Policy Recommendations
Knowledge Capital - Policy Recommendations
Policy ideas raised during think tank discussions and shaped by Bidwells and Blackstock; with the potential to Grow, Advance or Supercharge Knowledge Capital in the Arc.
Advance
- Grants, such as subsidised rents, to knowledge-intensive start-ups that have a clear social purpose. This would help fledgling companies access appropriate space and provide access into further long-term support.
- A more generous R&D tax credit system. As a form of non-dilutive finance, tax credits are fundamental to the survival of start-ups with negative cash flows pre-revenue.
- Creation of a UK-equivalent tech-by-sector digital marketplace as a ‘one-stop’ window of access to simplify the innovation landscape for international inward investment, and to make the process of partnership easier for private enterprise looking for wider resource.
Grow
- Establish an independent patent advisory agency that educates start-ups on how to file patent applications nationally and through the World Intellectual Property Organisation. Start-ups and spin-outs companies linked to higher education institutions would benefit from training to file and administer patent applications on novel technologies. This would greatly accelerate the transmissibility of new technologies and adoption to market.
- Adapting the UK ‘Patent Box Regime’ which currently allows a 10% discount on Corporation Tax if eligible companies exploit patented inventions. This could be accomplished by adjusting the Patent Box rate to maintain a ten-percentage point gap between the Patent Box rate and the Corporation Tax rate.
