Britain’s capacity to invent has never been the problem. But getting new technologies from the lab to the market depends on capital, talent and a regulatory environment willing to make room for things that didn’t exist yesterday.
The asymmetry at the heart of regulation makes this harder than it sounds. When a regulator permits something that subsequently causes harm, the costs are visible, attributable and potentially career-ending. When a regulator blocks something that would have worked — a drug that never reached patients, a technology that never scaled or a business model that never got off the ground — the costs are invisible and diffuse. Nobody is held to account for the cures that weren’t approved or the growth that didn’t happen. That asymmetry shapes behaviour in predictable ways: caution is rewarded, boldness is punished and the default is delay.
That’s a problem in any era. It is a particularly acute one now. Fast-emerging technologies are all hitting regulatory frameworks built for a different world at the same time. The question is whether the UK’s institutional environment can adapt quickly enough to build and capture the value here.
This week, we hosted Lord Willetts and the Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO) alongside a room of robotics founders at Mishcon de Reya. The discussion was under the Chatham House Rule, but sign up to Network Effects for an overview of themes that emerged from the room. The conversation was proof – not that any was needed – that tapping into the experiences of entrepreneurs is absolutely critical for understanding policy reform.
RIO sits within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, where it was established in October 2024, with a straightforward but ambitious remit: to update regulation, speed up approvals and ensure regulatory bodies work together effectively.
RIO has just launched the second phase of its Front Door pilot, now open to science and technology businesses across all sectors — not just RIO’s current priorities. The exercise is simple: tell them the regulatory barriers holding your business back. The results will shape how the Front Door service develops.
(I appreciate not everyone reading this is in science and technology, which is why we, and others, need to look at whether there are lessons we can apply to other domains.)
Shareholder Value
The European Commission is reviewing the rules governing how shareholders receive information, vote and engage with listed companies across borders — and is looking for practical evidence from those whose voices tend to be underrepresented in these debates: minority shareholders, private investors, smaller banks and others with direct experience of cross-border investment or general meetings. If that’s you, contact Martha Wiesenbart at Europe Economics.
Plain English
Language proficiency is one of the strongest predictors of economic integration — and of how far people progress once they’re here. Workers who gain functional English move into better-paid roles and progress within organisations. It also opens up entrepreneurship as an option.
The Department for Education is reviewing the qualifications and content that support this — ESOL provision for adults who don’t speak English as a first language — and wants to hear from employers of all sizes who recruit or support staff in that position. The survey takes 10–15 minutes and closes on 8 May. Complete it here.
Ives Had the Time
Our Research Director Eamonn Ives is off to pastures new. Over the last three years and eight months, Eamonn has proven to be a first-rate researcher, meticulous editor and stand-up guy. He has also been instrumental in our evolution, as he shared:
“While I still think there’s a role for the traditional in-depth think tank report, effective policy influence is increasingly being wielded through shorter, sharper outputs, of the sort we’ve pivoted to of late. Often those outputs — whether interviews, briefing notes, or off-the-record roundtables — have been dependent on the network of founders, investors, ecosystem builders and other policy experts that [we have] painstakingly assembled over the past decade and more.”
Connect with Eamonn on LinkedIn to follow his journey. For those of you who attend our events, I’m sure you’ll still see him around.