2020 Recommendations

1.

USE DATA TO IDENTIFY AND FACILITATE CONNECTION TO AND ACCESS BY SCALEUPS 

The forthcoming National Data Strategy must specifically create clear protocols for the effective sharing of business data held within HMRC between national and local government agencies – for the purpose of enabling targeted engagement of scaling firms to gain access to the expanse of relevant Government support programmes, including procurement, Innovate UK, export, finance and visa services. It should build upon the recent work of the ScaleUp Institute with Government on the targeting of engagement, and tap into datasets that combine ONS, Companies House and HMRC datapoints to enable stakeholders to fast track solutions to scaleup leaders.

Further, we believe a verification process should be developed allowing local and national stakeholders in the private sector to verify the ‘Scaleup status’ of a business, enabling wider services and ‘fast track’ solutions to be applied.

If necessary, legislation should be passed to enable this strategy to be implemented effectively and be factored into the delivery of the National Data Strategy. In the meantime, the scaleup data pilots initiated with Government should be continued and built upon.

2.

ENHANCE SCALEUP OPPORTUNITIES TO ENGAGE IN PEER TO PEER NETWORKS

The public, private and education sector should continue to work together to close the gap on provision of high-quality flexible scaleup leadership programmes, including mentoring, peer networks and matchmaking of non-executive directors who have scaled businesses before. Better connections should also continue to be made between national programmes and local ecosystem leaders.

3.

CONNECT TALENT – DEVELOP A SCALEUP VISA AND ENSURE TALENT SCHEMES ALIGN TO SCALEUP NEEDS. MANDATE COMPUTING IN SECONDARY EDUCATION

A ‘Scaleup Visa’ should be made available in communities where there are 100+ scaleup companies to enable scaleup leaders, across all sectors, to recruit the staff they need to increase their capacity to grow. The Government should make the international skills needs of scaling businesses a priority. Local authorities, education establishments, advisory and finance companies should be able to be sponsors of such visas. Ecosystem players should work closely to connect University leavers with these schemes to ensure that graduate and post graduate talent educated in the UK has every chance to contribute to the growth and skills needs of regional scaleup businesses. A fastrack process should be acted upon on aligned to Recommendation 1 above. 

The National Skills Guarantee, Apprenticeship, and Kickstart programmes should be made as accessible to scaleups as possible. As recommended in the Logan Report, Computing Science (Computing in England and Wales) should be a mandated subject from the first year of secondary school with private sector experts and entities leveraged in its delivery on a more coordinated basis and entrepreneurship should be fostered. Government should use their convening and promotional power to ensure that students at schools, colleges and universities come into contact with scaleup business leaders leveraging such entities as Careers Enterprise Company.  

4.

ALIGN FUNDING TO LOCAL SCALEUP INITIATIVES AND CREATE SCALEUP HUBS IN EVERY LOCALITY / STRATEGIC SECTOR TO INCREASE THE SCALEUP DENSITY AND TRENDS OVER TIME

Funding for local communities should continue to be tied to the effective deployment of initiatives that close the scaleup gap as well as the results and impacts that they have on the number of scaleup businesses in their area. Every local area should have a scaleup strategy, tackling the key scaleup challenges and creating a local ‘ecosystem hub’ of scaleup excellence. A scaleup cluster map should be developed based on currently available datasets, dovetailing with the National Data Strategy.

5.

DEPLOY LOCAL SCALEUP CHAMPIONS

All local communities should appoint a Scaleup Champion and develop a relationship management structure for scaleup businesses. These emerging networks should use Government data as a foundational part of proactive outreach Account Management to scaleup companies to provide access to wider programmes and services that will benefit them on their growth journey.

6.

SEGMENT SCALEUPS LOCALLY & NATIONALLY

The Government – in any, initiatives including the forthcoming Industrial Strategy Refresh, Business Support Review and Comprehensive Spending Review (expected 2021)– should ensure that there is distinct segmentation of scaleups as a ‘sector’ and funding for impactful business support (whether it be mentors, leadership or networks) has a significant focus and segmentation towards our scaleup businesses, which are generators of wealth, exports and productivity to the UK economy. No gap in scaleup support provision should be allowed to arise in light of the UK’s changing relationship with the EU.

7.

ALIGN GREATER EXPORT RESOURCES TO SCALEUPS, AT HOME AND ABROAD, INCLUDING DEDICATED INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMES

We recommend that central Government further embeds its export strategy and further progresses greater alignment and proportion of resources to scaleups. This should include building on the EITA service to ensure deployment of dedicated scaleup relationship managers, at home and abroad, dedicated trade missions and insights targeted towards our scaling firms and markets of interest.  All local areas should set up a local export programme for scaling businesses, such as that developed by the Mayor’s International Business Programme in London and now the Global Scaleup Programme in Manchester.

The implementation of this strategy should include the development of a ‘Scaleup Desk’ in all Embassies to enable scaleups to access local markets.

8.

SIMPLIFY AND INCREASE SCALEUP ACCESS TO PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AND R&D COLLABORATION 

The Public Sector should increase its buying and strategic partnership with scaleup companies by objectivising procurement champions to this end and ensuring their objectives are aligned and measured to a common standard; including targets for working with scaleups. Utilising Government data, all public bodies should improve the way opportunities are promoted to scaleup companies. The Government should continue the evolution of Contracts Finder to become a smart / ‘light touch’ procurement platform and continue to develop more scaleup specific ‘meet the buyer’ events working with local areas, as well as   build on the current work underway as regards sandbox environments. There is opportunity to leverage UKRI/Innovate UK to create more meet the buyer opportunities and engage links to University access for scaling firms. UKRI should be encouraged to forge even closer links with companies within the Innovate UK portfolio and the deployment of the Frascati principles should be reviewed. Full implementation of stated intents, such as with the R&D roadmap, and better implementation of procurement initiatives in the public sector – such as the the Small Business Research Initiative should be better used and embedded across government departments to work with scaling businesses (e.g. Transport); the USA Small Business Administration ‘anchor client model’ should be emulated.

9.

IMPROVE CORPORATE/ SCALEUP COLLABORATION

Large companies should report on the level of collaboration and procurement they source from scaleup companies. Any procurement contracts with Government should require an increase in the amount of business undertaken with scaleups as part of the contracting process which should be monitored. Large corporates should learn from those that are exemplar collaborators; and consider further how they can engage more transparently with their ScaleUp supply chain, through peer to peer activity,  and creation of a Collaboration Charter. 

A ‘signpost’ platform to facilitate corporate interaction with scaleups to boost awareness for opportunities should be considered.

10.

CLOSE THE GROWTH CAPITAL GAP

Government should use its convening power to work with the private sector through a ‘Taskforce Implementation Group’ to accelerate the unlocking of Institutional (Pension and Insurance) Funds and Corporate Funding to address the widening growth capital gaps across the funding ecosystem from angel to IPO. This should include progressing; amendments to legislation, removal of regulatory barriers and addressing of information, knowledge and regional asymmetries, to enable the crowding in of existing significant private sector capital. The Government should expand and build upon the British Business Bank by strengthening the regional presence with empowered decision making deployed under a national framework, and continue the developments of its products along with Scottish Investment Bank (SIB), Development Bank of Wales and Invest NI.  The role and scale of Innovate UK and its direct deployment of innovation capital to our most innovative, early stage and scaling businesses should also continue and be expanded.  No gap in scaleup support provision should be allowed to arise in light of the UK’s changing relationship with the EU. Growth finance should be included as core curriculum in all local scaleup leadership programmes enabling them to seek out and secure the most appropriate funding at each stage of their company’s growth.