In this new ‘From ambition to action’ blog series, key South London stakeholders respond to the South London BIG Ambition Growth Statement.

South London is often viewed as residential, peripheral or quieter than its inner-city neighbours in Central and North London. But it’s much more than that. It is also £38 billion engine of the UK economy.

The sub-region is home to internationally recognised assets that lay the foundation for sustained innovation and growth. Each plays a distinctive role in delivering on national and regional priorities.

Landmark destinations like the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), Twickenham Stadium and Battersea Power Station are at the heart of a thriving visitor economy. The London Cancer Hub in Sutton and the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington position us at the forefront of the health and green-tech industries. South London also benefits from a highly educated workforce, enabled by a strong cluster of vocational and skills-based universities, like the University of Roehampton, which is ranked as the UK’s top modern university for research. These institutions help businesses plug into world-class expertise and innovation talent.

And yet, despite the number and range of world-class physical and intellectual assets, productivity in South London still lags behind inner London. This gap is our real opportunity for investment, from private equity, businesses and infrastructure developers. Critically, if we are going to succeed, we must do it together.

Over the last five years, South London has developed a pioneering sub-regional partnership model. BIG South London, powered by the South London Partnership, is an integrated collaboration between five boroughs, six universities and a range of Further Education partners. We already offer businesses cutting-edge research expertise, student placement schemes, professional training and specialist facilities. Crucially, we’ve moved beyond working in silos by co-designing programmes of business support, sharing infrastructure, and opening innovation hubs across borough boundaries.

BIG South London has been a catalyst for innovation and inclusion, particularly for SMEs. We’ve launched funded Innovation Vouchers, business mentorship networks, and opened seven co-working and Knowledge Exchange Hubs across the boroughs, offering affordable lab and office space, wraparound support, and a route to talent and research collaboration. We also working with community colleges and charities to ensure innovation reaches disadvantaged areas, with targeted skills and employment programmes.

But we are just getting started.

Take SETEC (the Sustainable Engineering and Technology Education Centre) launched by the University of Roehampton in 2024. It was born from a collaboration between the South London Partnership, Wandsworth Borough, and major local employers. SETEC was galvanised by the scale of the retrofit challenge and the lack of diversity in the built environment professions, not just in South London, but across the UK. Backed by a £6 million grant from the Office for Students, SETEC includes engineering workshops, design studios and CAD labs. It delivers hands-on training in sustainable construction, renewable energy and design, building a talent pipeline that will meet demand for net-zero construction. This is the kind of joined-up, future-facing infrastructure where investors can see real return and social impact.

We’ve made strong progress, but to unlock our full potential, we now need long-term private investment alongside public funding. Matching capital could unlock new innovation programmes, co-investment in shared spaces, venture acceleration, and sector-specific skills centres.

The government is signalling its intent. The new UKRI Local Innovation Partnerships Fund (announced in June 2025) puts “local experts in the lead,” with £500 million earmarked for place-based R&D. It aims to attract an additional £1 billion in private investment to address regional priorities. South London is uniquely well-positioned to deliver on these ambitions.

But public funding alone won’t deliver step change. The challenge, and the opportunity, is to attract private capital with public R&D to unlock growth. That means partnerships with property developers, health-tech firms, green construction companies, funders, and philanthropists. This investment from business and beyond is critical to deliver the infrastructure, skills and commercial models to power the UK’s next-generation economy.

The economic case is clear. Every £1 invested in R&D delivers up to £7 in economic benefit. More importantly, for us, so is the opportunity in South London.

BIG South London’s advantage is agility. As a coalition of boroughs, universities, FE institutions and businesses, we’re more responsive than large city-region models, and more connected to the communities and industries we serve.

Our partnership has already turned years of ambition into action, from inclusive skills pathways to cross-borough innovation hubs. We are a connected, ambitious and purposeful innovation ecosystem. But with the right partnerships and investment, we can build a stronger, greener, more inclusive economy not just for South London, but for the UK.

Read the South London BIG Ambition growth strategy