Building a Super ScaleUp Nation: How ISS Is Turning Recommendations into Real World Impact

Our Executive Chair Ammar Mirza CBE speaking at the Scaleup Institute Panel - London

The latest ScaleUp Institute Annual Review reinforces something that anyone working with ambitious businesses already knows. The United Kingdom has all the ingredients to become a global leader in scaleup growth. We have exceptional founders, world class research, strong clusters and growing international demand for British innovation.

More than forty four thousand scaleups now operate across the United Kingdom, the highest number ever recorded, with a further twenty thousand in the pipeline. These companies make up less than one per cent of the business base yet generate more than half of total SME output. They are the engine of jobs, productivity and prosperity.

But the review is equally clear. To unlock the next stage of scaleup growth, we must reduce friction, deepen collaboration and strengthen our place based capacity to deliver support that is personalised, consistent and aligned with global opportunity.

This is where ISS is making a measurable difference.

Delivering the 3IP Model at Scale

For more than twenty years we have developed and refined the 3IP model which connects innovation, internationalisation and investment through world class people, places and programmes. The model reflects what the ScaleUp Institute identifies as essential. Founders need new products and services to innovate.

They need capital to fuel acceleration.

They need routes to international markets to scale.

The 3IP model brings these forces together in one connected experience. It is not theoretical. It is lived delivery across regions, sectors and global markets.

ISS Airview: The United Kingdom First Dedicated International Trade Centre

The review calls for stronger place based hubs, clearer pathways to markets and concierge style relationship management.

ISS Airview responds to all three.

Located at Newcastle International Airport, Airview is home to the United Kingdom first dedicated International Trade Centre. It provides a physical environment where founders can meet investors, access trade support, engage with international delegations and participate in practical market readiness activity.

This reduces the time it takes for a business to move from preparation to export.

It brings global partners directly into the region.

It creates a visible, permanent base for international activity in the North East and Tees Valley.

This is how recommendations become reality.

Activating Freeport Benefits in Tees Valley

The review highlights the need to strengthen logistics, advanced manufacturing and international connectivity. ISS is helping deliver this through our partnership with Teesside Freeport.

We are working with businesses to unlock customs advantages, create friction free trade routes and embed innovation within clean energy and advanced manufacturing clusters. This gives scaleups a competitive edge, supporting both domestic growth and international expansion.

The Freeport offers one of the most powerful place based tools in the United Kingdom and ISS is ensuring that companies can take full advantage of it.

Concierge Style Support Inspired by Global Best Practice

The review makes a clear recommendation. Scaleups need structured and consistent account management, modelled on the best international systems.

ISS has built this through a global concierge approach informed by work in Saudi, India and other high growth markets. We support companies through the full journey:

Market intelligence

Pre arranged meetings

Cultural insights

Regulatory navigation

Introductions to buyer networks

Investor pathways

Follow up and delivery support

This removes uncertainty and gives scaleups the confidence to enter new markets with clarity and purpose.

A Twenty Year Journey of Collaboration and Leadership

The review stresses that progress requires continuity, not endless reinvention. ISS builds on two decades of regional work, including the original Scale Up Programme through the LEP, partnership with the Entrepreneurs Forum, collaboration with universities and years of engagement with founders across the North East.

Our role is not to replace the ecosystem.

It is to strengthen it.

To connect partners.

To modernise pathways.

To accelerate ambition.

This approach aligns with the review call for collaboration powered by strong convening bodies. The ScaleUp Institute sets the national direction. ISS delivers at place level.

The Path Ahead: A ScaleUp Nation by Design

The United Kingdom has momentum. Scaleups are planning for growth. Investors are seeking opportunity. International partners are demanding British innovation.

To turn this momentum into a long term competitive advantage we must:

Communicate clearly with founders and partners.

Collaborate across sectors, regions and international networks.

Celebrate the businesses that are shaping the future.

This is the Power of 3 that guides everything we do at ISS.

ISS stands ready to work with the ScaleUp Institute, government, academia, investors and founders to build a scaleup nation by design. One where world class people, places and programmes are connected through the 3IP model and where regions like the North East and Tees Valley become global exemplars of what strategic, place based support can achieve.

The superhero theme of this year’s review reminds us that progress does not come from one organisation or one leader. It comes from a team committed to a shared mission.

ISS is proud to be part of that team.