Innovate UK has pledged to work closely with a number of organisations including the research councils, universities and government as part of its 2015-18 digital economy strategy.
Innovate UK, formerly known as the Technology Strategy Board, set out its plans for digital sustainability in its Digital Economy Strategy 2015-18, published on 17 February. Announcing the strategy, the agency confirmed that it will spend £15 million a year for each of the next four years to support digital business projects and the same amount again to provide core funding for the Digital Catapult Centre, the Open Data Institute and Tech City UK.
To ensure the sustainability of digital development over the next four years, Innovate UK says that it will work with the research councils, universities, government, regulators, skills agencies, the knowledge transfer network, the Digital Catapult and the Open Data Institute. This will be "work across boundaries to link technical capabilities with an understanding of social impact and the commercial, legal and regulatory context of innovation”, the agency says.
The work with the research councils will encourage cross-disciplinary academic collaboration, and help connect such collaborations to the needs of industry. It will also help universities and skills agencies to ensure that appropriately trained people are available to meet businesses’ skills demands.
Meanwhile, work with government and regulators will ensure that legal, regulatory and policy frameworks support digital innovation and growth, the agency says. In addition, knowledge transfer activities and the coordination of specific projects and campaigns will be just as important to the delivery of the agency’s objectives as funding R&D.
Ensuring sustainability is one of five objectives set out in the strategy. The other four are: encouraging digital innovators; focus on the user; equipping the digital innovator; and growing infrastructure, platforms and ecosystems.
As part of its plan for achieving these objectives, the agency says that it will ensure that support and investment are available to innovators, encourage the sharing of knowledge between industries, and support the development of data tools and systems.
The UK has an early lead in the digital economy, the agency says, with 107,000 software businesses. The country is in second position worldwide in terms of the value of telecoms services exports and is third in terms of computer services and information services exports.
However, young companies have low working capital and investment support is too lumbering, it warns. Furthermore, the speed of innovation creates skills shortages, and it takes too long to establish intellectual property rights.
Hence, growing the digital economy requires a long-term strategy and cooperation, the agency concludes.
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