Government support desperately needed for UK software industry

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Mid-sized businesses are out-of-country for new investments

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Europe’s tech industry is failing in its pursuit of fostering growth for domestic companies, as many look abroad for investment in their growth.

As a result, over 120 heads of industry have called on European countries to provide more growth incentives in their home countries in order to compete with the US software industry.

The UK government in particular has been urged to provide talent visas and tax incentives to keep growing companies on the home turf.

 Europe unable to grow talent

A policy document published by Boardwave has found that Europe’s ability to foster home-grown mid-sized software companies is “dreadful”, according to the document seen by Reuters.

Between the smaller startups and well established tech giants, there is very little support for mid-sized companies who are forced to seek investment abroad, with Broadware’s founder Phill Robinson stating that government attention to the middle ground is severely lacking.

With regard to this problem in the UK, a spokesperson for the Department of Science and Technology told Reuters, “We do not agree with this assessment. Our tech sector is booming and outpacing European competitors at every turn. We consistently lead the continent, ahead of both France and Germany combined.”

Better investment opportunities abroad, especially in the US, mean that mid-sized companies are taking their talent and innovation out of Europe, harming the industries at home.

The policy document put forward by Boardwave also calls for Europe to explore the possibility of establishing an NASDAQ-esque stock exchange that would encompass companies across the European continent.

In the 2024 Spring budget, the UK chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt laid out a number of incentives and tax reductions for small businesses, stating that the UK was, “on track to become the world's next silicon valley,” but very little was offered in support for medium sized businesses.

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Benedict Collins
Benedict Collins
Staff Writer (Security)

Benedict has been writing about security issues for close to 5 years, at first covering geopolitics and international relations while at the University of Buckingham. During this time he studied BA Politics with Journalism, for which he received a second-class honours (upper division). Benedict then continued his studies at a postgraduate level and achieved a distinction in MA Security, Intelligence and Diplomacy. Benedict transitioned his security interests towards cybersecurity upon joining TechRadar Pro as a Staff Writer, focussing on state-sponsored threat actors, malware, social engineering, and national security. Benedict is also an expert on B2B security products, including firewalls, antivirus, endpoint security, and password management.