The first UK Global R&D and Science Investment Summit has been hailed as a major success by organisers, speakers and participants, welcoming global investors, policymakers, researchers and innovation leaders from 67 countries.
Boasting a powerful programme of panel discussions, roundtables and showcases, the event was co-chaired by Professor Dame Angela McLean, the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, and Rt Hon Greg Clark, Executive Chair of the University of Warwick Innovation District and a member of the UK Industrial Strategy Council. Lord Patrick Vallance, Minister for Science, Innovation and Research, also addressed delegates during the two-day event, which took place on 8–9 June at the Royal Society in London.
Developed through the Invest in UK University R&D – Midlands Campaign in partnership with Midlands Innovation, the Summit showcased an unparalleled line-up of distinguished speakers, partners and institutions from across the UK’s nations and regions, highlighting the scale, depth and diversity of the UK’s most exciting science, research and investment opportunities.
Timed to coincide with London Tech Week, when thousands from the global technology and investment community gather in the capital, it created a major platform to present the UK’s investment-ready innovation ecosystem to an international audience of investors, industry leaders and research partners.
Summit highlights – in numbers
- 43 sessions across two days
- 200+ speakers, including UK and international government ministers, mayors, investors and world‑leading scientists
- 38 partners, including headline partners Rolls‑Royce, Universities UK, UK Research and Innovation and the UK Government
- 63 actively raising university spin‑outs seeking £200m+ investment, featured across four showcases and networking sessions
- 100+ global investors from 86 funds attending, representing approximately £1.2tn assets under management
- 70 university R&D investment delegations
- Investment opportunities from every UK nation and region
- 2,000+ Summit delegates from 67 countries
A three‑zone showcase of UK R&D and opportunity
The Summit offered invited delegates access to three distinct zones: the UK Modern Industrial Strategy Zone, the Venture and Spinout Zone, and the UK Nations and Regions Zone.
UK Modern Industrial Strategy Zone
The UK Modern Industrial Strategy Zone, supported by organisations including ARIA, the British Business Bank, Rolls‑Royce, the Catapult Network and leading universities, shone a spotlight on the high‑growth sectors and frontier technologies underpinning the UK Government’s growth ambitions.
Ten bespoke technology panel sessions, featuring more than 50 leading speakers, focused on the central question: Why invest in UK R&D and science? Chaired by multiple UK Chief Scientific Advisers, the sessions brought together CEOs, industry leaders, academic and research leaders, investors and policymakers.
Discussions highlighted the world‑class research being undertaken across the UK and its translation into commercial opportunity, underpinning industrial growth and attracting international investment across priority sectors and frontier technologies, including advanced manufacturing, defence, clean energy, life sciences and digital technologies such as AI, semiconductors, quantum, telecoms and engineering biology.
Venture and Spinout Zone
The Venture and Spinout Zone showcased more than 60 investment‑ready university spin‑outs across CleanTech, DeepTech and Life Sciences, collectively offering investors opportunities of over £200m from pre‑seed to Series A. The zone provided an unparalleled national platform for founders of the UK’s most promising spin‑out technologies to connect with leading global and domestic investors.
Delivered with partners including the Office for Investment, UK Private Capital, SETsquared, ARIA, the Catapult Network and Medilink UK, the programme explored venture funding, university‑affiliated investment models, deal readiness and science park infrastructure. Highlights included sector‑focused investor sessions, a Midlands Spinout Showcase, and contributions from leading investors such as UK Private Capital and Midlands Mindforge.
UK Nations and Regions Zone
The UK Nations and Regions Zone highlighted the strength and breadth of innovation ecosystems across the UK, reinforcing the power of place‑based R&D investment and the vital role regions play in driving national economic growth.
With dedicated showcases from Wales, Scotland, the Midlands and the North East, alongside sessions focused on innovation ecosystems, city‑region growth and cluster development, the programme brought together leaders from government, academia, industry and investment. The zone featured key speeches from three regional mayors, as well as university and industry leaders, and provided investors with direct access to regional pipelines of opportunity.
Major announcements and investment momentum
The Summit also provided the backdrop for a series of major investment and innovation announcements.
- Midlands Mindforge announced that it had entered its active investment phase, helping to unlock an initial £30 million into the Midlands, and deploying its first spinout investments. The university patient capital investment company, backed by the Midlands Innovation partnership, aims to accelerate the commercialisation of breakthrough research and high-growth university spinouts across the Midlands.
- Universities UK launched its new Future Innovators campaign, setting out an ambition to help double private investment flowing into UK university innovation to £100 billion by 2035.
- Alongside this, a major new University of Birmingham-led policy report from the Commission on Devolution and Diplomacy was unveiled, calling for a new national framework to strengthen international engagement between government, regions, universities and industry. The report argued that greater collaboration between national and regional partners will be critical to attracting global investment, supporting innovation and delivering economic growth across the UK.
A new national approach to R&D investment
The Summit marked a major milestone for the Invest in UK University R&D – Midlands Campaign and Midlands Innovation, demonstrating the potential of a more coordinated, place-based approach to attracting international investment into UK research and innovation. Over the past two years, the campaign has brought together universities, mayors, investors and industry partners to shape a stronger national proposition – aligned with the UK Government’s GREAT campaign – that connects the strengths of the UK’s nations and regions and presents them at scale to global investors.
The Summit was a natural culmination of this work, putting that proposition into action. Designed around the principle of engineered serendipity, it created the conditions for high-value conversations between innovators, industry and investors, where investment decisions are made and partnerships begin.
It also sent a clear signal about the breadth of the UK’s research and innovation strength. While funding has often been concentrated within the Golden Triangle, the Summit demonstrated the depth, quality and investable opportunities that exist right across the UK’s nations and regions when presented as a single, connected offer.
Taken together, this approach marks a shift from competition between places to collaboration across the whole UK, supporting a shared ambition to translate world-class research into inclusive economic growth and regional prosperity.
Rt Hon Greg Clark, Executive Chair of the University of Warwick Innovation District, member of the UK Industrial Strategy Council and Summit Co-Chair, said: “It’s been an amazing two days and a great privilege to co-chair the Summit. It has been absolutely phenomenal, and the spirit across the two days has been little short of euphoric. Throughout the last two days we’ve seen research, spinouts, science parks and spin-ins coming together in the most extraordinary way.”
Professor Julia Sutcliffe, Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department for Business and Trade said: “What this Summit has demonstrated is the scale of what the UK can achieve when we bring our strengths together. By connecting universities, investors, industry and regional leaders in one place, we’ve been able to showcase not just individual opportunities, but the power of the UK as a complete innovation ecosystem. That collective offer – spanning talent, discovery and commercialisation – is what will attract the global partnerships and investment needed to drive long-term growth.”
Lord Patrick Vallance, Minister for Science, Innovation and Research, said: “Innovation doesn’t happen in isolation. It depends on strong local ecosystems, where universities, businesses, investors and local leaders work together to turn ideas into opportunity, and research into impact.”
Professor Nick Jennings, Vice-Chancellor of Loughborough University said: “[The Summit] represents a genuinely significant shift in how we think about universities, investment and growth in the UK.”
Alex Favier, Invest in UK University R&D Campaign Director and Summit Convenor, said: “The real value of the Summit was in the conversations it enabled. By designing moments of ‘engineered serendipity’ between innovators, investors, government and regional partners, we showed how powerful it is when you connect the UK’s talent and ideas under one ecosystem. If we want to compete globally, we need to present the UK as a single, joined-up proposition, and make it easier for great research, wherever it’s based, to access the investment it needs.”
Dr Helen Turner, Director of Midlands Innovation, said: “The Midlands has shown the power of collaboration in bringing together universities, industry, investors and civic leaders around a shared ambition for innovation-led growth. This Summit not only highlighted the strength of the Midlands ecosystem, but also demonstrated how the UK’s nations and regions can work together to present a compelling, globally competitive investment proposition.”
Claire Ward, Mayor of the East Midlands, said: “Being involved in this conference is an important way to start conversations, highlight what we do, and showcase the exciting plans and opportunities we have across the East Midlands.”
