As we begin the second quarter of 2025, the first companies with 12-month accounting periods are preparing their latest research and development (R&D) tax relief claims under the new merged R&D Expenditure Credit (RDEC) – and the Enhanced R&D Intensive Support (ERIS) scheme. But what are the key considerations early claimants need to be aware of?
Across global innovation hubs – from the UK and US to key markets in APAC – university spinouts are capturing investor attention like never before. These research-rooted ventures are now seen as high-potential engines of scalable growth, sparking an emerging hiring boom focused on transformative leadership.
These numbers might get you rethinking employee benefits: nearly three-quarters of American workers would accept a slightly lower salary in exchange for better healthcare benefits. In the UK, 98% of employees actively use supermarket discounts offered through their benefits package, saving an average of £725 per year. Notice a pattern? The takeaway is that employees value benefits that provide real, lasting impact.
I used to think progress looked like more women in leadership. More women at the table. More women at the top.
And for a while, that felt true. After all, in a world where men are still holding quite a substantial amount of leadership roles – 90% of Fortune 500 CEOs to be exact – any shift felt like something worth celebrating.
Regardless of the fintech sector thriving, the following numbers can seriously puzzle you. Last year, the total volume of investments in fintech in the EMEA region decreased to $20.3 billion, the lowest figure in the last eight years. Even in the UK, which is considered the European leader of fintech, the same indicators decreased to their lowest since 2020.
A growing number of PE firms are using advanced data analytics techniques to assess their potential investments. As a result, they require more complex data from their prospects to build a much more holistic picture of how a company is performing now, and, with predictive analytics, will potentially fare in the future.
I spent years as a physio on the pitch at Birmingham FC, juggling sports injuries and million-pound hamstrings. The workflows were slick: an ache reported in the morning was scanned, triaged, and rehab could be planned by lunch. It struck me that the lower back pain that benched a striker for two weeks was akin to the pain keeping a warehouse worker off the job for months – yet outside elite sport, the pathway was anything but slick.
In today’s technology landscape, the dominant narrative is one of relentless growth – an arms race of downloads, funding rounds, and user acquisition. Yet, as the world’s fastest-growing AI applications emerge from unexpected corners, a different story is unfolding: purpose-driven technology, shaped by spiritual and ethical wisdom, is proving more resilient and impactful than conventional, metrics-obsessed approaches.
TechMarketView has released the second edition of its Tech Confidence Index (TCI). This bi-annual report provides insights into the confidence and sentiment of the UK technology sector, with findings indicating a more cautious outlook for 2025. The overall TCI score has declined from 6.5 in Autumn 2024 to 6.1 this spring, reflecting increasing economic and geopolitical pressures.










