Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Business
City Spy

Shutting SATFSUSS up

Don’t you hate seeing talent go to waste? Innovative firms that could thrive but don’t get enough support?

 In January Science Innovation and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan vowed to put a stop to this.

 Donelan unveiled a new government “science and tech focussed scale up support service” (SATFSUSS?) which, she said pithily, would “provide support to 20 of the most promising science and technology businesses wanting to scale up with targeted support from government to help them unblock the key issues that are getting in the way of their high-growth ambitions.”   

 As if that wasn’t enough, “we will guide businesses around the obstacles and help them burst through any barrier that stops them reaching their potential,” she added.

 Since then, civil servants had been beavering away, whittling down applicants into a shortlist of 20 and preparing a programme of support, with the plans set for a big reveal in a speech at London Tech Week.

 But the speech never came, after the policy was canned at the last minute.

 What was the obstacle, the barrier, the “key issue getting in the way”?  Rishi Sunak for calling a general election, it would turn out.

 Spy understands DSIT mandarins are pretty grumpy about this, given all the work they’ve put in, and are praying the next government will revive the plans.

 How do the 20 firms feel about missing out? No one had got round to telling them they made the list. Just as well.

(Evening Standard)

Sign up to the weekly City Spy newsletter for your unmissable round-up of all the gossip, rumours, and covert goings-on inside the Square Mile: standard.co.uk/newsletters

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.