British tech corporations are eager to speed up their innovation with new analysis and improvement (R&D) initiatives regardless of current challenges, in accordance with contemporary figures.
A survey of 500 scaleup leaders and 250 enterprise capital and personal fairness decision-makers within the UK by EmpowerRD discovered that 80% deliberate to say R&D tax reduction in 2025 to gasoline new initiatives.
The R&D tax credit score scheme supplies reduction for companies within the UK that make investments cash into the event of recent applied sciences as an incentive to innovate.
International monetary challenges in addition to troublesome to trace coverage shifts concerning the credit prompted a 21% drop in R&D claims made in 2022-23.
Regardless of this, EmpowerRD has discovered renewed curiosity within the scheme, suggesting Britain’s companies are as soon as once more able to spend money on innovation. As many as 82% of respondents mentioned they might improve their R&D budgets over the subsequent three years.
The survey discovered that amongst these companies which have already claimed R&D tax reduction prior to now, three-quarters agreed it boosted their funding in innovation, whereas round half mentioned it helped their capability to recruit and retain technical expertise.
Although respondents felt positively concerning the scheme, 1 / 4 expressed concern {that a} declare would immediate an enquiry from HMRC, which has prior to now complained about fraudulent claims made by means of the scheme.
“UK founders are able to innovate – however too typically they’re blocked by crimson tape and a worry of HMRC enquiries,” mentioned Robert Whiteside, chief govt at EmpowerRD.
“R&D tax credit have big potential to energy progress, however the course of must be sooner, easier and extra reassuring for each the claimants and the taxpayers. If we get that proper, we received’t simply shut the hole between ambition and motion – we’ll supercharge the UK’s innovation financial system.”
