If internet media outlets are to be believed, there are anywhere between five to a million innovations out there in startup labs, incubators and accelerators, in their embryonic stage, just waiting to grow and disrupt existing business models. Disruption is in the air, and it is getting so high up there that even in the rarified air of the English Premier League, plucky little underdogs (or Foxes rather) fighting against 5000-to-1 odds, have just gone and won the League!
And now that the obligatory Leicester City mention has been achieved, maybe we can get back to business. Disruption as a general term has been done to death in this internet age. Uber and AirBnB have disrupted everything out there in the established service industry by creating the on-demand revolution. Further chaos is expected soon, with blockchain technologies expected to revolutionize everything. FinTech, Internet of Things to take online connectivity to the nth level, wearable tech to change health and fitness industry, driverless cars to wreak havoc on the automobile sectors, 3D printing to jolt the manufacturing industry, and for robots and AI to deliver the coup de grace to humanity itself.
Technological progress has always disrupted the status quo in society and economy throughout human existence. The affordable Ford automobile disrupted the transport industry, though nearly 30 years after the first automobile. The problem is that nowadays every technological innovation is being labeled the next big disruptor. Overplaying the same card ends up being an exercise in tedium. Tech innovations are coming thick and fast these days, thanks to the internet and faster and cheaper processors. They are probably the prime movers, the original disruptors, truly arriving on the scene decades after they were first invented.
That being said, the frenetic pace at which startups are mushrooming all over the UK is a great thing. Focused chaos can lead to remarkable innovations. Just ask tech giants Google and Apple how they innovate time and again with new products and services. Be it in Brighton, Manchester, Edinburgh or Cardiff, cities other than London are also becoming startup hubs drawing the best minds in the country and abroad to try and make it in a business environment that is still turbulent and uncertain.
With active encouragement from the UK government, universities, industry giants and venture capitalists, tech startups looking to be the next unicorn are finding UK to be a fertile destination. Sure, just as for every Jamie Vardy there are thousands of players who fail to make a mark; there will be hundreds if not thousands of startups that fail to get anywhere, even here in the UK. But that is life as we know it, and until a new innovation disrupts it, the status quo must remain!
