Open Call for Sponsorship - The Science & Technology VC Fellowship Programme

Introduction

To ensure the UK continues to play a key role as a science superpower, to support the development of the technologies of tomorrow and to boost growth in key sectors of the economy, the UK needs to ensure it remains a globally competitive investment ecosystem backed by domestic capital. Continuing to scale this ecosystem, underpinned by UK investors operating at every stage of growth, will support companies developing unique technologies from the UK’s rich R&D base to commercialise and grow these companies in the UK.

While the UK already has an impressive set of venture capital (VC) firms that specialise in the science and technology (S&T) sectors, capacity and skills gaps have been reported, and these are likely to be exacerbated by greater demand put on the system by capital due to be unlocked from institutional investors as part of the Mansion House reforms. Moreover both the Life Sciences Scale-up Taskforce and the Council for Science and Technology (CST) have identified a lack of S&T specialist investors in the UK. The development of new funds which may help to reduce funding gaps is also reliant on the development of talent in the UK financing ecosystem.

To address this gap, at the autumn statement it was announced that the government, through the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), will establish a S&T VC Fellowship programme. This Fellowship will support the investor base to better access, engage with and ultimately invest in the UK S&T ecosystem, supporting a growing network of high performing investors and funds across UK S&T VC and ultimately creating a pipeline of future S&T fund managers ready to commercialise the UK’s science and tech base.

Sponsorship opportunity

We are looking for substantive partnerships with industry, philanthropic or R&D entities to sponsor the Fellowship Programme. The sponsors will share the vision of the scheme around having a public, visible and long-term commitment to commercialising and scaling the UK R&D base and in building a long-term network of UK based investors focused on scaling the UK financial ecosystem to meet this goal.

The VC S&T Fellowship programme provides sponsors with a powerful platform to:  

• Align the sponsor’s brand and mission with HMG and the S&T community on a purpose-built programme to convene and shape the future of the UK investor S&T community.
• Assist in the delivery of the UK’s commitment to creating the ecosystem to support the development and commercialisation of critical technologies.
• Access a network of mid-career investors focused on investing into science and technology, and the opportunity to shape the future of that community long term.

​​​​​​