UK nations and regions
London, England
The capital city of the UK, London serves as the economic and cultural centre for the nation. With exceptional global connectivity, it hosts world-leading financial and professional services sustaining over 90,000 companies.
London is home to Europe's leading financial services hub, hosting 44 companies on the Fortune 500 Europe rankings. The city encompasses world-class connectivity with its airport system and ranks first in Europe for sustainable public transport. London leads Europe in digital investment, is home to 38% of UK cyber companies, and attracts over 50% of UK venture capital. London offers a diverse workforce of 5 million people speaking hundreds of languages, world-class universities and circa 470 start-up accelerators and incubators.
Key facts for London
2.6 million employees in financial and business services
World’s largest airport system
£8.2 billion tech hub venture capital investment in 2023
Europe’s top city for life sciences, ranking third globally
300 languages spoken
8,604 start-ups and 42 unicorns
An industrial strategy for the whole of the UK
The modern Industrial Strategy is a new economic approach – a whole-of-government effort to back the UK’s strengths, with ambitious plans for 8 high-growth sectors (‘IS-8’) and the frontier industries at their leading edge, from quantum to pharmaceuticals. It is a 10-year plan, built on stability and openness, to make the UK the best country to invest in.
Building on London's strengths
London already has a huge amount to celebrate and the Industrial Strategy’s Sector Plans promote its wide-ranging strengths to investors.
Clean energy industries
A hub for green finance, climate tech and research. Recent projects include Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence (CEME)’s business campus, securing £29 million for a Hydrogen Living Lab with Thames Estuary Growth Board and Ikigai Capital. Imperial College London also hosts the $70 million Qatar Carbonates and Carbon Storage Research Centre.
Creative industries
London is a leading global exporter of creative industries worth £63 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) in 2022, with investments including East Bank, Thames Estuary Production Corridor and Smithfield. It's the third biggest city for filmmaking in the world, with 2 new film studios, the Hounslow Creative Enterprise Zone and Camden Film Quarter, in development.
Defence
London's strengths span AI, quantum technologies, cyber, engineering biology and advanced connectivity research. It's home to world leading research in quantum computing, including at UCL's 'Q-Biomed', KCL's 'King's Quantum' and innovative start-ups including Phasecraft, Quantinuum and Post-Quantum. It hosts High Value Manufacturing and Digital Catapults and has the UK's largest concentration of data and AI industry, including cutting-edge disruptors Hadean, Palantir and Helsing.
Digital and technologies
A global leader in AI, London is home to 50% of cyber and 18% of quantum companies in the UK. It's the UK's gateway for technology companies, supporting regional growth through flagship events such as London Tech Week. The London Growth Plan sets out proposals to boost AI, quantum, bioengineering and its innovation clusters: the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the Knowledge Quarter and White City.
Financial services
London is an internationally leading financial centre, with world class universities and renowned transport infrastructure. The city offers proximity to a wide range of financial institutions and investors, access to key facilitating sectors such as law firms, and has a thriving fintech sector, generating companies such as Revolut and Monzo. It has a leading venture capital landscape, with companies located in the city receiving over 50% of the UK's total venture capital investments, and offers deep talent pools with access to adjacent professional services.
Professional and business services
London is the most desirable city for global talent, with a highly skilled, experienced and diverse workforce. It's Europe's leading financial services hub, competing only with New York City globally, generating a steady demand for advisory services, legal and regulatory expertise. London is also leading in Europe for its start-up ecosystem and AI VC investment (third globally), with over 100 accelerators, including PropTech-focused Geovation and RELab.
Life sciences
London is a global life sciences gateway with 1,200 sites and 34,800 employees, anchored by University College London Hospitals Trust, King's College Hospitals Trust, Imperial, Marsden, and the Francis Crick Institute, which is Europe's largest biomedical institute. London has key innovation hubs including the Knowledge Quarter, White City and Paddington, and the London Growth Plan sets out plans to boost the sector.
Foundational industries relevant to IS-8 supply chains
London has a number of ports in its estuary, as well as the Thames Freeport, and a construction sector.
Driving regional growth in London
The Industrial Strategy introduces ambitious policies to drive growth and investment across every nation and region of the UK. This is a 10-year strategy which will be a living document. We want to continue to work with local government, Mayoral Strategic Authorities and devolved governments to ensure they can drive growth across the UK.
More policies will be delivered over time, but below are some of the specific interventions in London that form part of our strategy.
- At least £30 million earmarked for London through the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund. This will empower local leaders to decide how to target research investment in the region and unleash its full innovation potential
- Providing faster, more frequent, and more reliable rail services between London and Birmingham by delivering HS2 and unlocking large-scale commercial sites along the route including a new life sciences hub at Euston
- Providing the largest multi-year settlement for London in over a decade, with £2.2 billion of funding between 2026 to 2027 and 2029 to 2030 for Transport for London's capital renewals programme
- Enhanced support for the Thames Freeport, which is specialised in advanced manufacturing, with streamlined planning processes, better-targeted investment promotion, support for accessing concessionary finance, and coordinated support on skills