White Paper outlines the road to an Innovation Nation
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The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) has published a White Paper which outlines its plans to make the UK ‘the best place in the world to run an innovative business’.
The White Paper – called Innovation Nation – argues that innovation is essential to the UK’s future prosperity and its ability to tackle major challenges like climate change.
Launching the White Paper, John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, pictured, said: “Innovation will be the key to some of the biggest challenges facing our society, like global warming and sustainable development. We need to ensure that Britain contributes to the innovative solutions and that British business and the British people benefit from the new opportunities and prosperity they create.”
TSB chief executive Iain Gray added: “The TSB has a key role to play in addressing these opportunities and accelerating innovation. Working closely with partners, our initiatives and investments will make new connections and act as a catalyst for new areas of business innovation, making a real difference to the prosperity and global competitiveness of the UK.”
Headline commitments in the White Paper include:
* Bringing forward five new ‘innovation platforms’ to coordinate Government support and funding to firms and organisations involved in developing new products and solutions to global challenges.
* An initiative to provide at least 1000 ‘innovation vouchers’ every year by 2011, helping support and fund small and medium sized businesses to work with a university, further education college or research organisation of their choice to develop a new product or service.
* Doubling the number of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships between businesses, universities and colleges to boost competitiveness and productivity alongside a greater exchange of innovation expertise between the private sector and Government led by DIUS and the TSB.
* Expanding the network of National Skills Academies with one academy for every major sector of the economy;
* Piloting an Innovation Index in 2009 to measure UK innovation;
* Establishing an Innovation Research Centre in partnership with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), NESTA and the TSB;
* Boosting the ability of small firms to exploit their IP; and
* An Annual Innovation Review to provide an assessment of how innovation has been promoted in the public and private sectors. The first of these will be published this autumn.
