INGENIOUS BRITAIN

David Cameron has welcomed Sir James Dyson's Ingenious Britain report, which he commissioned from the popular designer and inventor last October, in order to seek proposals to make Britain the leading high tech exporter in Europe.

His report contains proposals to help us build this new economic model and create well paid new jobs. The Conservative Party strongly welcomes its conclusions.
"Sir James Dyson’s report represents an exciting and ambitious step forward in our desire to make Britain Europe’s leading generator of new technology", Cameron said.
In it are the ideas that will help us create new, high-paying jobs right across our country. Dyson is one of Britain’s biggest success stories and Sir James Dyson knows better than any bureaucrat how you start a business, build it up and start selling to the world – and he’s put that knowledge into this blueprint for creating a generation of innovation and enterprise."
The Review’s proposals include:
• Cultural change to develop high esteem for science and engineering, including a major national prize scheme for engineering and commitments to ‘grand projects’ such as high speed rail and nuclear power to demonstrate a Conservative Government’s ambitions for the country.
• Changes at university level to encourage more young people to choose science and engineering degrees, including: industry scholarships for engineers, where the costs of bursaries to students are shared between industry and government; greater freedom for universities, for example to develop shorter courses where appropriate, or more vocational degrees.
• Changes in the way we exploit new knowledge, so that the UK becomes world-class in taking the best new ideas out of universities and onto the market. Proposals include more focused funding for knowledge transfer in universities and new ways of promoting collaboration through public-private research institutes.
• Changes to improve financing for high tech start ups, by increasing the generosity of the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) relief for angel investors that support hi tech companies, and a government guaranteed business loan scheme to encourage more lending by banks to innovative businesses.
• Changes to support high tech companies, by refocusing R&D tax credits on high tech companies, small businesses and new start-ups, and delivering on ambitions to deliver 25% of procurement and research contracts through small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

I welcome these proposals and the opportunity they can provide for employment in Brighton, as we are already seen as an innovative place to do business.