Klitschko slams President Macron over Ukraine comments
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In a major vote of confidence, Government figures have shown that technology companies in the UK have received more venture capital investment in the first five months of this year than rivalling countries in France, Germany, and China. By the end of May, over 950 UK-based tech firms had raked in a massive £12.4billion in private funding. This puts Britain as one of the best places in the world to launch a new start, second only to the US.
Announcing the data, at the opening of London Tech Week, Chris Philip, the minister for the digital economy joked: “President Macron will be choking on his croissants this morning.”
This comes as the UK tech sector enjoyed its highest ever level of investment in 2021 with over £29.4billion.
These figures were released as Mr Philip launched the UK’s new Digital Strategy “to grow the economy and create more high-skilled, high-wage jobs by cementing the UK as a global tech superpower”.
According to Mr Philip, the Government was aiming to “grow the UK tech sector’s annual gross value add by £41billion in the next three years, creating 700,000 new jobs in the process”.
This growth is set to come through a number of bills and reforms, including the UK’s new data reform bill which was announced in the Queen’s speech last month.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is also set to publish a Quantum Strategy later this year, according to Sky News.
Following the global semiconductor shortage that hampered supply chains around the world, the Government will also publish another strategy paper on semiconductors that is expected to review the UK’s position in the global market.
The UK is also developing a “light-touch approach to regulating AI” that is designed to encourage innovation.
Mr Philp added that the Government will try to convince British pension funds to invest in the UK’s tech sector.
He said: “There is a huge opportunity for UK financial institutions, particularly pension funds, to allocate a lot more capital to pre-IPO tech in a way that their North American cousins in America and Canada do already.
“They are massively under-allocated to tech [and so] UK pension funds and financial institutions are missing out on a phenomenal return opportunity.
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“And if they allocated even a small potential percentage of their multi-trillion pound AUM (assets under management) into UK Tech, they would also – besides generating higher returns for their investors or pensioners – they will also help unleash a wave of innovation that will truly rival the west coast.”
“So in the coming weeks and months, I’ll be working with colleagues in government and also the sector in the tech sector and the financial services sector to find ways of making this happens.”
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