Male student: All dreams feel the same size. One size too big, we have to grow into them. But how do we achieve these dreams if we can't see them, if we can't experience them?
Cllr Stephen Cowan (Leader of H&F): Upstream London is Hammersmith & Fulham Council's Industrial Strategy. We launched it in 2017, with the aim of transforming our borough into an inclusive global economic hotspot. A place where innovation and creativity define exciting new opportunities for our people.
Partnering with Imperial College London, businesses and investors, we helped to establish the now world-renowned White City Innovation District.
What Upstream London has done is produce £6 billion pounds worth of investment. But more importantly, it's 13,000 jobs in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicines, media which are the hottest industries of the 21st century.
Prema Gurunathan (Managing Director, Upstream Nexus): Upstream London is galvanizing, catalyzing, bringing together all parts of the ecosystem to create a more inclusive future for Londoners who live in Hammersmith & Fulham.
Professor Oscar Ces (Head of Chemistry, Imperial College): I think to kind of explain the impact it's had on us, I think there is no other council in the UK, no other local government, that has been able to get so involved in driving an innovation district.
You know, what we've got on our hands here is something like a mini Kendall Square like you've got in the USA. And I think that is pretty game-changing.
Cllr Stephen Cowan: Hammersmith & Fulham is now taking Upstream London to the next level with new initiatives. The Upstream Pathway Bond will bring together businesses, educators and the council, to offer people a clear pathway into new careers, opportunities and skills.
Organisations who sign up, can offer young people advice, support, work experience, apprenticeships, interview skills sponsorships, mentoring and inspiration. Whether for a large organisation or a small start-up, we've designed the pathway bond to make it easy for businesses to take part.
It is taking the word 'bond' which is a solemn commitment that we will do a series of things and saying that to a child about their long-term development, about their future ambitions, is powerful. And I know we'll tap into the basic decency of people and organisations when we ask them to sign our pathway bond.
Female student 1: I always wanted to work in tech.
Female student 2: I always wanted to work in media, but I had no idea how to get there.
Shahwali Shayan (Founder of Shananigans and augmented reality artist): How important do you think mentorship is?
Female student 3: There's a lot of people who follow that ideology that you can't be what you can't see I believe that mentorship is important.
Female student 1: It's very important to have someone that you can trust enough to kind of make decisions based off what you think they would do.
Mentor 1: I think it's very important to meet with um mentors and also peers as well, so we can collide and form theories. And also these theories can turn into actual physical medicines and treatments that we can use.
Female student 4: Having someone there, who you can look up to it's just 10 times easier.
Female student 3: Can you list all the jobs that you wanted from when you were a kid till now?
Mentor 2: I wanted to be a singer.
Shahwali Shayan: A wildlife photographer.
Mentor 3: I wanted to be a doctor.
Andy Watson (Senior Vice President, Medidata): I wanted to play football for Sunderland.
Thierry Cheval (Managing Director, L'Oréal Groupe UK and Ireland): I wanted to be a firefighter.
Mentor 2: I never thought I wanted to be a business owner.
Dr Anna Sawala (Head of Translational Research, Vivan Therapeutics): It was only really in my final two years in school that I started to be really interested in biology and medicine.
Thierry Cheval: But when I became a young adult, I wanted to find something I guess that combined business and creativity. And uh, I think that's what L'Oréal offered. And uh, 30 years later here I am.
Cllr Stephen Cowan: We want to build a borough where every child no matter what background they're born into, has two features in their life. Lots of opportunities and the confidence to grasp them.
If they got together and said "we've got an idea for a business," Upstream London will help them grow their skills to run the business.
Professor Oscar Ces: And to make that happen you need a number of things. One is access to lab space, different price points different sizes and availability. You need access to talent at all levels. Access to mentoring and advice. And also access to capital, equipment, infrastructure.
You know those four things you tend to find one or two of them in some places. Finding four at the scale which you find it here is pretty unique.
Henrik Hagemann (CEO and co-founder, Puraffinity): The benefits of being based here is that you have the network effects in action and you meet them, you go through the journey together. And that's when serendipity really happens.
Andy Watson: For me, it's all about making people aware of their capabilities and their possibilities.
Theirry Cheval: I think it's very exciting and I can see lots of opportunities.
Female student: Knowing that so much is happening here, gives me confidence for my future.
Dhiya Venkat (CEO and co-founder, Esya Labs): Upstream is where the next generation of UK's leaders are being made.
Female student 5: I am the future of bio medicine.
Henrik Hagemann: Upstream will be the UK's home for tech innovation.
Male student: Moving forward, I see myself at the front of the aerospace industry.
Andy Watson: Upstream is where the next generation of medical leaders are being made.
Female student 1: I am the future of AI.
Cllr Stephen Cowan: There's something special going on here. We believe tomorrow starts today.
End card
Hammersmith & Fulham and Upstream London.
Where ideas become a reality