The (UK) Deep Tech Playbook

I think we should start with probably a difficult question, but have a candid conversation about what is actually holding us back? We've talked about all the amazing research base that we have here and the opportunities.

So what is it that is holding us back from producing more global scale businesses that are internationally successful? Christina, I'm going to come to you first with an international perspective on the UK.

What do you think is holding us back?

Well, as you can see, I was made in China, reinvented in the UK, and so I'm traveling a lot to different parts of the world as part of my job.

And I often hear people saying that British people can sometimes be a little bit too modest, and they find it not always easy to appreciate the beauty of British sense of humor being self-deprecating.

And that's what I often hear.

And I guess, you know, when it comes to being a really powerful technology innovation powerhouse, modesty is a virtue, but maybe from business perspective, it's a missed opportunity.

So we should perhaps, you know, do a little bit more.

And instead of saying we are not too bad, we should say we're absolutely phenomenal, fantastic.

Right? Would you agree?

Because if you're in the US and you're pitching over there, Owen, we were talking about the international elements of pitching.

If you're in the US, then presenting yourself in a way that is confident and is ambitious is what you should do.

So how do you think we compare with those in other countries in terms of what might be holding us back?

Yeah, I mean, this is like a common theme, isn't it? The founders in the UK don't possess this kind of visionary pitch capability that people in the US do.

I think there's a nuance in there, which is like, and we were just discussing this, obviously, it depends where you're pitching.

If I go to Zurich, I might want to present my spreadsheets and tell them all that I can beat the Bank of England base rate on a convertible loan note.

But if I go to the US, I need to present a multi, multi... billion dollar visionary proposition.

Do UK founders possess the ability to do that? Of course they do.

But probably one of the issues that we have is retention of those founders and locating them and bringing them back to the UK to do a second iteration and to be able to honcho those startups in a way that they can do that presenting.

So I don't think we lack talent in the UK.

And I'll also add that it's certainly not a science problem.

We've got an enormous cadre of world-leading universities in the UK.

The science is here.

Probably the ability to pair that up with a commercial leader who can do that visionary pitch is the tricky part.

And again, not because the talent's not here, just because retaining that talent and keeping it in the UK is a challenge.