Rebecca Jones, our Partner for Innovation, Heritage and Social Impact, gives her take on the role of the UK Catapults in achieving the recently announced UK Industrial Strategy
The UK’s 2025 Industrial Strategy is a decade-long blueprint to drive economic growth, innovation and investment, building on the Investment 2035 Green Paper. It has a focus on eight high-growth sectors (IS-8):
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Clean Energy Industries
- Creative Industries
- Defence
- Digital and Technologies
- Financial Services
- Life Sciences
- Professional and Business Services
In this regard, the UK Catapults are pivotal in turning the 2025 industrial strategy ambitions into measurable progress. They act as the bridge between government policy, academic research, and industry needs—helping to commercialise new technologies, de-risk innovation, and accelerate the adoption of solutions in key sectors such as manufacturing, digital, energy, and life sciences.
More specifically, Catapults are tasked with fuelling economic growth by supporting innovative businesses, particularly SMEs, to bring products and services to market faster and at higher quality. Evidence shows that businesses working with Catapults experience faster employment growth and significantly higher turnover compared to those that do not. Catapults also create high-value jobs and foster regionally focused innovation clusters, contributing to the government’s levelling-up agenda
They also align with one or more of the eight high-growth sectors priorities by the 2025 strategy. For examples the High Value Manufacturing Catapult supports advanced manufacturing, net zero, and healthy living and has helped over 36,000 companies since 2011. Katherine Bennett CBE, CEO of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult said; “The publication of the modern industrial strategy is a pivotal step towards transforming the UK into an industrial powerhouse.”
Catapults are uniquely positioned to build strategic alignment between industry and academia, ensuring that emerging technology fields such as AI, quantum computing and semiconductors are supported by robust research and development pipelines and skills development programmes. This Catapult engagement will also support increased workforce development, advanced digital skills training, and creating inclusive talent pipelines to meet future sector needs.
Catapults are also well placed to increase the focus on late-stage R&D and commercialisation, providing testbeds, demonstration facilities, and access to venture capital for SMEs both across the UK and through international collaboration.
However, there could still be changes to how the UK grows its innovation focus. The strategy’s structure – sector-based plans, a permanent delivery unit, and ongoing consultation – suggests flexibility and potential for mid-course corrections. The emphasis on public procurement, regulatory innovation, and skills development could evolve as feedback for industry and delivery partners (like the Catapults) is incorporated. The move towards leveraging public-private partnerships and streamlining regulation also signals a more agile, responsive approach to fostering innovation, which could be further enhanced as gaps are identified during implementation.
As stated in the CBI analysis of the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, “the government has been clear that this is not the finished product but an ongoing conversation with industry to ensure delivery in collaboration over the next ten years and beyond.” Consequently, it will be interesting to see how the Catapult Network embraces this opportunity to further strengthen and grow the UK economy.
If you are struggling to secure diverse leadership talent for your organisation, please do contact Rebecca at: rebecca.jones@mcleanpublic.com
