- Pension schemes and enterprise capital are ‘underexposed’ and may make investments extra in world class UK science and tech corporations
- The UK has deep swimming pools of institutional capital, but solely a small fraction reaches our most promising development firms, says Science Minister Lord Vallance at BVCA occasion
- To assist pension corporations to speculate with readability, authorities unveils innovation cluster map, outlining pockets of excellent analysis and commerce throughout completely different components of the UK – serving to to spice up development and jobs via our Plan for Change
Pensions corporations ought to capitalise on the large alternative to spice up non-public funding into UK science and know-how, Science Minister Lord Vallance will inform an viewers of high traders later right this moment (Thursday 2 October), as a part of a speech on the British Venture Capital Association’s (BVCA) non-public capital showcase.
The Minister will acknowledge that the UK has lengthy been famend for excellence in analysis and incubating firms on the very cutting-edge of a very powerful fields of our technology, together with life sciences, AI and quantum know-how – however many promising UK firms have been held again from scaling to their full potential because of an absence of accessible capital.
While $16 billion has been invested into UK start-ups and scale-ups final 12 months, and greater than $8 billion raised within the first half of 2025, exceeding France and Germany mixed, the federal government desires to go additional and sooner to spice up development via its Plan for Change .
Taking Cambridge-founded Arm as a flagship instance of British innovation that scales globally, he’ll name on non-public pensions traders to work with VCs and different property managers to again our subsequent technology of excessive development firms. This would ship long-term returns for traders, whereas retaining extra of the worth and jobs created by these firms within the UK.
Science Minister Lord Vallance stated:
There are far too many UK firms working on the cutting-edge of rising applied sciences, like AI, biotechnology and quantum to which UK traders are underexposed.
Through our Industrial Strategy, we’re constructing an setting the place public funding, streamlined regulation and partnerships with trade are channelling funding into science and know-how.
Encouraging higher flows of capital into the sector is one other piece of the puzzle, supporting firms to develop and jobs to be created.
To assist assist traders to raised determine the businesses, sectors and areas of the UK to focus on for funding, the Minister has right this moment additionally unveiled a new and improved Innovation Clusters Map .
This map identifies areas and areas the place networks of companies and analysis establishments are benefitting from shut proximity to 1 one other, boosting the consequences of analysis, growth, and innovation. This means traders know the place to hunt out experience and crucially profit from the talents that exist across the nation – supporting regional development and creating high quality jobs in locations the place they’re most wanted.
It will embrace detailed data on a variety of sectors, aligned with the federal government’s Industrial Strategy , together with:
- superior manufacturing
- inventive
- digital and tech
- monetary providers
- skilled and enterprise providers
- life sciences
Clusters ripe for funding that includes as a part of the map embrace the north west of England, the place life sciences firms are creating new medicine to struggle most cancers and irritation and vaccines to guard towards bacterium behind ailments like pneumonia and sepsis. Meanwhile the Glasgow metropolis area, often known as ‘satellite tv for pc metropolis’, is constructing the satellites that assist to underpin trendy know-how, retaining Britons related.
The software permits potential traders, trade, analysis establishments and authorities to grasp native innovation ecosystems and determine development and funding alternatives.