Tech stampede to the exit: British brilliance born of our great universities is being plundered daily, says ALEX BRUMMER
At the weekend, the country was encouraged to be cheerful when Whitehall spin doctors came out in force to celebrate a Labour investment of £86billion in science and technology by 2029-30.
The Higher Education Policy Institute notes a different reality.
The spending pledge represents a real-terms freeze. Five years ago during Covid, Boris Johnson's government committed £22billion of spending on R&D by 2024-25. The new number is a modest cash increase of £500million.
At 2.7 per cent of national output, British spending on R&D is woefully mean.
Rachel Reeves and the Government seek to confuse voters with spending gobbledegook. The reality is that uplifts in spending for the NHS and defence will leave the cupboard bare.
Britain's brilliant technology is exiting these shores through the back door after a series of overseas and private equity assaults.
For sale: Britain's brilliant technology is exiting these shores through the back door after a series of overseas and private equity assaults on leading edge science-based enterprises
It was hoped that the Tory-sponsored National Security & Investment Act of 2021 would end wanton destruction of Britain's tech and bioscience genius, bringing a halt to a period when great companies such as Arm Holdings were shunted overseas.
Despite the eye-watering sums being propagated by the Government, the biopharma Francis Crick Institute is short of funding needed to attract deserting US scientists to the UK.
And in the presence of Sir Keir Starmer, Nvidia boss Jensen Huang cautioned that the UK lacks the digital infrastructure needed to capitalise on AI.
The extra £1billion pledged by the Prime Minister is unlikely, given spending constraints, to be wholly new money. But we can live in hope.
Technology brought to market by firms spun out of Britain's great research universities is being plundered daily. US chipmaker Qualcomm is to swallow Britain's Alphawave for £1.8billion, a stunning 96 per cent premium.
If evidence were needed that London-listed shares are trading at bargain basement prices, it is provided by such departures.
As if this were not proof enough, US quantum computing company IonQ is seeking to snaffle British tech start-up Oxford Ionics for £800million.
Advent, destroyer of aerospace pioneer Cobham and submarine sonar group Ultra Electronics, is making a £3.7billion offer for precision instrumentation supplier Spectris.
Private equity group Advent operates a model of high leverage, which breaks up and sells parts in rapid-fire time.
The deal can only be destructive to Britain's supply chain to vital industries where there is a cutting edge.
A Spectris board of nodding-dogs shows little sign of putting up any fight in the national interest when faced with a handsome premium.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and Secretary of State for Science Peter Kyle have no strategy for addressing the private equity and overseas takeovers.
This may not be surprising when Investment Minister Poppy Gustafsson sold her Cambridge-based cyber security pioneer Darktrace to private equity outfit Thoma Bravo last year. That isn't a wonderful blueprint for a Britain seeking to create its own Silicon Valley.
Mad men
Phil Jansen can be a tricky person to work with. Soon after his arrival as chief executive of BT he fell-out with respected chairman Jan du Plessis.
It has taken Jansen just six months as chairman of WPP to wave goodbye to boss Mark Read, a 30-year lifer at the advertising group.
Read was dealt a difficult hand by his predecessor and WPP's inspiration Sir Martin Sorrell. It was a marketing giant in transition and carrying substantial debt.
Read has pressed ahead with the embrace of AI but received little credit as the stock plummeted to a five-year low and the firm lost its status as the world's largest advertising agency.
There will be no shortage of candidates to replace him. But it should be a case of beware the chairman.
Bad skin
The sale of scientifically-based skin dermatology brand Medik8 to cosmetics leader L'Oreal, for an estimated £850million, is another loss to the UK.
Last time the French group bought into Britain when it acquired The Body Shop, it came to an ugly end. The late Anita Roddick's creation was neglected and ended up in unsafe hands. Not a beautiful precedent.
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