The UK is rich in scientific discovery, but turning breakthroughs into scalable companies remains a challenge. Katy Linkens speaks to Professor Kay Davies about capital, talent, innovation ecosystems, and why community may be just as important as investment.

There is no doubt the UK has ample scientific discovery, innovation and talent. The bigger challenge is enabling companies to scale and thrive within the UK. Kay Davies is well placed to address this, as a leading Oxford-based academic who has also founded several companies tackling diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

The UK is performing strongly in areas such as AI and the financial sector. The Hurun UK Unicorn Index 2026 reports it boasts 80 ‘unicorns’ (privately-owned startups valued at US$1bn) worth a combined £242.4 billion, overtaking India [1] and ranking third worldwide. Of these companies, 23 were created in the last 12 months alone.

Yet Davies sees a widening gap: “We’re getting the companies started, but we’re not translating and scaling up.”

Crossing the divide

Universities are full of promising ideas with translational potential. “But what academics often fail to realise,” Davies reflects, “is they need to assess the market.

“Who will need this technology, and can we build a sustainable business around it? You’re not going to be able to raise money if you can’t market the product at the end.”

Scientific value does not automatically equate to commercial value. Technologies targeting a narrow disease area may be clinically important, but still struggle to attract investment if the market is too small. Broader platform approaches can be more attractive to investors, with scope to grow across several applications.

Davies also stresses the importance of strong leadership from an early stage. “You need to assemble a really good leadership team, and that’s not trivial,” she explains. Companies may start with two or three people but need entrepreneurs who can shape strategy and attract funding.

Davies is optimistic, pointing to growing corporate investment in the UK, more successful entrepreneurs and investors who are willing to input money, time and experience. But building a company beyond proof of concept requires significant capital, and later-stage investment can be harder to secure. In comparison, the United States offers larger pools of growth capital for ambitious companies seeking to expand.

In Davies’ view, this causes promising UK companies to be acquired for a “pitiful price” and pulled overseas before they reach maturity.

“This is something we need to solve if we want to get really successful, multibillion-pound companies in this country,” she insists, with one possible solution being greater domestic investment for high-growth UK businesses, including through pension funds. Experienced entrepreneurs could also help younger companies bridge the socalled ‘valley of death’ – the chasm between scientific discovery and commercial success.

Building ecosystems

For Davies, successful innovation depends on connections between capital, infrastructure, and talent – “You need to have a critical mass of people that understand business development.”

That is a key aim of bodies such as Oxford’s science and tech innovation district Oxford North, with which Davies, Emeritus Dr Lee’s Professor of Anatomy at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Hertford College, has long been familiar.

Bringing scientists, entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders together could allow them to learn from one another and share experience, she says. Organisations including Oxford Science Enterprises provide access to established networks and practical support. New founders can draw on the experience of those who have done it before.

Davies (pictured above) points to the cluster of AI companies around London’s King’s Cross as another example. Digital working makes some of this exchange easier, but she is clear about the value of regular in-person interaction.

She also believes the UK must create more opportunities for people to gain experience within innovative companies. “We need to be a bit more flexible in getting people all sorts of work experience, to help people discover where their strengths lie”, she says.

Early-stage businesses could benefit from recruiting for short-term projects, but employment regulations can make this feel like an expensive and risky commitment.

As a result, opportunities can disappear. These roles could provide young people with valuable experience and skills that are difficult to gain elsewhere, Davies explains.

Beyond the Triangle

For Davies, the next phase of UK innovation must involve building stronger ecosystems across the country, without diluting what already exists in the Golden Triangle. “You can’t just take expertise in the Golden Triangle and transplant it elsewhere… You have to do it gradually.” Successful clusters depend on infrastructure, specialist skills and the exchange of knowledge, all of which take time to develop.

Many hospitals across the UK already have the extensive research expertise and can run effective clinical trials. Davies highlights muscular dystrophy studies that have taken place in Newcastle as well as London and Oxford, proving that high-quality research can extend well beyond the South East. The challenge is developing the people and connections needed to make it sustainable.

Different stages of a company’s growth may lend themselves to different locations. A business may need a core of highly specialised staff, but later reach a more labour-intensive

“You can’t just invent the talent. You’ve got to persuade the talent to move, and the talent will have to have a reason,” cautions Davies.

Many universities outside the Triangle, including Manchester, Birmingham and Sheffield, already have science parks and research strengths of their own. Partnerships between such science parks could connect them to the capital and networks grouped in the South.

Culture is also important. Twenty years ago, academics who wanted to start companies were often viewed as stepping away from ‘proper’ academic careers. Today, commercialisation is increasingly recognised as a way for research to have real-world impact.

Public engagement is particularly important because the realities of scientific innovation can be difficult to communicate. (“If you’re trying to set up a company in life sciences… you’re still looking at a 10-year journey.”) As emerging technologies accelerate discovery, Davies believes it will become even more important to bring the public along and maintain trust.

But what academics often fail to realise is they need to assess the market. Who will need this technology, and can we build a sustainable business around it? You’re not going to be able to raise money if you can’t market the product at the end – Kay Davies

Many successful entrepreneurs are also choosing to reinvest their experience and wealth into the next generation of businesses. “There are a lot of very successful people out there that want to help, that want to give back,” says Davies who hopes this will create an ecosystem in which success is shared rather than isolated.

Ultimately, she sees innovation as a team effort. Every successful company relies not only on founders and investors, but also on research assistants, technicians, managers and countless others whose work makes scientific progress possible. Helping young people see these different routes into innovation, and giving them opportunities to contribute, will be just as important as funding the next breakthrough.

Overall, Davies is optimistic about the UK’s future, but success though will depend on the next generation.

“We have to shift to the next generation, otherwise we are not going to succeed at all… The UK has the ability, and probably the money as well, if we can organise it properly, to really make this take off.”

• Biomedical scientist Katy Linkens completed her PhD at UCL, developing gene therapies for rare disease. She now works at the University of Warwick, using gene editing to model neurodegenerative diseases phase that could be based elsewhere. That could reduce running costs while building skills outside the Golden Triangle and offering scientists a more affordable lifestyle