There were a lot of nodding heads among the thirty-odd men and two women gathered at Number 10 last week to hear Gordon Brown’s endorsement of the latest review of the economy.
Sainsbury: Becoming ‘high tech’ will benefit our economy
This one – Brown commissioned many during his time as Chancellor – was conducted by the former science minister and Labour donor Lord Sainsbury. It provided a vision of what Britain needs to do if we are to find a way to compete with the US, China, India and Japan and continue to enjoy rising living standards.
Competing on price is a no-go, Lord Sainsbury tells us. Instead, we must engage in a “race to the top”, investing heavily now to ensure that Britain builds an economy based on “high-tech” manufacturing and “knowledge-intensive” service businesses. We have made a good start, Lord Sainsbury said, but further and possibly painful restructuring will be required.
“The speed of this change is likely to lead to calls for protection of domestic markets. These calls should be resisted,” Lord Sainsbury informs Mr Brown.
Instead, the Government should focus on supporting Britain’s “flexible labour markets”, “free trade” and invest in “science and innovation, education and the technological infrastructure of the country”. If it does so, we will all be better off, he says.
The vision drew few detractors on the day. There was a little bickering about the detail – which universities should be able to describe themselves as “business-facing” (and receive more funding as a reward) was one.
Sir Richard Sykes, rector of Imperial College London and chairman of the UK Stem Cell Foundation, was more constructive in his criticism, saying that the Government’s last major effort to fast-track investment in an emerging technology of strategic importance (stem cell research) left a lot to be desired.
But the vision drew little new money from Mr Brown. The three-year funding package given to the newly expanded Technology Strategy Board – the people that will co-ordinate public efforts to support clever new stuff and innovative commercial thinking – has already been announced. The expansion of a series of other publicly-funded schemes like the one that pays for recent graduates to work on projects for small businesses (called knowledge transfer partnerships in quango-speak) will require more funding.
Mr Brown spoke at length about the need to encourage innovative thinking and enterprise while Chancellor. Although slightly distracted at times during the roundtable meeting (24 hours later he postponed the General Election), those present were left with the clear impression that Whitehall would now act.
He opened the meeting with: “This is one of the most important events that we will have. The future of our science, technology and innovation is absolutely crucial for the economy.”
He closed it with the promise to call the same heads of industry, higher education, regional development agencies (and other quangos) to return to Downing Street in two months to hear a progress report from Ian Pearson, the new science minister.
Today, Mr Pearson will find out what money he has to play with as Alistair Darling reveals how he thinks the recent credit crunch will effect the economy and his tax receipts and so the Government’s spending plans for the next three years.
The talk is of further increases in the NHS budget, with below-inflation funding rises elsewhere. But as Lord Sainbury’s report states, “new knowledge” is “a classic public good”.
“Its benefits cannot be completely captured by whoever produces it but spills over to the rest of society”. Labour has spent a lot on the NHS, with little to show for it. Why not give science a chance to make us all healthy (and a little bit more wealthy).
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