Over a long term, companies and industries based on science and technology have contributed strongly to economic growth and the quality of life. For such reasons there is a growing consensus that significantly increasing the current relatively low level of UK investment in science and technology is a good way to address the economic challenges
The explosive growth in use of the Internet and the World Wide Web began in the 1990s and saw the rapid establishment of what are now tech titans such Google, Facebook and Amazon as well as the further dramatic expansion of existing tech companies such as Apple and Microsoft. Regulators and legislators were initially sanguine
The burgeoning technology sector is now vying with finance to be the most profitable business sector. As the digital wave moves on, it is transforming media, entertainment, communications, logistics, and now threatens to disrupt manufacturing, retail, logistics, transportation and more. In the UK we know that our future prosperity in a post-Brexit world will depend
The patent system is designed to reward innovation by protecting the innovator from competition in exchange for making details of the innovation public. This has generally worked well to foster innovation but there are a growing number of criticisms of the system, including that it is not flexible enough to provide adequate protection for the
London is a preeminent international city with a vibrant economy that recovered well from the 2008 banking crisis. The city is prosperous and the population diverse and they voted strongly to remain in the European Union. Whatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, London is likely to remain successful, but the necessary adjustments and problems
The aftermath of the 2008 banking crisis followed by Brexit uncertainty have hampered UK economic activity for a decade during which productivity and real wage growth have stalled and the gap between the prosperity of London and the southeast, and the rest of the country, has grown. Labour’s plans to reinvigorate the economy include a