It urgently needs an industrial strategy, argues the head of a science and innovation charity
laudable ambition to turn Britain into a science superpower has moved innovation up the political agenda. This is a welcome development, mirrored by the rhetoric from opposition parties.
The proposals range across eight policy areas. Three cover the entire life cycle of a science-based business. The others involve interventions at specific points, when an innovation risks coming to a halt or being taken overseas because of a lack of domestic support. This council would replace many of the roughly 70 scientific advisory bodies across government, which have caused confusion and crowd out the voice of business. Industrial experts would advise ministers on the most effective ways of commercialising Britain’s best research and development , this would amount to around £3bn per year of additional money.
Another area ripe for reform is pension funds. We welcome politicians’ recent focus on this, not least the so-called Mansion House reforms unveiled in July by Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor of the exchequer, which aim to boost investment in high-growth companies and increase returns for savers. However, we note that the typically small size of British pension pots means that fund managers tend to favour risk-averse strategies.
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