Government unveils Industrial Strategy to boost productivity and earning power of people across the UK

Further information

The UK government identified 4 Grand Challenges - global trends that would shape the rapidly changing future and which the UK must embrace to ensure it harnessed all the opportunities they brought:

+ artificial intelligence – the UK should be at the forefront of the artificial intelligence and data revolution
+ clean growth – the strategy would maximise the advantages for UK industry from the global shift to clean growth
+ ageing society – the strategy would harness the power of innovation to help meet the needs of an ageing society
+ future of mobility – the UK would become a world leader in the way people, goods and services move.

A Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund would invest £725 million in new Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund programmes to capture the value of innovation.

There was an ambition to increase the level of investment in research and development (R&D), rising from 1.7% to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. This could mean around £80 billion of additional investment in advanced technology in the next decade, helping to transform whole sectors, create new industries, and support innovation across the country.

The Industrial Strategy White Paper also confirmed the UK government would be pressing ahead with a series of Sector Deals, with construction, life sciences, automotive and Artificial Intelligence (AI) the first to benefit from these new strategic and long-term partnerships with government, backed by private sector co-investment. Work would continue with other sectors on transformative sector deals.
The United Kingdom's Business Minister Greg Clark launched on the 27 November 2017 an ambitious Industrial Strategy, setting out a long-term vision for how Britain could build on its economic strengths, address its productivity performance, embrace technological change and boost the earning power of people across the UK, in the context of the country leaving the European Union.

• Primary Source

UK: GOV.UK: Topical Events: The UK's Industrial Strategy https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/the-uks-industrial-strategy

Blog: LSE Brexit, 26.05.17: Post-Brexit Industrial Strategy: a curious complacency hovers over the General Election http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2017/05/26/post-brexit-industrial-strategy-a-curious-complacency-hovers-over-the-general-election/

The Guardian, 27.11.17: White paper to set out industrial strategy in bid to boost UK productivity https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/27/clark-details-industrial-strategy-productivity-business-watchdog-white-paper

BBC News, 27.11.17: Will the government's economic medicine work? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42131746

Industrial Strategy: science and STEM skills (United Kingdom: House of Commons: Science and Technology Committee: Report, 2017) http://www.europeansources.info/record/industrial-strategy-science-and-stem-skills/

ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/

CAPX, 27.11.17: Why industrial strategy is doomed to fail https://capx.co/why-industrial-strategy-is-doomed-to-fail/

TUC: Blog, 27.11.17: The voice of workers is missing from the Industrial Strategy white paper https://www.tuc.org.uk/blogs/voice-workers-missing-industrial-strategy-white-paper

CBI: News, 27.11.17: CBI full response to the Government's modern Industrial Strategy http://www.cbi.org.uk/news/cbi-full-response-to-the-government-s-modern-industrial-strategy/

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