“This budget provides an opportunity for organisations to fast-track digital transformation as they did during the COVID pandemic. During COVID, out of necessity, we saw five-year programmes condensed into nine months. Unfortunately, in many cases that progress in the public sector has stalled. In the private sector we have seen a significant uplift in adopting off-the-shelf technology solutions to maintain or improve service delivery in the face of reducing budgets. Public sector organisations must now do the same. If public finances are to remain on a sustainable trajectory without public services falling off a cliff, organisations must see this as a reset opportunity – a chance to pause, understand how private organisations are utilising readily available technology to win (or at least survive) in these tough financial conditions, and then act.”
Andy Wilkins, CEO and Co-founder of Futr AI
About Futr: Andy Wilkins is CEO and Co-founder of Futr AI. Over the past year, Futr has accelerated its work with a myriad of organisations as they have all implemented AI chatbots to ensure increased engagement with their end-users and deliver a seamless customer service experience. From government to business, their chatbots are used by over 1,000 organisations across the world including police forces, charities such as CALM and housing associations.
Hywel Carver, CEO and co-founder of Deep Coaching platform, Skiller Whale
“It’s exciting to hear that the Chancellor wants to capture the spirits of many British inventors and transform our technology sector, although he confuses entrepreneurship (starting a business in the hope of profiting) with innovation (using new ideas to create new, better goods and services).
That difference matters – the Chancellor talks about removing import tariffs on goods from “car seat parts” to “bicycle frames” – it’s not clear how that will help innovation, but it’s sure to help small business owners. That will help create a nation of shopkeepers more than a nation of innovators.
He also talks about removing EU regulations – that’s an area where companies have to be careful. The EU remains a huge market on our doorstep, and selling to that market will still require us to meet its regulations and requirements. For the most successful, global companies, they will always have to meet those regulations anyway.
The confirmed increase in R&D funding is a strong step towards powering the UK’s status as a great, global innovator.
Will that alone make Britain “the world’s next Silicon Valley”? No, but it will help.”
About Skiller Whale is an online live training platform that changes what tech teams are capable of, with live, remote, expert-led 1-hour group sessions tailored to each individual’s needs. Revolutionising developer learning with small expert-led classes to upskill tech teams, their approach allows for a greater degree of flexibility and easier integration with busy tech teams’ schedules.
Nicolas de Junaic, General Manager UK, Zoomo (e-mobility)
“At Zoomo, our main focus is to get people out of cars and vans (whether they are electric or not) and onto bikes / cargo bikes. Moving to micromobility solutions is the key creating greener urban centres.
Today, electric vehicles still clog up our cities and take up valuable space. Having things like the Ultra-Low Emission Zone and the Congestion Zone, while taxing electric vehicles, will keep pushing companies and communities towards micromobility solutions which avoid undue taxes and truly move the sustainability needle.”
About Zoomo: Zoomo is a full-service utility micromobility platform founded by Mina Nada and Michael Johnson, with the mission of turning the world’s delivery fleets electric using e-bikes. Zoomo’s vertically integrated platform encompasses custom delivery-oriented e-bikes, a physical servicing and maintenance network, a software platform for efficient vehicle management, and a finance offering. Zoomo currently operates in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe.
Zoomo vehicles are used by major players in the on-demand food and grocery delivery segment including UberEats, Doordash, JustEat Takeaway, Deliveroo, Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Gopuff, Gorillas, Getir, JOKR, Zapp, Milkrun, Cajoo and more.
Guy Levy-Yurista, Ph.D., CEO of Synthace (Biotech)
“While we welcome the Chancellor’s commitment to maintain and increase overall R&D spending, we will wait with caution to understand the impact of any post-Brexit regulation changes, and changes to investment zones, both of which the government says it intends to make next year. However, while the Chancellor says that he wants to turn the UK into “the world’s next Silicon Valley,” we believe his proposed cuts to R&D tax credits for SMBs may work against that agenda. There are many SMB research scientists in the UK whose work benefits from these credits, and whose work also has an outsized impact compared to the larger companies these changes will favour. This will potentially have a negative impact on the overall level of innovation in this country and could well be a large step backwards, right when the country needs two steps forward.”
