It has been quite an eventful couple of summer months. Touchstone Innovations, the commercialisation firm spun out from Imperial College London, now faces the very real prospect of a hostile takeover by its peer IP Group, after the latter secured the approval of 90% of the target’s shareholders.
The UK government was also busy, with the Treasury finally releasing its consultation on the long-awaited – and somewhat dreaded – patient capital review. The document invites a deeper analysis of what the country aims to become over the next years as it chases prosperity outside the EU.
The country’s innovation ecosystem is lagging behind its US counterpart in the scaling of startups to unicorns – enterprises worth more than $1bn – and to make up that shortfall the government needs to shift its focus. That is the fundamental idea driving the consultation.
Figures published in the document – Financing growth in…
