It has now been 47 days since I lodged my ROI for the NIV pathway on 18 August. Still no update – which, from what I have seen, remains within normal expectations. Some applicants who lodged earlier in the cycle have (apparently) begun receiving invitations, but timing seems to vary by sector and by when their ROI was first submitted.
While waiting, a few developments have prompted me to reflect on what I might have emphasised more clearly in my application – and what, if invited, I would be sure to bring forward.
One of the ventures I supported at the pre-seed stage has now closed an institutional seed round at roughly double the valuation of my original entry point. It is a sustainability technology for laboratory plastics, now moving from pilot validation to commercial scale. That kind of outcome – turning protected intellectual property into a market-ready product – is exactly the type of innovation the NIV is designed to back.
Separately, a life-sciences venture within my portfolio has secured additional patents, strengthening its development platform. In hindsight, I significantly underplayed the weight of that intellectual property in the broader story; patents matter, but it is their commercialisation that creates public value. On that note, this week I signed an agreement to license a United States product into the United Kingdom – another step in translating intellectual property into practical, regulated access.
All of these strands point to the same theme: innovation only matters when it moves from concept to capability. If I am invited to the next stage, that is the story I will tell – taking ideas through to real-world application, governance and scale.
It is easy to overlook these things, particularly with the diversity of my work and the pace at which projects evolve; sometimes it takes distance to recognise the significance of a story, a project, or an outcome. In this case, it took time.
For now, still waiting. When there is progress, I will note it here!
Practical, not promotional — definitely not immigration advice