Burnham Government backs business leaders' call to help firms scale in Britain, as new study finds Oxford-Cambridge region is the world’s leading source of new science companies but needs scale to attract new investment

• The Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor has produced 740 university spinouts, almost 70% more than the Bay Area, more than Boston or any other leading global cluster, and more scientific publications per resident than anywhere else in the world
   

• New study, delivered by the Oxford-Cambridge Supercluster Board, compares OxCam to 14 global clusters, from Paris to Austin, to show how the corridor can turn more of its discoveries into unicorn British companies
   

• Business leaders see a major opportunity to back British scale-ups by directing around £5bn of the pension capital pledged under the Mansion House Accord into venture and growth-stage companies, and by making healthcare and defence early customers for proven British technology
   

• Report comes as the Chancellor sets an ambition to double the number of UK unicorns, and shows how growing firms in the corridor can create first jobs, apprenticeships and supply chains across the country

The Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor is the world’s most productive place for turning university research into new companies, according to a new study. The next step, the report finds, is to help more of those companies grow into global businesses in Britain, creating jobs and investment across the country.

‘Scaling OxCam’, produced by Public First for the Oxford-Cambridge Supercluster Board, was commissioned by Lord Vallance, Chair of the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor. It is the first study to benchmark the corridor against 14 of the world’s leading innovation clusters, including the Bay Area, Boston, Paris, Singapore, Austin and the Randstad.
 

The corridor leads the world on research and company creation. Between 2019 and 2023 it produced almost twice as many scientific publications per resident as Boston or Beijing, and its research has been cited in more than 26,000 patents over the past decade, more per head than any other cluster. Its 740 university spinouts compare with 440 in the Bay Area and 200 in Boston.
 

The findings come as the Chancellor described Britain at the Labour Party Annual Conference as a world leader in life sciences, defence technology and AI.
 

The report finds that the corridor’s ability to scale companies has not yet caught up with its science. When access to growth capital, early customers and infrastructure are taken into account, it ranks behind most of the clusters studied. Closing that gap is central to the combined Vision for the corridor to become one of the world’s top 10 innovation clusters, adding £78bn to the economy and 160,000 jobs by 2035.
 

Five priorities
 

The report identifies five areas where the corridor can learn from other leading clusters, and notes that action is already under way in each:
 

• Growth capital: The Mansion House Accord and the new UK Scale-Up Fund are strong foundations. The Board is calling for around £5bn of Mansion House pension capital to be directed into venture and growth-stage funds across the region, learning from France, where an official label for late-stage technology funds has drawn billions from insurers and pension funds.
   

• First customers: The government has committed to using public procurement as an avenue for early revenue, with new powers to let firms test products safely. The report calls for simpler routes into the NHS and defence procurement, so that technologies proven in trials can win larger contracts sooner.
   

• Talent: Reforms to technical education and the expansion of the Local Apprenticeships Service are helping build the workforce growing firms need. The report calls for more apprenticeships and technical routes into the corridor's scaling firms and connected professions, alongside faster visas for founders and experienced managers.
   

• Homes, energy and space: Planning reform and the proposed Development Corporations for Cambridge and Oxford are important steps. The report calls for faster build-out on sites already earmarked for growth, and quicker grid connections, so that homes, power and lab space arrive where growing firms need them.
   

• Transport: The government has made East West Rail central to its plans for the corridor. The report calls for it to be completed in full, which would roughly double the labour markets Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge can each draw on and improve links to Manchester and Liverpool.
   

The report concludes that no single policy built any of the world’s leading clusters. Silicon Valley grew on university research, public procurement and deep venture capital; Austin paired a pro-growth business environment with a permissive approach to infrastructure; Paris combined reform of local government with national investment in transport and late-stage capital. Progress in the corridor will depend on local and national government, industry and universities working together on all five constraints, under the triple-helix model that saw success in the COVID-19 pandemic.
 

The growth capital opportunity
 

The largest single opportunity is in growth capital. Early-stage funding in the corridor is relatively healthy, but the funding ladder narrows as companies grow. Data presented to government estimates a $30bn shortfall compared with Silicon Valley in funding rounds above $100m, and the corridor hosted five such rounds in 2025, against 22 in Austin. Almost three-quarters of UK start-ups surveyed by Tech Nation identify access to capital as the main barrier to scaling. Only a third of OxCam founded companies retain a presence in the region; deeper growth capital would help keep more of the next generation here.
 

The Mansion House Accord, under which pension providers have pledged to invest 5% of their default funds in UK private markets by 2030, is a landmark step and is expected to total around £25bn. The Supercluster Board believes that committing at least a fifth of it, around £5bn, to British venture and growth-stage companies would benefit savers and the economy alike. UK-managed venture capital funds have returned 13.3% a year over the past decade, more than double the return of the FTSE All-Share index.
 

France shows what can be achieved. Its Tibi initiative gives an official label to late-stage funds that insurers and pension funds can invest in, without the state directing individual investments. It mobilised €6.4bn in its first phase, with a third phase of around €13bn announced this year, and Paris attracted $5.5bn of venture capital in 2025.
 

Public buyers can play a similar role. Silicon Valley was built on early federal demand, with the Department of Defense, the CIA and NASA the main buyers of the semiconductors that gave the area its name. With defence investment rising, the Board sees an opportunity for the NHS and Ministry of Defence to act as first customers for British technology once it has been proven in trials, with a clear route to larger contracts when it performs in use.
 

Growth in every postcode
 

The report finds that the benefits of scaling more companies in the corridor would be felt well beyond it. The supply chain contracts and factories that follow a growing firm could sit in Birmingham, Bristol or Sunderland rather than Boston or Beijing, and the tax receipts they generate would help fund services across the country. Scaling firms also create a wide range of jobs, in engineering, manufacturing, operations and technical roles – not only in research.
 

The report notes that the corridor has a relatively low share of younger working-age adults compared with leading clusters, yet this is the group scaling firms most depend on for technicians, operators, enabling functions, and future managers. Growing more companies here creates the kind of jobs that come with training and a wage that can open careers in science and technology to young people from across the region, including through apprenticeships with the corridor’s growing supply chain.
 

It highlights existing partnerships between Manchester and Cambridge and between Liverpool and Oxford, and closer links between the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor and the Northern Growth Corridor, as ways to share that growth across a stronger national innovation economy.
 

Comments
 

Lord Vallance, Chair of the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor, said: “The Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor has turned research into discovery, and discovery into innovation, for generations, from DNA and the first antibiotic produced at scale to the processor designs in the world’s phones and a vaccine that helped tackle Covid-19. Its strengths are not in question. The task now is to turn more of that innovation into companies, jobs and growth here in the UK.
 

Our shared ambition is for the corridor to be one of the world’s top 10 innovation clusters. There has already been real progress, and reforms to planning, pension capital and industrial policy all point in the right direction. This report shows what has worked elsewhere and what might suit the corridor. We have a golden opportunity, and with local and national government, industry and academia working together, we can seize it.” 
 

Dan Tomlinson MP, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said: “Good growth in every postcode means backing the places where Britain already leads the world, and making sure the benefits reach every part of the country. The Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor is home to millions of people, including thriving cities like Milton Keynes. This report is a valuable contribution as we work with partners to help more British companies start, scale and stay here, supporting the Chancellor’s ambition to double the number of UK unicorns and creating good jobs across the country. I look forward to convening ministers, local leaders, and other stakeholders shortly to discuss how we turn this ambition into reality.”

 

Callum Anderson MP, Buckingham and Bletchley, said: “OxCam is one of Britain’s biggest opportunities for growth, and with Milton Keynes and Bletchley at the beating heart of the corridor, my constituency has a vital role to play in its success. Nationally, we’ve made clear that our government’s mission is growth in every postcode, and locally that means making sure communities across Bletchley, Tattenhoe and north Buckinghamshire see the benefits through better jobs, stronger transport links and investment close to home.”
 

Dr Andy Williams, Chair of the Oxford-Cambridge Supercluster Board, said: “Our universities and founders are already the best in the world at starting companies. This report shows how we can make the corridor the best place to grow them too, creating jobs and apprenticeships for young people as well as for researchers. Much of what it identifies is about mobilising private capital and making faster decisions, not new public spending. The Mansion House Accord was a landmark commitment, and pension providers and government deserve credit for agreeing it. Directing a share of that capital to British scale-ups would be a win-win for savers and businesses, and would help the next generation of great British companies grow here.
 

“The Prime Minister is right that growth is built on the ground, through partnerships between business, universities and civic leaders. That is exactly what the Supercluster Board was created to do, and our members – from global businesses to universities and investors – stand ready to work with government, mayors and local leaders to deliver it."