Industrial strategy should ‘avoid becoming besotted with science’

R&D represents small part of productivity gains needed in UK, argues Institute for Government paper

The UK’s new industrial strategy, expected sometime in 2021, should avoid being besotted with science and technology, according to a paper by Giles Wilkes, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government.

A sense that the UK does not make enough of its abundant strengths in science, alongside worries about weak productivity and regional imbalances, are important justifications for a new industrial strategy, Wilkes argues in a paper published on 17 December.