Entrepreneurship Position Paper: overcoming barriers to scaling up

Entrepreneurship and innovation are key pillars of the UK economy, making it a cornerstone of any industrial strategy, bringing ideas to life and presenting new ways for products, services and processes to advance society. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are often able to operate with more agility than their large company counterparts but do need to take calculated risks. Access to resources remains a key challenge to SMEs progressing their ideas. Ensuring we are supporting the most promising SME’s can reduce the total of failed startups and help them scaleup, particularly with their potential to grow the economy.

The UK's innovation and entrepreneurship landscape is complex. Unclear pathways and a lack of multi-sector support exacerbates financial and communicational disconnects, further hindering growth. While incubators, accelerators, government schemes, and regional initiatives can provide crucial support, more is needed to streamline the process of bringing innovative ideas to market and supporting them through their journey.

The IET’s recommendations:

• Scaleup pathways: Government, Innovate UK and venture capitalists (VCs) should develop pathways for scaleup that are suitable for a variety of sized businesses to support the entrepreneurial journey.
• Information and development: Academia has a crucial role in supporting more spin outs and startups. Alongside apprenticeships, T Levels and university courses, there should be information on how to develop scalable, efficient and environmental design practices embedded into the curriculums and culture.
• Collaboration: Academia, industry, and government entities must have more joined up collaboration in order to provide entrepreneurs with access to cutting-edge research, technological advancements, and a highly skilled workforce. It is important to build a cohesive infrastructure that enables SMEs to overcome the barriers of scaling up.
• Diversity: Government, funding bodies, educational institutions and professional organisations should champion diversity in entrepreneurship (race, gender, socio-economic, disability, neurodiversity) through a cross-industry charter VCs and other interested parties highlighting their commitment to diversity in funding in the entrepreneurship and innovation space.
• Taxation: Government should consider the tax regime for SMEs to avoid challenges faced by other countries, who have high levels of entrepreneurship, but whose tax laws run the risk of losing those innovators and VCs.