Growth beyond the M25 depends on the infrastructure of ideas

The Business Secretary, Peter Kyle, has said he wants the UK to go “toe to toe with America on growth.” His emphasis has been pointed to major investment and cost reductions as the route to competing at scale. That focus on capital is understandable. But if we treat growth as something you can only pour money into, we miss a crucial productivity driver in modern economies: the networks that turn ideas into value.

When startups, universities, and investors connect in thriving ecosystems – from London and Edinburgh to Manchester and Bristol – the results are tangible: more jobs, exportable products, and new technologies with global reach. The question is not whether the UK can generate innovation. It already does. The challenge is whether we can build the connective infrastructure that allows innovation to scale across the country, rather than concentrate within the M25.

Building the university–startup–investor connective tissue

The UK consistently ranks among the world’s leading research nations. Its universities produce globally recognised research and attract world-class talent. That should be a decisive economic advantage. Too often, however, research strength does not automatically translate into commercial strength.

Oxford’s role in the COVID-19 vaccine showed what is possible when discovery, industrial capability and capital align. The partnership with AstraZeneca compressed years of development into months and delivered both public health impact and economic return. That model – lab to market at speed – should not be unique.

Replicating it more widely calls for deliberate system-building. Founders need straightforward access to university intellectual property (IP) and technical expertise. Investors need visibility of credible spinout pipelines. Academics need exposure to market realities. And founders need access to experienced operators – people who have scaled companies before and can challenge strategy, open doors and help navigate the transition from startup to scaleup. Without that connective tissue, promising ventures stall or relocate.

Investing in commercialisation infrastructure

At a moment when the UK is redefining its industrial strategy and AI policy, and as global competition for talent intensifies, Britain must invest not only in physical infrastructure but in the infrastructure of ideas: R&D capacity, skills, and regional startup hubs that turn knowledge into value. A positive example of this is the new national supercomputer, which is to be hosted at the University of Edinburgh. But we need to do more.

Recent figures from the National Centre for Universities and Business show that business R&D spending has declined in real terms across most UK regions since 2018. This trend constrains the pipeline of innovation and risks widening the gap with international competitors and leaving Britain further behind its peers.

Commercialisation infrastructure means including early-stage finance, leadership development, and structured pathways into international markets. It also means recognising that the skills required to launch a company are not the same as those required to scale one. The transition from founder to scaleup leader is a breaking point for many firms. Without mentorship, experienced non-executives and peer networks, avoidable mistakes compound.

Talent remains one of the biggest constraints, with one-in-three UK founders identifying it as the primary barrier to scaling their business. As AI adoption accelerates globally, the UK cannot afford a widening skills gap that leaves regional firms unable to compete. Hardware investment, including national compute capacity, matters. But without people able to deploy it effectively, infrastructure sits underused.

Strengthening regional ecosystems to avoid overconcentration

London’s global connectivity and access to venture capital are national strengths. But an over-concentrated growth model caps the country’s overall potential.

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We risk repeating America’s mistake of concentration – London as our Silicon Valley, with the rest of the UK relegated to hosting the digital equivalent of data centres. True growth will come from the tangible effects of the networks we build – the cauldrons of creativity that power every modern economy.

Scotland’s fintech and data science expertise, the Midlands’ advanced manufacturing base, the North East’s clean energy and battery innovation, and the South West’s deeptech capabilities are nationally significant assets. Realising their full potential demands coordinated policy, capital and procurement frameworks that back domestic innovation. If national initiatives – from AI sandboxes to pension reform-backed investment – reinforce existing concentration, opportunity will narrow. Anchored in regional ecosystems, however, they can turn local strengths into national growth engines.

The UK has the research base, the entrepreneurial ambition, and the regional specialisms to compete at scale. What will determine success is whether those strengths are connected through deliberate systems that support commercialisation, leadership and talent development across the country. Without that connective infrastructure, promising firms will stall, relocate or cluster ever more narrowly. With it, regional ecosystems can translate discovery into durable economic advantage.

The ambition to compete globally is there. The question now is whether policymakers, investors and industry leaders will commit to building – and funding – the systems that turn ideas into enterprise across the whole country, not just within the M25.