Ed Bevan
Head of SME Engagement, techUK
In a competitive global market, the UK must develop a growth strategy that leverages its strengths in AI, biotech, green technologies and fintech, with robust support for SMEs being crucial.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the UK economy, representing over 99% of all businesses and providing about 60% of private sector employment.
Foster thriving UK tech SMEs
SMEs drive competition, stimulate innovation and create jobs — all of which are essential for economic growth. To capitalise on the forthcoming technological revolution, it is vital to foster an environment where these enterprises can thrive.
Building the next trillion-dollar tech company is another ambitious yet achievable goal. The UK has demonstrated its capacity to nurture unicorns, but the focus now should be on ensuring these companies grow further and remain in the UK. This involves not only maintaining a competitive environment for startups but also developing proactive support mechanisms for scaling companies.
Supporting scale-ups is seen as a key economic growth opportunity for the UK.
Supporting UK tech scale-ups
Cracking Britain’s scale-up challenge is now more important than ever. A difficult year in venture capital markets has meant that once-available capital is more restricted. Government efforts to open new investment options from pension funds and institutional investors are the right policies, but it will take time.
Scale-ups have enormous potential; an analysis of the 100 scale-ups within techUK’s own membership shows a potential growth rate of 36.5%. Moreover, its group of tech scale-ups have doubled the number of people it employs over the past five years and could employ as many as 20,000 people in the near future.
Supporting scale-ups is seen as a key economic growth opportunity for the UK and the route to developing future globally leading companies in science and technology. In response, the UK Government is seeking to create an environment to better support the UK’s most promising and fastest-growing firms.
Collective efforts for investment
As such, techUK is working with its scale-up members to help inform and shape how the Government approaches new regulation and policy so that we can unlock barriers to growth and build an economy that continues to lead on business productivity, investment and innovation.
Our scale-up group will be a focal point for techUK’s engagement with the Government, opposition, government agencies such as the British Business Bank and National Infrastructure Bank, as well as private investors to provide an enhanced level of support to some of our fastest-growing companies.
If you’re interested in getting involved in our scale-up activities, find out more information here or get in touch with [email protected].
