National Going for Growth report launch overview

It takes a community to raise an idea – on the 4 March we saw Sister’s community expand even further as we convened leading voices in London, for the national launch of our inaugural thought leadership report: “Going for Growth: Unleashing the UK’s Start-up Potential.”

The innovation landscape never stands still, and a lot has changed since late last year when we initially released the report at our Manchester launch event – not least the release of the UK Government’s landmark ‘AI Opportunities Action Plan,’ proposing a new blueprint for the UK to become a global leader in frontier technologies. 

But what hasn’t changed, is the urgent need to better understand the opportunities and challenges UK spin-outs, start-ups, and scale-ups are currently facing, examining where they are thriving as well as where there is more work to do.  

“By understanding and addressing these challenges, we can work towards a more balanced ecosystem: one that drives innovation, attracts investment, and boosts economic growth across the UK,” says Sister’s Project Director, Bradley Topps in the report’s foreword. “To create a landscape where every part of the country plays a role in the UK’s exciting innovation story.”

After a stellar launch in Manchester last December, we were thrilled to see new and familiar faces join us for part two of our expert-led deep dive into the report’s compelling findings on the state of the UK start-up ecosystem. 

The future of UK innovation

Unlocking the untapped potential of the UK’s innovative early-stage businesses will benefit everything from the economy to industry and productivity to prosperity. Supporting start-up growth trajectory is about better collaboration between government, industry and academia, but first and foremost it’s about seeing things from the start-up perspective – and that’s exactly what our “Going for Growth” report aims to do. 

Featuring a diverse range of industry-leading voices, this report is a compilation of lived experiences and insights from Sister’s community as well as experts and entrepreneurs from across the UK’s innovation ecosystem. 

These include candid perspectives from interviews with some of the organisations within Sister’s ecosystem – FOTENIX, Kraken, Graphene Innovations Manchester, MolMart, and The University of Manchester – as well as the expertise shared at our roundtables in London and Manchester, where a diverse group of experts came together to discuss the future of UK innovation. 

So, what does this future look like? Although the landscape is constantly evolving, conversations like those held in London yesterday at our launch event take us one step closer to understanding. Taking a temperature check of the current state of play in the UK start-up ecosystem, this report offers vital insight to help define the path ahead, so it was great to see so many leading experts dive deeper. 

Here’s a snapshot of some of the key questions the report explores.

What opportunities and challenges do UK start-ups currently face? 

Home to some of the world’s top academic institutions, the UK offers fertile ground for entrepreneurs and start-ups to innovate, grow, and disrupt industries. But whether it’s the lack of scale-up capital, commercialisation challenges, or issues with securing top talent – there are still many barriers that stifle their scale-up trajectory. 

“We don’t have a choice but to innovate,” says Charles Veys, Co-founder and Managing Director of FOTENIX in his report profile. “The UK might not be the largest market, but we have world-class academic and research sectors, and that’s where our competitive advantage lies.” 

“Be prepared for the long haul and understand that success often requires navigating through uncharted waters,” advises Devrim Celal, Chief Marketing & Flexibility Officer of Kraken in his interview. 

Where can we improve and what can we learn from other global centres of innovation?

From Silicon Valley to Tel Aviv to Paris to Beijing – these thriving innovation hubs all around the world offer insight for the UK about how to grow. We need to understand what works well for them and what doesn’t so we can replicate their success in our start-up ecosystem, helping to keep the UK’s world-class innovation and talent on home soil.

“My company stayed in Manchester as long as we did because of the innovation and support of The University of Manchester. But if the rest of the ecosystem doesn’t catch up, we will undoubtedly see many more companies like mine taking their growth – and the advantages that flow from it – overseas,” explains Dr Vivek Koncherry, CEO of Graphene Innovations Manchester in his profile interview. 

Beyond addressing scale-up challenges – there are also many other ways the UK start-up landscape must evolve in parallel. As Dr Markella Mikkelson, CEO of MolMart explains: “There’s still a lot of prejudice. We’re accepted in femtech, but if you step outside of that, there’s still a perception that women don’t belong in deep tech. Investors often look for the 'token male' on the board.” 

How can we unlock the full potential of UK start-ups?

To maximise the potential of the UK start-up ecosystem, small businesses must have access to the ingredients needed to thrive. This includes scale-up funding, strong networks, role models, a strategic mindset, and a clear vision of the future – to name a few – but we also need to see the UK develop a greater appetite for risk.

“In the UK, we tend to be risk-averse, but we need to take more bets. By embracing risk, we can attract more companies, which in turn brings more talent and investment,” says Aline Miller, Professor and CSO, Unit M, The University of Manchester and University Academic Innovation Lead at Sister, in her profile interview.

What does the future hold?

No one knows what the future holds for Manchester, the UK, or the global innovation landscape as a whole. But what we can be sure of is the pivotal role that start-ups will play in shaping it. 

Innovation, collaboration, creativity, community – these are the golden threads of change woven throughout the fabric of the UK start-up ecosystem, threads the UK must preserve and capitalise on to drive prosperity and economic progress. Whether it's opening channels to access early-stage funding, working to keep our exceptional talent in the UK, or improving the commercialisation of the world-class research and development going on here – we need to create an environment where small businesses and their groundbreaking ideas can thrive.   

“This report is the result of a deep exploration into the challenges and opportunities facing start-ups and scale-ups. Through conversations with dozens of industry experts in the start-up space, by assessing the UK’s innovation landscape at a macro level and looking to global exemplars, our ambition is that Sister becomes an ecosystem that works for start-ups,” explains Bradley. “Our journey is focused on delivering the infrastructure and support needed to seize opportunities and address challenges along the way.”

Thank you to everyone who joined us at our Manchester and London launch events, as well as all those who contributed their thoughts, insights and perspectives to this report. We look forward to harnessing them to fuel our mission of building a world-leading innovation district that helps to deliver the change the world needs.