Innovation in Hard Times- Driving forward the Growth Agenda

The Coalition Government published its Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth on 8 December 2011, which aims to strengthen the UK’s innovative capability and encourage further investment in innovation. The Government is putting innovation and research at the heart of its growth agenda through greater investment and increased collaboration ensuring that the UK has a promising future.

Lord Heseltine recently (31st October 2012) set out a comprehensive economic plan to improve the UK’s ability to create wealth. His independent report makes the case for a major rebalancing of responsibilities for economic development between central and local government, and between government and the private sector. The report, No stone unturned in pursuit of growth, made 89 recommendations which aim to:

• inject stability into the economy
• create the conditions for growth, and
• maximise the performance of the UK

 At the heart of the proposals are measures to unleash the potential of local economies and leaders and enable every part of the UK economy to raise its game. A key mechanism through which this can be achieved is through innovation. The benefits of innovation are numerous, including accelerating the transition towards a more sustainable and competitive economy and restoring our public finances by using money in a more efficient way.

There is a school of thought that believes that innovation is more likely to happen in times of crisis, and that the current economic climate has made the ground fertile for both innovative thinking and action. The Government is putting innovation and research at the heart of its growth agenda through greater investment and increased collaboration ensuring that the UK has a promising future. The transformation of the current industrial production will enquire large investments in innovation, equipment and changes in energy supply and networks. Innovation, technological and non-technological is crucial to generate the growth and jobs we need to get the economy out of its current state by translating our R&D strengths into industrial competitive advantages. The transition to a knowledge-based and innovation-driven economy is accelerating. But, skills shortages, gaps and mismatches still affect growth negatively, competitiveness, innovation and employment across the UK and the rest of Europe. 

There are a few key points to be aware of when thinking how to take innovation forward:

• Technology enables change
• Culture shapes change
• Policy delivers change
• Outcome depends on interactions

Objectives

One of the purposes of this course is to demonstrate to those in attendance how the Government’s innovation and growth agenda will have to be built on a bedrock of innovative solutions derived from both a changing of behaviour at both an individual and organisational level alongside new ways of working. Technological and non-technological innovation will not happen without the necessary investment. We must break up the trend of stagnant competitiveness of the last decade by increasing our capacity to take innovations to the marketplace. Attendance at this course will provide you with a knowledge and skills set that you will be able to take back to your workplace to the benefit of you organisation, including:

• How to be innovative in harder times
• Understanding the power of technology in transforming relationships
• Utilising partnership working across boundaries
• Unlocking the vast opportunities for people within and across organisations to successfully work together through the potential of digital technology
• Giving people a stake in society
• Accelerating the adoption of best practice across sectors