The news that UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Business Secretary Grant Shapps are working on a new vision for supporting growth industries such as advanced manufacturing and life sciences and the creation of a dedicated government Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, comes at a time when the nation’s industrial health is at risk from high costs and political and economic uncertainty.
Covid and government turmoil have been major distractions and the reality is we now have friction and cost as a direct consequence of Brexit. We now have a situation where the UK’s innovation structure doesn’t support R&D as it once used to, which means that we must look abroad for development partners. This is more challenging than ever because of Brexit.
Key to success will be UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding, which is focused on deploying Government money to create value and tangible investment outcomes, but the much-needed fundamental research should be handled separately.
More than ever, we need an infrastructure to support the scaling of world-leading products to help us compete on the global stage across many sectors. We need a joined-up model which links UKRI with research institutes, businesses and universities to create an environment, which simplifies and expedites the development of exciting and game-changing products.
The models for success already exist – just look at the Fraunhofer institute in Germany which operates 76 institutes and research units throughout Germany to prioritise key future-relevant technologies and commercialise them.
We urgently need an export-based industrial growth strategy with government policies, investment and tax incentives realigned to support the commitment of skills and finance made by the private sector. Now is the time for clarity and joined up thinking clearly articulated in a long-term plan, which won’t be abandoned before it has a chance to get off the ground, if we want UK businesses to have the confidence to commit to innovation.
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