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Digital Strategy: London’s tech leaders give their verdict on the government’s plans

Today (March 1) the Government has finally unveiled its long-awaited and much-delayed Digital Strategy, outlining its plans for growing access to digital skills and fostering some of the UK’s key digital industries.

Whitehall says it wants to ‘create a world-leading digital economy that works for everyone’ with the plans, which have corralled the likes of Google, Lloyds Bank and BT as part of its wide-ranging skills training and education programmes.

Meanwhile, there are been renewed commitments to investment in the nation’s digital infrastructure and efforts to foster the UK’s AI and robotics expertise.

But are the plans a sea-change for the digital economy or just more of the same empty commitments?

We canvassed some of the capital’s tech leaders to get their verdict.

Dr Jeremy Silver, Digital Catapult

“Digital Catapult welcomes the government’s publication of its Digital Strategy. This symbolises a tipping point for the UK economy; it is a great statement of digital opportunity for all.

“As a nation we are taking strides in artificial intelligence, 5G, the Internet of Things and Immersive technologies. It is fantastic to see the government’s ongoing commitment today to delivering value from these technologies. It is these future networks and emerging technologies which will help us build world leading digital sectors and act as economic drivers across many sectors of the whole economy.

“For the potential of this new wave of innovation to be fully realised, every person has a role to play; from policymakers and industry to academics and citizens, broad collaboration will be needed to deliver a digital economy which thrives and drives productivity right across the UK.”

William Newton, WiredScore

“Technology is transforming business, with emerging fields such as artificial intelligence and real-time data analysis playing an increasingly important role in improving productivity and creating new revenue streams.

“But, as well as investing in the technologies to improve the UK’s standing as a leader in R&D, we need to ensure that we have the necessary, excellent, underlying digital infrastructure. The Cloud isn’t any use if you can’t access it. Many UK companies still need faster and more reliable internet.

“So it’s encouraging to see further commitment from the Government toward a nationwide implementation of full-fibre networks and 5G infrastructure. Not only will this be key to enabling our businesses to thrive in the digital economy, it will also help to ensure that the country continues to be seen as an attractive place for investment and to do business.”

Christian Faes, LendInvest

“By taking meaningful action to improve digital infrastructure and to channel public investment into the UK’s digital skills base, this strategy will be welcomed by businesses in every sector across the country.

“Cultivating the nation’s world-leading sectors like AI and FinTech will deliver growth in all sectors, particularly encouraging scale-ups to innovate and transform traditionally offline sectors. After all, making people’s lives easier and helping businesses to harness the opportunity to scale are central themes of this strategy, and are essential components in improving the UK’s productivity score.”

Daniel Hagerty, Habito

“AI and Robotics are already having material impact on the way we make and consume. With the UK’s rich seam of engineering talent and emerging tech infrastructure, we are well placed to emerge as a global leader in this space. While the Government’s Digital Strategy is a vital first step forward in recognising the appetite for change, with a £17.3m boost, innovation is already happening at a rapid pace.

Automation, robots, and machine learning are creating minor revolutions across almost every industry. Whilst we’re now only just scratching the surface of the quality of experience AI can provide, we can expect to see the pace of change being to accelerate in 2017. We’ve seen this first hand at habito with our digital mortgage adviser, and out in the world with Amazon’s Alexa and with robots performing surgery alongside humans. We are entering a new, technology-enabled world, one that will create a more reliable, efficient world for Britons - if we let it.“

Christopher Haley, Nesta

“We know that London and other UK cities such as Manchester, Cambridge and Edinburgh, are already leading the European charge when it comes to attracting new digital businesses - and the UK already has a lot in place to help them grow. Today’s strategy should help to further strengthen their resolve, despite the unknowns of Brexit.

“London in particular benefits from excellent access to finance, boasting the most developed venture capital industry in Europe and a booming ‘alternative finance’ sector. It also has a strong support network for startups and scaleups in the form of accelerators and coworking spaces. The UK’s world class universities have always helped provide a steady stream of talent and government’s move to provide digital training to millions stands to reap rewards for the sector and wider economy.

“Nonetheless, businesses need to be recruiting and retaining the best tech talent. The guaranteed rights of residence of EU citizens working in the UK is going to be front of mind for these businesses as the Article 50 debates continue tonight in the Lords.

“Improvements to digital infrastructure such as 5G are also integral to giving businesses the means to reach the heady heights of unicorn businesses like Snapchat in the US. In the UK we must crack issues of lifestyle that undermine attempts to attract and retain workers - house prices and office rental costs top the list and are issues that continue to afflict Silicon Valley.”

Tom Salmon, The Bakery

“The focus on improvement of digital skills for young people will, in our view, undoubtedly have the greatest long term impact, especially if combined with encouraging entrepreneurial spirit within the nation.

“In terms of whether the proposals go far enough – in our opinion more should always be done, so, in short, no they don’t. Every country around the world is investing heavily in digital infrastructure and driving the digital economy - we are in a global race and must accelerate hard to ensure we can build on the leading position that we have forged in the last few years.

“With the current economic and political climate, and the uncertainties that exist around Brexit - the digital economy and innovation will be of increasing importance and support and stimulation for these areas is increasingly needed.”

Richard Fenton, Nimble Storage

“With the productivity gap between Britain and the other members of the G7 group of industrial nations now at its greatest since the early 1990s, and Brexit creating new fears around attracting investment, it’s never been more important for the government to look at how technology can stimulate growth.

“But beyond grand investments in emerging technologies and national digital infrastructure, true change will only be achieved if businesses start taking a smarter approach to increasing productivity in their own firm.

“For those companies that increasingly rely on digital technologies, it is important that they look into their own infrastructure – whether on premise or in the cloud - to reduce the time currently wasted by employees on software delays. With the typical employee experiencing an average of four software-caused delays per work day, and each of these lasting about seven seconds, the cost of this time to the British economy amounts to £744,235,520 every year.

“By taking simple steps to reduce the app-data gap in their own infrastructure, businesses can make a concerted effort to improve productivity in their company and the wider economy.”

Matthew Swan, Ve Interactive

“Digital literacy is obviously a huge factor for us and the wider digital ecosystem. Given the digital skills shortage in the UK, accessing talent from across Europe has been pivotal for us and many other UK businesses.

“As a Future Fifty business, we’re now able to leverage Tech City UK’s Tech Nation Visa Scheme but for those concerned about restrictions post-Brexit, guarantees are needed to reassure those still on their growth journey, that they’ll be able to leverage talent elsewhere if needed.

We established three international development hubs to ensure that we had the ability to fully support cross-border online businesses and access talent from other countries.

“We’re pleased, then, that the Government has announced it will create five international tech hubs to help British tech firms broaden their international footprint, through partnerships and closer ties with businesses on the ground. Although the world of digital is borderless, there’s certainly no substitute for having a physical space that fosters collaborations.”

Anything to add? If you’d like to give your reaction to the Government’s Digital Strategy leave your comments below or drop our London Editor, Billy Wood a line at billy.wood@bdaily.co.uk.

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