Not a time to let Industrial Strategy die
Juergen Maier CBE FRS FREng
Industrialist, Chair at Great British Energy and co-Founder at vocL
I have supported and promoted the need for a bold Industrial Strategy for over a decade. It was a pleasure to have been a part of the Industrial Strategy Council until the BEIS Secretary of State Kwasi Kwarteng quietly scrapped it in March 2021. It is still a pleasure to lead our national MadeSmarter programme, which is a movement gathering pace and supporting UK Manufacturing to make a faster transition to the 4th Industrial Revolution.
To me, it now feels very much like the early 1980s. Old Industries in transition, this time accelerated because of Covid. Brexit is creating a strong headwind and there is not enough coordinated support to help new industries emerge at pace.
Sadly, our transition from the second to the third Industrial Revolution created a disastrous outcome, and is the reason why levelling up is so desperately needed today. We de-industrialised far too much and more so than other Industrial nations. The service jobs that eventually came to replace the old Industrial ones, were not enough to create the earning power, productivity and prosperity northern regions needed and deserved.
And here we are again, at the cusp of the 4th Industrial Revolution. If we get it right, we can create enough of the new Industries; electric cars, hydrogen cars and hydrogen energy, low carbon flying, Industrial Digital Technologies like Industrial IOT, Machine Learning, Additive Manufacturing and much more.
We have every opportunity to get it right, we certainly have the innovation and creativity needed, but we lack the scale, ambition and policy coordination. This is definitely not the time to scrap Industrial Strategy. We need a bolder plan and better coordination of our national innovation effort. It is time to create a bolder Industrial Strategy to make sure this is not a rerun of the 1980s.
This is a call for UK Industry Leadership to not let the Industrial Strategy die at this critical moment. It might need to be in a different name like the ‘Build Back Better’ – Plan for Growth, which needs lots of work to get it there. Please join in and make sure we end up with the Industrial Strategy our levelling up and Northern Powerhouse regions need and deserve, whatever its name.
More thoughts are in this article in the Guardian, that I contributed towards.
Managing Director at Booth Welsh, an engineering technology business. Passionate about driving value through enhancing engineering with digital technology and showcasing benefits for all sectors.
3 年Agree with your comments here Juergen, a difficult time for most businesses to navigate through all the current challenges but as you say there are many opportunities in emerging sectors as well as in reshoring. A chance to not only build back better but also to build back some of what we lost. Strategy and leadership are as important as ever as is learning lessons from the past. You perhaps remember the 80s a little better than myself however :-).
Head of Partnerships & Engagement for Regional Innovation at Lancaster University. Policy Fellow Royal Academy of Engineering.
3 年I'm old enough to have seen a lot of policy from all shades of Govt and the big failing I have seen, which has hampered the UK, is not devising an Industrial Strategy and applying it consistently.
Strategist, UK nuclear sector. “In an industry/world of hyper-specialists, the generalist is king. And, honey, you should see me in a crown ??.”
3 年Thank you for articulating what I and I am sure many others are thinking. The industrial strategy is a sensible framework for driving productivity and inclusive growth and is as relevant today as it was when first published, perhaps even more so. The reasons given by ministers for the dissolution of the ISC and withdrawal of the strategy itself just don’t stand up to scrutiny.
Engineering Director at Prodrive Composites Ltd
3 年We need to work smarter. Scrapping something that is working, but just needs adjustment is not smart, is rarely the best approach and generally wastes time, money and people’s support. Manufacturing industries need to be joined up, need to understand the cross over technologies between the sectors, bring in a funded and proactive materials strategy and work together.
CEO at Atec Engineering Solutions (AT Engine Controls Limited)
3 年It’s vitally important that government and industry work together to ensure we don’t lose all the effort put into the Industrial Strategy. It doesn’t matter what it is called at the end of the day, it is about what is in the document but more importantly how we implement the plan/strategy through your the UK and not just the South. Excellent article Jurgen