Recommendation 28

We asked what UKRI and DSIT are doing to address the systemic challenges to achieving economic growth by commercialising the results of R&I.74 DSIT told us that it is currently focusing on how public sector investors (including Innovate UK, the British Business Bank, the National Wealth Fund, and UK Export Finance) can best channel their investments to help investment-ready ventures to scale up successfully.75 UKRI told us that universities tended to spin out their commercial ventures too soon, before they had done enough work to establish the commercial viability of their ideas. To improve the chances of success, UKRI also said that it has launched a Proof-of-Concept Fund, which will provide pre-incorporation investment to help start-ups to develop to a point at which they become more attractive to external investors.76 DSIT told us it is looking at how to make government procurement easier for small technology businesses to navigate, as adoption by public services can assist such companies to scale up more rapidly.77