What will it take for the UK to become a global tech superpower?

The UK’s tech ecosystem is relatively new. Go back 15 years and VCs, startups — even the very notion of being a tech entrepreneur — were all still novel. But the scene has matured rapidly. The country’s tech sector is now valued at $1.1 trillion, making it the leading tech ecosystem in Europe. Its universities create more spinouts than anywhere else in Europe, too.

On the world stage, it also occupies a formidable position. It ranks only behind the US and China when judged by the volume of venture capital raised. “The UK is a real success story,” says Roland Emmans, Head of UK Technology Sector & Growth Lending at HSBC UK. “But naturally it’s still got huge ambitions.” Indeed, UK policymakers have recently been asking: can the tech sector be the best in the world? And, if so, what would that take?

We asked three tech Trailblazers for their views…

“There are so many great things about the UK, which explains why I chose to locate my business here. It’s got a lot of the economic assets of the US but it’s super close to other European tech hubs; there’s plenty of great local talent. But there is just one liability that I believe is standing in its way to true tech superpower status.

“I have done tech in Silicon Valley, and I have done tech in London. And there is a subtle cultural difference that is important. I’ve noticed the UK places much more importance on social status. But if you care about your social status, then you’re less likely to be prepared to fail.

“In the US, however, there is much less emphasis on status. And that willingness to fail manifests itself in a much more risk-taking attitude. I think a tech ecosystem really lives and breathes off of people who take risks.

“However, I think there is a hack for changing that situation. We need to ensure that entrepreneurs choose the UK to set up their next big thing. Tech is a space where role models are followed religiously, so if we can import those role models, it can seed that more risk-taking mindset.

“Doing that would entail making the UK the most business-friendly country going. We need policy incentives to encourage people to locate here, and a smarter immigration system that makes it easier for people with certain skills to come here. If we get it right, though, there would be no stopping us.”

“If the UK is going to be a global tech superpower, we need to make the tech ecosystem more diverse. When you invest in diversity — whether that’s diversity in gender, in race, in thinking or in approach — you get outsized economic benefits. And the UK has plenty of incredible diversity to invest in.

“As a female British Nigerian, what I have found is a level of homogeneity when it comes to successful founders in the UK. They tend to be in a specific demographic, and their stories are quite similar. This trend is even more apparent when you look at companies that achieve the higher levels of funding.

“This means there’s a load of untapped talent in the UK that the tech sector is not benefitting from. It also means we’re missing out on more varied perspectives that could give businesses an edge.

“It’s a hard problem to solve because it’s a product of education, and socialisation, and the history of technology. Computer science is still not taken up by a lot of girls in class, for instance, for all kinds of structural reasons.

“I think we need to address this as a systemic problem. We need to make people feel inspired. And we also need to give diverse people what many of the founders of unicorn companies have, which is amazing networks that often come more easily to them because of their backgrounds. We need organisations to do more to create those networks and offer more support.”

“The UK has not produced tech giants like you get in the US, and that creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“UK investors tend to be reluctant to fund companies to the level you get in the US because, most of the time, they have not experienced the ‘100x’ successes that VCs get over there. If they see a good exit, they understandably tend to take it because — in that context — it’s usually the rational option.

“But if we could have more of those absolutely standout successes, there would be a flywheel effect. When you have a super high performer in a VC’s portfolio, it changes the portfolio dynamics. It changes how the fund is managed — bigger risks and bigger bets become more palatable. In turn, we’d start to see bigger funds that are able to write bigger cheques, and we’d get more of those US-level successes.

“To deliver that virtuous circle, we can pull regulatory levers. We could let insurance companies and pension funds invest in VC funds, for instance, which would unlock a lot of capital. But I also think there needs to be some concerted effort between government and VCs to push really hard through this wall and set an ambition: ‘We’re going to select the best companies and support them with a lot of capital, with the aim of driving their success in terms of innovation and growth.’ But they need to become really, really big; it needs to be a critical mass.

“If we can do that, I think that flywheel will fly.”

Importing standout entrepreneurs could seed a culture of greater risk-taking.

Improving diversity in tech will unlock more talent and ideas for the sector.

A critical mass of high-valuation tech companies would create a positive multiplier effect.