Building an innovation nation: unlocking UK talent, raising productivity, boosting our economy

Building an innovation nation: unlocking UK talent, raising productivity, boosting our economy

LONDON. March, 13, 2008/3mnewswire.org/ -- John Denham launches White Paper to make the UK the best place in the world for innovation

The power of Government spending must be harnessed to create demand for new innovative products and services, concludes a White Paper published today.

Innovation Nation sets out the Government's aim to make the UK the best place in the world to run an innovative business or public service. It argues that innovation is essential to the UK's future prosperity and the ability to tackle major challenges like climate change.

Today's announcement comes after yesterday's budget in which the Chancellor said he would look into the practicality of setting a goal for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to win 30 per cent of all public sector business in the next five years.

The paper spells out how the Government creates demand and new markets through £150billion in public spending on goods and services each year alongside its regulatory responses to global challenges like global warming.

The White Paper sets out a number of practical measures to ensure that businesses and people in the UK are best placed to benefit from the new opportunities and prosperity created by the demand for innovation.

Immediate steps include a commitment for each Government department to publish an Innovation Procurement Plan as part of its commercial strategy. This will set out how departments will embed innovation at the heart of procurement practices encouraging them to engage with businesses at an early stage. The White Paper also initiates work to review the role regulation can play in promoting innovation by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Business Council for Britain.

The paper considers how Government and society respond to changes in innovation across the public, private and third sectors. Other key themes are further supporting innovative businesses and research; increasing exchanges of knowledge; boosting the supply of skilled people; supporting innovative towns and regions and promoting innovation in the public sector.

Headline commitments include:
* Supporting businesses in tapping into the demands of new markets in the UK by bringing forward five new 'innovation platforms' to co-ordinate Government support and funding to firms and organisations involved in developing new products and solutions to global challenges - this builds on the innovative approach developed by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) to successfully coordinate Government support for the development of low carbon cars, for example;

* A new initiative to provide at least 1,000 '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;

* Piloting of a new Specialisation and Innovation Fund to boost the capacity of further education colleges to unlock workforce talent and to support businesses in raising innovation potential;

* Expanding the network of National Skills Academies with one academy for every major sector of the economy;

* Piloting a new Innovation Index in 2009 to measure UK innovation managed by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) in partnership with the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Design Council, the CBI and others. A fuller system will be in place by 2010;

* Sponsoring new Partnerships for Innovation bringing together venture capital with universities, business and other local partners to jointly develop innovative solutions to local and regional challenges. DIUS will publish a prospectus in the autumn;

* 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 intellectual property by training Business Link advisors in IP management by the summer of 2009;

* A new Annual Innovation Review to provide a comprehensive annual assessment of promoting innovation in the public and private sectors. The first of these will be published this autumn.

Launching the White Paper, John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, said:

"We must make the UK the best place in the world to run an innovative business or public service, where innovation can flourish across every area of the economy.

"It is the British people who will create a world beating innovation nation and that is why we must unlock talent at all levels by investing in skills, research and the exploitation of knowledge. But we can achieve much more if we harness the power of Government as the UK economy's biggest customer to create new markets and demand to benefit innovative businesses and people in Britain.

"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."

The paper outlines how the nature of innovation, defined as the successful exploitation of new ideas, is changing. Traditionally, the UK's innovation policy has been concentrated on high-tech manufacturing. While this will remain vitally important, it is argued that increasingly innovation applies to a wider range of products, services, business processes, models, marketing and enabling technologies used by companies, organisations, industries and sectors.

Innovation Nation makes an assessment of the UK innovation system highlighting the UK's many strengths such as its research base, open economy, excellent universities and good levels of business innovation.

However, it also outlines areas in which improvement is needed, for example in increasing business demand for skills, boosting skills to successfully innovate and increasing business investment in Research and Development and in non-technological innovation.

Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board, said:

"This White Paper presents a huge opportunity to address challenges through innovation, and for Government to be an exemplar of innovation across all Departments, in turn stimulating innovation and R&D investment throughout business.

"The Technology Strategy Board 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."

Anne Glover, Chief Executive of Amadeus Capital Partners Ltd, who has been asked by the Chancellor to look into what barriers can be removed to allow SMEs to win more public sector business, said:

"I'm excited to take on responsibility for advising Government on the greater involvement of SMEs in Government procurement. Many small businesses are highly innovative and by taking account of innovation in the public procurement process the Government can achieve both value for money and greater engagement with SMEs."

The strategy builds on themes around innovation raised in Lord Sainsbury's Review of Government's Science and Innovation Policies, published in October 2007. The Government has today published a progress report highlighting that the Government has or is in the process of implementing the review's recommendations.

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House Church Building Banned By Government Officials

House Church Gathering in China. Photograph: China Aid

House Church Building Banned By Government Officials

Hubei/China/March 13, 2008/3mnewswire.org/ -- China Aid has learned that House Church members in, Jiang’an District’s Wuhan City were banned from using their building, by Government officials on October, 31 of 2007. Officials declared that pastor Zhao Fuhai and his congregation were in violation of State regulations by holding worship services in an “unregistered religious site”. Officials confiscated 3,000 Yuan from the offertory box before banning the building from being used by the church. The congregation must now search for an alternate location to hold services in.

Fear of reprisals from Government officials is a constant threat to house church members, who simply wish to worship in freedom and security. The Government’s action towards this house church, as well as countless others, is clear proof that the CPC is not progressing in its stance on religious freedom, but rather increasing its persecution among the house church in China.

To communicate your concern over this incident, please contact:
Chinese Embassy in Washington DC
Tel: (202) 338-6688, (202)5889760
Fax: (202) 588-9760

Wuhan City Public Security Bureau: 86- 027-85874400
Direct line of the Bureau Chief: 86-027-85876666
Hotline for the Public Security Bureau: 86-027-85396666

News translated in the Chinese Language:

对华援助协会新闻稿
联系人：傅希秋
手机：267-205-5210
电邮：info@ChinaAid.org
网址：www.ChinaAid.org
www.MonitorChina.org
湖北武汉市（对华援助协会2008年1月24日）
武汉取缔家庭教会

湖北武汉市江岸区民族宗教事务局于2007年10月31日以行政（当场）处罚方式，取缔江岸区三七街韦家桑园45号的基督教家庭教会聚会点，同时没收教会奉献。
江岸区民族宗教事务局指责家庭教会传道人赵福海，在未经登记场所开展宗教活动，违反了国务院《宗教事务条例》和《湖北省宗教事务条例》，决定给予取缔该非法场所，没收奉献箱内叁千元。行政处罚决定书也同时指出：如不服本决定，可在接到处罚决定书之日起60日内，向市民族事务委员会或江岸区政府法制办提出行政复议或直接向人民法院起诉。期满不申请复议，不起诉也不履行行政处罚决定的，处罚机关有权申请人民法院强制执行。
当地政府这一举措，不但反映该地没有履行中国政府宗教信仰自由政策，反而证实宗教迫害事件有增无减。

对华援助协会版权所有©2008年1 月24 日发布

Get more information on www.chinaaid.org

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