APPG for Entrepreneurship: January 2021 Digest

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With Parliament recalled to vote on the Prime Minister’s new public health regulations, clearly the priority for both Houses, and the country at large, must be stymieing the spread of the virus and vaccinating the population.

However, we need to be ready to go for an enterprise-led recovery. While much of this won’t be top of the political agenda, I wanted to just briefly update you on our plans for 2021 and how you can get involved.

Last year the APPG pivoted to hosting webinars to better connect entrepreneurs with parliamentarians during the pandemic. We will continue the webinars (even after the virus is defeated), but in 2021 we will build them around key research themes.

The main output will be pithy briefing papers on policy areas pertinent to entrepreneurs. These will be designed so politicians know (nearly everything) on the latest research on areas vital for supporting entrepreneurship in the UK. Each briefing paper will be a culmination of webinars to gain insights from experts and guide the scope, calls for evidence and broader independent research.

To kick things off, we are teaming up with the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) on the theme of Levelling Up.

There is renewed political focus on tackling the UK’s high levels of regional inequality. Key to any agenda to ‘level up’ the UK’s underperforming regions will be policies to support the starting and scaling of new ventures.

The questions will evolve based on the webinars and evidence, but we will be considering questions such as:

  • Are there regional barriers to finance for SMEs?

  • Can university research support growth for SMEs in underperforming regions?

  • What is the impact of agglomeration effects on regional SME growth?

  • What is the role of digital adoption in supporting growth for SMEs across the UK?

MPs and Peers please get in touch if:

  • you would like to speak on a panel on levelling up later in the year;

  • you have ideas for any other themes you think we should be undertaking.

Everyone else please get in touch if:

  • you would like to sponsor another policy area pertinent to entrepreneurs;

  • you would like to be kept updated on the Levelling Up theme – including invitations to upcoming events.

We will also continue to host ad hoc webinars, while any organisations launching their own research pertinent to entrepreneurs should get in touch with me if they want to undertake a launch with the APPG.


From our Advisers

Our advisory board keeps us up-to-date with the latest initiatives to support entrepreneurship in the UK.

Enterprise Nation has found that a fifth of UK adults want to start a business in 2021. However, these wannabe business owners need more support to realise their ambitions. Over half of those who want to launch their own business would prefer to set up an evening or weekend side hustle, with health, beauty, exercise and wellbeing the top sectors. Find out more here.

Naomi Weir, Head of Innovation at the CBI, wants to alert you to the Tech Tracker 2020, which was published just before Christmas. The CBI and Microsoft report outlines common ‘digital dilemmas’, practical steps and policy recommendations to help businesses innovate. Find out more here.

Our Adviser Erika Brodnock wants to let you know they are embarking on phase two of their VC funded startup research, and innovation grant research in collaboration with Innovate UK and The Innovation Caucus. If you’re keen to find out more, just let me know and I’ll make the introduction.

Chris Haley, who sits on the beard of Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), wants to remind people that the GEN Hub is now up and running. Anyone is welcome to create a profile on it. Find out more here.

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