Tech Innovation and Entrepreneurship Boom in the UK: Post-Pandemic Future Possibilities

• In Entrepreneurship
• 26 Oct 2021, 04:16 AM
• By Technologist Confidant

While the COVID-19 pandemic has devastating impacts on millions of businesses and industries worldwide, the UK technology sector has a different story to tell: one of solid growth.

Over the last decade, the UK technology industry has grown tenfold as London strives to narrow the gap on Silicon Valley. Moreover, following an influx of £13.5 billion in venture capital, the UK is spawning almost $1 billion “unicorn” technology businesses each week. At the same time, the number of companies nearing unicorn status also grew tenfold(City A.M.). The UK’s technology sector comeback from the pandemic has been one of the quickest global economies.

Propelled by this enormous boost in the UK tech sector, many metropolises such as Oxford, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, etc., are moving to the forefront of cutting-edge technology and investment besides London, creating more technology hubs in the UK. Furthermore, by promoting innovation in several sectors, the UK plans to bring several significant changes in the next decade.

Tech Innovation in the UK

Now that the United Kingdom has left the European Union, the government responds fast to developments and global possibilities, consolidating the UK’s status as a world leader in innovation. The number of artificial intelligence companies has rocketed by 600 per cent over the past ten years, fuelling UK’s progress towards becoming a global AI superpower (Tech Nation).

Looking forward, the UK intends to develop a plethora of innovative products and introduce reforms geared toward the international market, as well as solutions to the world’s primary concerns and promotion of British principles. For example:

• By harvesting the crude power of technology, the UK aims to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050. In this regard, Britain strikes a green investment partnership with Bill Gates to invest and bring down the cost of new greener technologies to help countries hit net-zero emissions targets by 2050 (Reuters).
• Investment in R&D for technologies generated a significant potential for global talent acquisition, allowing the UK to dominate the market and stay a worldwide leader by employing top tech workers.
• To attract high-skilled innovation talent, new High Potential Individual, Scale-up visa, and innovator visa routes are being introduced, as well as revitalised as we speak.

Entrepreneurship

Innovation is at the heart of entrepreneurial spirit in the UK. The need to respond to the changing consumer habits due to COVID-19 gave rise to many new start-ups in the UK. Embracing innovation, these start-ups streamlined their operations to meet the demands of consumers by creating new markets, following emerging trends and adapting agile technologies. As a result, small businesses In the United Kingdom account for up to 99.3 per cent of the overall business population. When medium-sized firms are included, the figure jumps to 99.9 per cent.

Comparing the stats between March 2020 to September 2020, London witnessed the most significant year-on-year increase in new start-ups, at 20%, followed by Yorkshire and Humber at 14% and Scotland at 12%.

So, what makes the UK an attractive destination to entrepreneurs when it comes to starting a new business? Let’s take a look.

1. UK’s exit from Brexit

Britain’s exit from the EU allowed UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to lead rapidly on innovation, making the UK a more attractive destination for start-ups in the future. Moreover, the new British approach represents innovation, development of the private sector through fundings and encouraging global talents to invent things here.

1. Leading FinTech sector

Foreign entrepreneurs chose to launch their business in the UK because of its world-leading Fintech sector and the maturity of its open banking system. The lethal combination of rising technological demand, applicable regulation, and client empowerment in financial services, combined with the industry’s response to the financial crisis, has fueled FinTech’s rapid growth in the UK and global expansion.

1. Enormous investments

The UK receives more funding for start-ups than any other country in Europe; with $15 billion invested in the UK last year, nearly all tech start-ups have thrived in the past 18 months. According to the UK chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi Sunak, a new age of entrepreneurship is approaching the UK. He added that the government would support entrepreneurs’ efforts to expand their start-ups and create jobs by reviewing research and development credits and option schemes and visa rules (Sifted).

Jobs in Tech Sector

Investments in the UK technology sector notably increased in the first half of 2021 to £13.5 billion and resulted in a surge for recruiting for tech jobs with 13% of all job openings in the country. While some industries are trying to emerge from the effects of the pandemic, the tech industry is thriving. Technology firms all around the nation are swiftly hiring professionals to expand their operations. According to recent Adzuna and Dealroom statistics for the Digital Economy Council, the number of posted professional jobs in the sector are 42% higher than the pre-pandemic levels. As more companies turn to online services in the pandemic, IT professionals are more in demand, with retail businesses exhibiting notable strong growth. According to the latest figures, IT and other professions account for 13% of total advertised jobs in the UK in the first half of this year, more than 12.3% of the previous year.

Conclusion

The stats and data from 2020 shed light on the possibility of entrepreneurial opportunities that the tech industry’s future will bring in the UK. The modern technologies and state-of-the-art facilities supporting the ideas for advancement and innovation for the technical pioneers has made the future of the UK’s tech sector bright, giving the country an alternative to stay ahead of the European and worldwide competitors.

As the UK enters a new transformational era packed with technology, businesses with well-defined, forward-looking strategies and adaptable operating models will help to capture the economic and entrepreneurial growth in the coming decade. The VC investments and government support shall mark the dawn of further technological development through the technology unicorns and start-ups in the UK’s Tech Industry.