Management Toolkit

UK 'needs' a minister for IT and innovation

Kablenet.com

Published: 03 May 2005 16:50 BST

The next government should appoint a minister with responsibility for encouraging innovation across the public and private sectors as part of a new vision for the UK's knowledge economy, according to the body representing IT suppliers.

Intellect, which represents a range of IT suppliers to government, wants a "clear vision" from the next prime minister on developing the UK's knowledge economy. It has called for a minister whose only responsibility covers IT policy, innovation, skills and infrastructure.

According to Intellect, the minister would coordinate work across four pillars:

Creating a network of public and private organisations capable of developing innovative goods and services which exploit IT.
Policies to improve IT skills and education across the population.
The creation of an "accessible and affordable information infrastructure" to allow information sharing and communication.
A policy environment to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.

Tom Willis-Sandford, director of public affairs at Intellect, said that technology is vital for securing jobs, enhancing the quality of life for families and delivering high quality public services that are affordable.

"We consider the next parliamentary session to be a critical juncture in the UK's transformation into a knowledge economy," he said. "There are two very different paths we can take. We can either accelerate towards a fully inclusive, coherent knowledge economy or we can stagnate and leave the path clear for new entrants such as India and China to become leaders in the global economy."

Intellect said it wants the government to build a strong network of politicians, civil servants, academics and industry leaders to develop a transformation vision for the new agenda.