitive worldwide. The government should examine targeted visa routes such as Estonia's e-residency rules in order to attract the talent that is necessary to advance the next generation of companies with growth-value companies.
Location: Create Scaleup Hubs throughout the UK
There is a significant opportunity to position Britain as the best basis for scaling companies that want to enter the European market, especially for investors and companies from high -growth economies such as Brazil. Many foreign investors see Great Britain as attractive for reasons such as our strategic location, the English language, our openness to foreign direct investment (FDI), a good infrastructure and a stable government.
However, the current feeling – especially in the software and technology sector – is that Britain is often a less attractive place to scale a company than other markets. Despite this reputation, technology plays an increasingly critical role in promoting growth, promoting innovations in key sectors such as defense, energy and security and strengthening the geopolitical position of Great Britain.
The recent announcement by the government of increasing the defense expenditure underlines the need for sustainable investments in state -of -the -art technology in order to maintain strategic advantages. To fully use the potential of Tech -Scale -ups – not only as an economic driver, but also as pillars of national resilience – Company investment program (ice) Should be expanded to support more mature, scaling companies in sectors that are brought into harmony with these priorities. In this way, Britain can consolidate its leadership in the global tech landscape and at the same time increase its economic and geopolitical position.
Regional growth is also the key to coping with the broader trust problem in British entrepreneurship. In the southeast, more people are employed by ScaleuPs in the south of East than in the rest of England. And since the majority of foreign financing for technology goes to companies in London and in the southeast, this increases the need to use more Great Britain in technology and to pursue a placement approach for scale-up policy.
A stronger entrepreneurial communities is essential to promote long -term growth. A more networked Great Britain and European Ecosystem in which founders have access to mentors, capital, AI specialist knowledge and proven procedures will be of crucial importance for the promotion of innovations and competitiveness. Great Britain already has a strong basis for experienced managers in technical and growing strong companies, and their specialist knowledge should be used and shared as part of the country's wider growth strategy. By activating the cooperation and the exchange of knowledge between the regions, we can create a more resilient, well -grown entrepreneurial landscape that drives the scaling success nationwide.
Creation of the right conditions for British technology
One of the most striking conclusions of the Roundtable came from Josh Simons MP: Companies and investors should use the opportunity to act. While political changes in relation to investments, talents and location can play an important role in creating the right conditions, the private sector must also take the lead in dealing with risk aversion and mobilizing investments in the most promising companies.
Two years ago, when he was in the opposition, the then shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves outlined her ambition to make Great Britain the “best place to grow a company”, and swore to destroy the “stubborn obstacles”, hold the scale-ups back. Now, as a Chancellor of the government, she has the unique opportunity to realize this vision.
By fulfilling this power brille, the decisive role scale -ups in the British economy is recorded. Politicians have to take care of the ground in which clusters grow and sow the seeds that “incubator Britain” transform into “Scaleup Britain”. The government's mission for growth depends on it.
