The first comprehensive assessment of the UK microsystems sector, detailing its economic footprint, its global position, and what it will take to turn world-class capability into lasting industrial advantage.
What this report is
Microsystems are the tiny devices that operate at scales barely perceptible to the human eye, the sensors that tell a smartphone which way is up, the microscopic channels that move a single droplet of blood across a diagnostic test, the precision components that keep a drone flying steady when satellite signals drop out. They sit inside everyday products and critical infrastructure alike, yet remain largely invisible as a distinct industrial field.
The Invisible Frontier, commissioned by the UK Microsystems Network with support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), is the first study to quantify this sector and set out a path for its future. It brings together an economic impact assessment, an analysis of global market trends, a review of the UK’s strategic strengths and vulnerabilities, and five practical recommendations for policy and industry.
The report draws on firm-level data compiled from Companies House and The Data City, an input-output framework using Office for National Statistics data, and a programme of expert interviews across industry, academia, and government.
Why it matters
Frontier technologies, ranging from autonomous defence systems and novel medicines to AI infrastructure and clean energy, share a common dependency on microsystems. The competitive positions that will shape the next twenty years are being decided now, and the investments made today will determine who captures value from the trillion-dollar markets converging on this area.
This report makes the case that the UK is well placed to compete, not on manufacturing volume, but through the depth of its engineering expertise, the quality of its research base, and its existing industrial activity.
Key findings at a glance
- A high-productivity sector already delivering for the UK. Microsystems firms generate £2.1 billion in direct output, contribute £860 million to UK GVA, and directly support 8,970 jobs. Including supply chain effects, the sector’s total footprint rises to £3.1 billion in output, £1.3 billion in GVA, and more than 15,000 jobs.
- Productivity above the national average. Output per worker is 26% above the UK median, reflecting a high-value, technically advanced sector.
- A strong supply chain multiplier. Every 10 roles in microsystems sustain a further 7 across the wider UK economy.
- Converging global demand. Life sciences, defence, AI infrastructure, and clean energy are all pulling on the same underlying microsystems capabilities in fabrication, packaging, and system integration.
- Advantage through specialisation. As technologies mature, competitive outcomes are increasingly decided at the packaging and integration stage — which can account for up to 80% of device cost — aligning with established UK strengths.
What you’ll find inside
Part I – The industry inside everything: What microsystems are, why they are difficult to define, and why they underpin so much of the frontier economy.
Part II – Sizing the opportunity: The converging global market moment across health, defence, AI, and electrification, the UK’s economic contribution, and its international position.
Part III – Rising to the moment: The four areas requiring institutional support — talent, funding, infrastructure, and coordination.
Part IV – Making success systematic: Five recommendations to translate world-class research and specialist industrial strength into sustained competitive advantage.
Appendix: A proposed formal definition of microsystems and the full methodology behind the economic assessment.
The report also features case studies of UK companies operating at the technological frontier, including Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Custom Interconnect Ltd, Silicon Sensing, CN Bio, Semefab, and Pragmatic Semiconductor.
The five recommendations
- Position microsystems as an enabling layer of UK technology and industrial strategy: recognise it across relevant sector plans and name it as a strategic capability in the next iteration of the UK Industrial Strategy.
- Extend dedicated growth financing for deep tech companies: introduce a scale-up mechanism for hardware and integration-intensive companies, aligned to the longer development cycles of physical technologies.
- Invest in shared fabrication and advanced packaging infrastructure: support MICROCRAFT as the UK’s open-access microsystems development platform and extend shared advanced packaging capability.
- Build a coherent talent pipeline from schools to mid-career: combining school-level awareness, funding for lab-intensive degrees, and employer-led apprenticeship pathways.
- Systematise coordination across the microsystems ecosystem: through shared capability mapping and a specialised cross-institutional Doctoral Focal Award investment.
Who it’s for
This report is intended for policymakers, industry leaders, researchers, investors, and educators with an interest in the UK’s advanced manufacturing and frontier technology base. It offers an evidence-based foundation for decisions on funding, infrastructure, skills, and strategy across health, defence, digital infrastructure, and energy.
Using and citing this report
The UK Microsystems Network welcomes the use of this report and its findings. When referencing the report, its data, or its figures in your own work, please cite the UK Microsystems Network so that the source can be properly attributed.
Suggested citation
UK Microsystems Network (2026). The Invisible Frontier: Towards a UK Microsystems Strategy. Written by Adam Green and Samantha Guerriero, Type Ventures, with economic modelling by Gabriele Bowen, Mount Crescent Research.
In-text citation example
(UK Microsystems Network, 2026)
When quoting specific statistics — for example, the sector’s £3.1 billion total economic footprint or its 15,000+ jobs — please attribute them to The Invisible Frontier (UK Microsystems Network, 2026).
If you wish to reproduce figures, charts, or substantial extracts, please contact the UK Microsystems Network.
Acknowledgements
This report was made possible by contributions from colleagues across industry, academia, and government. It was written by Adam Green and Samantha Guerriero at Type Ventures, with input from the Dr Gerard Cummins, Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham and the UK Microsystems Network Steering Group, along with editorial production assistance from Oriana Campbell-Palmer. Economic modelling was conducted by Gabriele Bowen at Mount Crescent Research. The report includes a foreword by Dr Gerard Cummins, Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham.
