securing investment
“We have established the fund with £150 million in public
seed capital. Managed by venture capital specialists, it will
look to leverage in funds from the private sector with the aim
of creating a £1 billion fund over 10 years. The Growth Capital
Review will report its conclusions at the Pre-Budget Report and
we will bring forward proposals for a new national investment
corporation.”
Right: The Energy Innovation
Centre, at Capenhurst is a
£150 million funds for investment
specialist business incubation unit, Few executives in the private sector would
which was established in 2008 to disagree with that sentiment, but there has to
deliver a stream of innovative be a much stronger commitment to action.
products and services for the energy The Minister believes that significant ac-
sector. Funded by the North West tions have already been taken, pointing to the
Regional Development Agency and Innovation Investment Fund, for example,
the EU’s Regional Development which was intended to kick-start investment
Fund, the Centre acts as a broker into technology-based companies with high
and facilitator, between companies growth potential.
and entrepreneurs with innovative “We have established the fund with £150
ideas, the energy industry and million in public seed capital. Managed by
sources of finance. venture capital specialists, it will look to lev-
erage in funds from the private sector with the
aim of creating a £1 billion fund over 10 years.
The Growth Capital Review will report its con- that find it particularly difficult to attract
clusions at the Pre-Budget Report and we will investment.
bring forward proposals for a new national in- “Specialist business incubator schemes,
vestment corporation.” such as those run by the Carbon Trust and the
It is true that there is nothing new in poli- Energy Innovation Centre, are providing sup-
tics. While the present government is often port for some of those early-stage companies.
found guilty as charged with re-packaging More than eighty companies have been sup-
programmes that it has already announced, ported by the Carbon Trust, raising in excess
BIS is surely turning the clock back more than of £84.4 million of private funding.
forty years to the days of Harold Wilson’s “But the recession is placing increased pres-
National Research and Development Corpo- sure on these schemes, with business demand
ration? That interventionist strategy failed in rising. To address that, we are working with Re-
the ‘60s, so why should it work today? gional Development Agencies to develop their
Lord Mandelson prefers to draw parallels incubator support activity focussing on provid-
with more recent initiatives. “Like our ap- ing specialist commercial and business advice.”
proach to improving the links between univer-
sities and industry, this is a model that sees a
critical role for public investment, but which
Pointer rather than products
goes out of its way to avoid turning politicians Mandelson makes it clear that it is not the job
or civil servants into investment managers or of government to choose one particular prod-
technology pickers.” uct or service over another, Whitehall can high-
One of the challenges, he believes, is that light the markets which it believes are likely
many of today’s ‘bright ideas’ which can make to deliver the best returns. “We must help busi-
a significant contribution to the development ness to invest where we have the potential to
of low-carbon processes and technologies are take a global leading role, an approach outlined
emerging from newly established companies in our New Industry, New Jobs strategy. “Take
Many innovations underlying the development of low-carbon processes and technologies are emerging
from newly established companies that are finding it particularly difficult at present to attract investment.
22
The Informed Executive
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