Chancellor바카라 사이트™s opening address to London Tech Week
Key note speech by the Chancellor Rishi Sunak at London Tech Week.
Good morning 바카라 사이트“ welcome to London tech week.
Your success is personal to me.
I had the privilege of living, studying, and working in California.
That experience left a lasting mark on me.
I lived and breathed the culture that was adventurous, optimistic, and forward-thinking.
Willing to take risks.
To be imaginative.
To build new products, services, businesses that could change the world.
And I see that culture here at home, too.
I바카라 사이트™ve been travelling a lot in the last few months, right across the UK.
And wherever I go, I meet young people who are hungry, ambitious, unencumbered by timidity and orthodoxy.
And looking at all of you, I know that we바카라 사이트™ll see that same spirit here at Tech Week, too.
So I바카라 사이트™m optimistic.
And the statistics show there is good cause to be optimistic.
The UK has created more tech unicorns than any other country, bar the US and China.
We have extraordinary, distinctive strengths in FinTech, life sciences, and creative industries.
Our corporate and capital gains tax rates are internationally competitive.
And we바카라 사이트™re known around the world for our agile approach to regulation바카라 사이트¦
바카라 사이트¦which acts, where needed, to address concerns about large, dominant players바카라 사이트¦
바카라 사이트¦while backing innovation.
You can see that in our approach to financial regulation, where we바카라 사이트™ve pioneered:
The regulatory sandbox, Open Banking, and now, an innovative framework for crypto and blockchain.
So we already have an incredible, thriving tech ecosystem.
But we know we need to do more.
Perhaps the biggest question we face right now is where our future growth is going to come from.
The answer is innovation.
Just look at our history.
Over the last 50 years, innovation broadly defined created around half of the UK바카라 사이트™s productivity growth.
But since the financial crisis, like many countries around the world, our rate of innovation does seem to have slowed.
But I am confident that we can turn that round.
With the rise of general-purpose technologies like AI, it is plausible to believe we are on the cusp of a new wave of innovation.
But we need to make sure we are ready to capitalise.
To do that, there are three tools at our disposal 바카라 사이트“ capital, people, and ideas. And we are deploying them all.
First, capital.
The UK is already a natural home for growing businesses to raise finance.
In 2021, even in the midst of covid, VC investment in the UK didn바카라 사이트™t just grow 바카라 사이트“ it more than doubled.
London is fourth for VC investment globally, behind only Beijing, San Francisco, and New York.
Our tax reliefs for investing in start-ups are internationally best in class.
And it바카라 사이트™s not just private markets, but public too.
In 2021, over 120 companies chose to list in London; confirming that London is the dominant European IPO market.
And we want to go further.
We바카라 사이트™re reforming our Listing Rules to make it even easier for companies to raise public funding.
We바카라 사이트™re overhauling Solvency II and the charge cap regime to unlock pensions and insurance industry capital.
And through the Future Funds and British Business Bank바카라 사이트¦
바카라 사이트¦we바카라 사이트™re providing direct government backing to some of the most exciting, fastest-growing scale-up businesses.
So if you바카라 사이트™re an entrepreneur looking for funding 바카라 사이트“ I want you to look at the UK and say: that바카라 사이트™s where I want to be.
Now our second priority is to equip our people with the skills they need to thrive.
We have some of the best educated people in the world.
And the percentage of tertiary-level graduates studying STEM courses here in the UK, is higher than even the US.
But we don바카라 사이트™t have a monopoly on talent.
Nearly half of our STEM researchers are immigrants바카라 사이트¦
바카라 사이트¦and around half of our most innovative fastest companies have an immigrant founder.
So we바카라 사이트™re making our visa system for international talent the most competitive in the world.
Let me give you just one example.
We바카라 사이트™ve just announced a new High Potential Individual visa.
If you바카라 사이트™re a young person바카라 사이트¦
Who바카라 사이트™s graduated from a global top 50 university바카라 사이트¦
You can come to the UK바카라 사이트¦
With virtually no conditions바카라 사이트¦
No job offer바카라 사이트¦
And stay here, with your family, for two years바카라 사이트¦
To just explore. Work. Study. Invent. Figure out what you want to do.
And that should send a strong and clear message to the brightest global talent:
If you come to the UK, we will back you to succeed.
Nothing like that exists anywhere else in the world.
And it sums up our philosophy when it comes to visas:
Less 바카라 사이트˜build it and they will come바카라 사이트™, and more 바카라 사이트˜let them come and they will build it바카라 사이트™.
So, capital, people, and third 바카라 사이트“ ideas.
The UK has less than 1% of the world바카라 사이트™s population, but four of the world바카라 사이트™s top 20 global universities.
The 2nd most Nobel laureates out of any nation.
The third highest number of research publications worldwide.
But we can바카라 사이트™t be content to rest on our laurels.
We need to do more to support private sector R&D.
And that includes tax.
On the face of it, we have one of the most generous tax regimes for R&D investment anywhere, measured by how much we spend on it.
But despite spending huge and rapidly growing sums, clearly it is not working as well as it should.
In the UK, business spending on R&D amounts to just three times the value of the R&D tax relief.
The OECD average? 13 times.
So I will make sure that our tax regime for innovation is globally competitive and creates proper incentives for all of you to invest and invent.
And of course, the government will do our bit, too.
Over the next few years, we바카라 사이트™re increasing government investment in R&D by almost 50%.
As a % of GDP, that will put us above Germany, France, Israel, Canada, Japan, and the US.
And one technology that will become ever-more critical in the years to come 바카라 사이트“ is advanced computing.
The extraordinary power of the emerging generation of super computers will change every aspect of our economy.
So I바카라 사이트™m delighted to launch today, a new review into the future of compute.
Led by Professor Zoubin Ghahramani바카라 사이트¦
AI Professor at the University of Cambridge and Director of Google Brain바카라 사이트¦바카라 사이트¦
It will report later this year with recommendations for how we can deliver the UK바카라 사이트™s computing needs not just this year, but for decades to come.
Let me close with one final thought.
My political opponents actually love to paint me as some kind of tech geek.
As I바카라 사이트™m sure you바카라 사이트™ve gathered this morning 바카라 사이트“ that바카라 사이트™s a label I바카라 사이트™m actually proud of.
I will always be on the side of entrepreneurs, innovators, young people inventing the future.
Because the biggest lesson I took from my time in California still guides me now, as Chancellor.
What really matters for economic success 바카라 사이트“ is innovation.
If we want our country to succeed, we need to do what we바카라 사이트™ve always done and embrace new technologies, and the people and culture that creates them.
No serious analysis of our prospects could conclude anything different.
Because if we can get this right바카라 사이트¦
If we can back our capital, people, and ideas바카라 사이트¦
If we can encourage that incredible spirit I see everywhere in this country바카라 사이트¦
Then we can be confident that Britain stands on the cusp of a new era of innovation and change.
And ultimately, what gives me that confidence is standing here at this podium and looking out at all of you.
People of talent and ambition and imagination, searching relentlessly바카라 사이트¦
바카라 사이트¦for that next new idea that will shape our lives and change the world.
Thank you.