Britain needs to unleash the spirit of entrepreneurship – Financial Times

Fostering an Entrepreneurial Culture to Advance Sustainable Development Goals in the United Kingdom

Executive Summary

An analysis of the United Kingdom’s innovation landscape reveals a significant cultural and structural divide between scientific research and entrepreneurial application. This gap presents a critical barrier to achieving key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While the UK possesses world-class scientific talent, a persistent “valley of death” for commercializing innovations and cultural resistance to enterprise hinder progress. This report examines the challenges and opportunities for the UK, advocating for a strategic shift to embrace entrepreneurship as a third culture, essential for driving sustainable growth and addressing global challenges. The success of public-private partnerships, exemplified by the COVID-19 pandemic response and new initiatives like the Ellison Institute of Technology, provides a clear model for progress.

The Innovation-to-Impact Gap: A Challenge to SDG 8 and SDG 9

The UK’s economic trajectory is constrained by a failure to consistently translate scientific breakthroughs into commercial successes. This systemic issue directly impedes the nation’s ability to meet targets for SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure).

Key Obstacles

• The “Valley of Death”: A critical lack of scale-up capital prevents innovative ideas from reaching commercial viability. This results in UK-generated intellectual property being commercialized abroad, limiting domestic economic growth and job creation.
• Cultural Disconnect: A traditional academic culture often undervalues commercial enterprise, viewing it as secondary to pure research. This discourages scientist-entrepreneurs and perpetuates a separation between innovation and practical application.
• Policy Incoherence: There is a notable disconnect between stated government industrial strategies, which aim to foster growth, and the implementation of policies that create new regulatory and cost burdens, such as high industrial electricity costs impacting the development of data centres vital for modern infrastructure (SDG 9).

Strategic Partnerships as a Catalyst for Global Goals (SDG 17)

Multi-sector collaboration is fundamental to overcoming these barriers. The establishment of the Ellison Institute of Technology in Oxford serves as a powerful case study in leveraging SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) to create a sustainable innovation ecosystem.

The Ellison Institute Model

1. Public-Private-Philanthropic Partnership: The institute represents a major investment by a private sector leader (Larry Ellison, Oracle) into the UK’s premier academic research environment.
2. Integrated Research and Incubation: By combining pure research with an incubator model that takes equity in start-ups, the institute directly addresses the “valley of death” and fosters a culture where research and enterprise are intertwined.
3. Targeting Global Challenges: The institute’s focus aligns directly with multiple SDGs, including:
   • SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being): Tackling global health issues.
   • SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy): Addressing energy challenges.
   • SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) / SDG 15 (Life on Land): Research into soil health and environmental sustainability.

Learnings from the Pandemic Response: Accelerating SDG 3

The UK’s scientific response to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated its capacity for rapid, impactful innovation when traditional barriers are removed. This success offers a blueprint for accelerating progress on SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being).

Elements of Success

• Agile Collaboration: Researchers collaborated effectively across disciplines and borders, free from typical hierarchical constraints.
• Effective Partnerships (SDG 17): Close working relationships between government, academia, and business facilitated rapid breakthroughs, including the genetic sequencing of the virus, the development of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and the discovery of dexamethasone as a life-saving treatment.
• Calculated Risk-Taking: A “wartime mentality” enabled the state to suspend certain restrictions and empower experts, proving that the UK is capable of moving quickly to deliver critical public health outcomes.

Recommendations for a Sustainable Future

To fully harness its innovative potential for sustainable development, the UK must undergo a significant cultural and political transformation. The nation must move beyond admiring start-ups to actively building an environment where they can scale and succeed domestically.

Strategic Imperatives

1. Champion Scientist-Entrepreneurs: A cultural shift is required to celebrate and support academics who engage in commercial ventures, recognizing them as vital contributors to national progress.
2. Streamline Development and Infrastructure: Overcome planning and local opposition to critical infrastructure projects, such as the Oxford-Cambridge Arc and associated transport links, which are essential for building the innovation clusters needed for SDG 9 and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).
3. Align Policy with Industrial Strategy: Ensure that regulatory and tax policies support, rather than undermine, the growth of key industries. This includes creating a competitive environment for energy costs to support digital infrastructure and manufacturing, crucial for both SDG 8 and SDG 9.
4. Foster Investment Ecosystems: Actively encourage and replicate models like the Ellison Institute to attract early-stage capital and build robust support systems that guide innovations from the laboratory to the global market, ensuring that the benefits contribute to the UK’s long-term sustainable development.

Analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in the Article

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

The article discusses several issues that directly and indirectly connect to a range of Sustainable Development Goals. The primary focus on science, technology, entrepreneurship, and economic growth in the UK touches upon goals related to innovation, economic prosperity, health, education, and partnerships.

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

  The article explicitly mentions health challenges and successes, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights the UK’s scientific response, including the development of vaccines and treatments that had a global impact.

• SDG 4: Quality Education

  The discussion revolves around the British education system, referencing the “Two Cultures” of arts and sciences, the push for STEM subjects, and the role of world-class universities like Oxford in fostering research and innovation.

• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

  A central theme is the UK’s need to overcome “low growth” by fostering an “enterprise nation.” The article champions entrepreneurship, the creation of start-ups, and the importance of a culture that supports risk-taking to drive economic productivity.

• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

  This is the most prominent SDG in the article. It focuses on British science, innovation, the commercialization of ideas, and the “valley of death” for start-ups. It also discusses the development of physical infrastructure like science parks, the Ellison Institute of Technology, and rail services to support this ecosystem.

• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

  The article underscores the importance of collaboration. It cites Larry Ellison’s investment as a key partnership, praises the “close working with business and with ministers” during the pandemic, and calls for bridging the gap between government policy and private enterprise.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

The article’s content points to several specific SDG targets by describing actions, challenges, and aspirations that align with them.

1. SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

   • Target 3.3: End the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases. The article’s reference to the “genetic sequencing of the virus” and the “rapid rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine” directly relates to combating a communicable disease pandemic.
   • Target 3.d: Strengthen the capacity of all countries, in particular developing countries, for early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global health risks. The discovery of “dexamethasone as a treatment for Covid-19, which saved over a million lives around the world,” is a clear example of managing global health risks.

2. SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

   • Target 8.2: Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation. The article’s core argument is about moving beyond “low growth” by supporting scientific innovation and ensuring “the next DeepMind can scale up in the UK.”
   • Target 8.3: Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation. The text champions an “enterprise nation” and criticizes the cultural and political barriers that hinder entrepreneurs who “put brilliant ideas into practice.”

3. SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

   • Target 9.1: Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure… to support economic development and human well-being. This is referenced in the discussion about building the “Ellison Institute of Technology,” developing the “Oxford-Cambridge Arc,” and the need to reopen a “passenger rail service.”
   • Target 9.5: Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries… encouraging innovation. The entire article is a call to action for this target, focusing on supporting “British science,” preventing innovative ideas from foundering in the “valley of death,” and commercializing research.
   • Target 9.b: Support domestic technology development, research and innovation. The article expresses concern that British innovations like DeepMind have “to sell in California” and advocates for a better policy environment to support domestic scaling.

4. SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

   • Target 17.3: Mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources. While the UK is a developed nation, the principle is demonstrated by the mention of mobilizing private, international capital from “an American of Ellison’s stature” who is “giving over £100mn” for a UK-based institute.
   • Target 17.6: Enhance North-South, South-South and triangular regional and international cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation. The investment by Larry Ellison (an American) in a UK institute is a prime example of international cooperation on science and technology.
   • Target 17.17: Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships. The article praises the “close working with business and with ministers” during the pandemic and highlights the Ellison Institute as a partnership that will be a “giant incubator, taking equity stakes in promising start-ups.”

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Yes, the article contains several quantitative and qualitative indicators that can be used to measure progress.

• For SDG 3, a direct quantitative indicator is mentioned: the discovery of dexamethasone “saved over a million lives around the world.” This measures the impact of health innovation.
• For SDG 9 and 17, a key financial indicator is provided: the “£100mn” investment from Larry Ellison to develop the Ellison Institute of Technology. This measures the mobilization of private capital for science and innovation.
• For SDG 8 and 9, indicators of innovation and entrepreneurship are implied through the naming of specific companies like “Oxford Nanopore” and “DeepMind” as examples of university spinouts and successful start-ups. The ability of such companies to “scale up in the UK” versus having to sell abroad is presented as a crucial measure of success.
• For SDG 9, progress on infrastructure development is indicated by the physical construction of the “Ellison Institute of Technology,” the planning for the “Oxford-Cambridge Arc,” and the debate over reopening a “passenger rail service.”
• A negative indicator for SDG 8 and 9 is mentioned: “high industrial electricity costs” that are “threatening to derail the government’s own plans to build data centres.” This serves as a metric for barriers to industrial growth and innovation.

4. Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: ft.com