The UK might not have its own Silicon Valley to speak of just quite yet. However, according to a report released today, some homegrown tech giants akin to Google and
Facebook might just be in the forecast if the government supports the emergence of more "scale-up" companies on the business scene.
Launching the Scale-up Report on UK Economic Growth, which bases its findings on an analysis of 50 Scale-up programmes piloted in 20 different countries, Sherry Coutu CBE, non-executive director of the London Stock Exchange, predicts that "scale-up" companies could "contribute a million new jobs and an additional £1 trillion to UK Economic Growth by 2034".
The UK boasts a host of successful businesses and starts more companies per capita than the US. However, the main stumbling block to growing a global tech empire is the country's current inability to "scale-up" these startups into larger companies. This means that the UK still possesses relatively fewer large companies in comparison to the US and other nations.
As high-growth "Scale-Up" companies contribute substantial amounts of jobs and growth to the economy, according to the report, the most effective approach that government leaders, businesses and academics could take is to actively work toward closing the "Scale-up gap" to drive the economy.
Focusing on the key components of business growth is essential, with Coutu arguing that in order to drive the economy and bump startups into bigger companies, "we need to be more effective at identifying the companies that have the greatest potential, and making sure they can find the most talented people and serve more customers, in more countries, more easily".
In order to bridge this "Scale-up gap", the report offers 12 key ideas to the UK central government, local government and community stakeholders.
Among its recommendations, the report suggests that national data on scale-ups should be made available to the public by the government, that government bodies should help connect scale-up businesses with students, and that specific "Scale-up Visas" should allow companies to invite, for fixed periods, overseas personnel with the skills to meet immediate business needs. The report also urges the government to work closely with industry to provide the prerequisite infrastructure and close the finance gap for fast-growth companies.
The report has provoked a flurry of commentary from both the UK's top businesses executives and thinkers. Will Hutton, Principal of Hertford College Oxford and Chair of the Big Innovation Centre has said that, "if the country is to capitalise on its strengths and emergent entrepreneurial culture then it is vital that we construct the ecosystem in which more startups and young firms grow to maturity". "This is about taking the next step in re-building our economy," said Julian David, CEO of techUK. "The startup agenda has been a great success -- especially in tech. We now need to emulate that success with Scale-Ups. The prize is clear -- more high-value jobs and a huge boost to growth."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
