photo-call, April 24, 2005 in Bristol, England. The seat currently held by Labour is being targeted as a key seat by both the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives. Over the past few weeks, those working in the UK’s highest-growth industries will have been digesting and considering our main political parties’ manifestos ahead of next month’s general election.
An industrial strategy is vital for ensuring joined-up investment and application of these new and emerging technologies, and so the ongoing absence of a new plan is having a tangible impact on the UK’s ability to drive innovation in these spaces and hampering our ability to realise ambitions to become a global life science and tech superpower. Needless to say, innovators are crying out for a revised strategy and implementation plan.
When it comes down to it, there will be a few things that I’ll be looking for in a new strategy. First and foremost, is that the incoming government takes a places, cities and regions-first approach. The UK has a number of regional hubs specialising in niche or emerging innovations – think South Wales and the Compound Semiconductor cluster, Bristol’s expertise in robotics and autonomous vehicles or Dundee, which is considered the video game development capital of Europe.
In that same spirit, any plan for industry must embrace devolution. A new industrial strategy represents an opportunity to reset the relationship with the UK regions and nations and a chance to establish a more mature relationship that’s based on more than tokenistic handouts.