Turning UK into next Silicon Valley with right policies can supercharge growth: Beckie Hart

To achieve this, we must build a globally competitive business environment where firms want to start, scale and publicly list, especially those in high-growth industries.

The Mansion House Reforms were a welcome move from the Chancellor, to unlock our pension funds for high growth businesses. This should benefit savers, but also provide our high growth businesses with the investment they need to keep growing.

Last month, the CBI sat down with Gareth Davies MP, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, to discuss how the UK can keep up this momentum to enable high-growth industries to thrive, by focusing on, regulation, investment and public data.

If Yorkshire and the Humber wants to stand out as a world leader to attract businesses and investment, it must think creatively to implement policies that foster innovation.

The government is moving towards this with the Pro-Innovation Regulation of Technologies Review. Leveraging regulation is key to driving innovation as a tool to accelerate technology and the development of emerging sectors.

Gareth Davies MP stated that around 70 per cent of the recommendations of the report are progressing, yet there remain significant pinch points for business.

Duplication of regulation by different authorities are creating costs, impeding growth and delaying investment. The lack of skills, leadership and collaboration with regulators is also hampering progress.

We should be moving at speed to identify future, high-growth sectors and to adapt regulation accordingly to maximise the financial gains of being a pioneer within these.

Direct financial investment will always be an important mechanism to encourage high-growth industries and innovation. In our region we can play to our strengths in sectors where we lead internationally, such as the green industries, med-tech and health tech and advanced manufacturing. Start-ups, scale-ups and large organisations will need access to finance to cultivate their growth and meet demand.

Appropriate incentives will further entice businesses to research, develop and commercialise their technologies in this country.

National assets are yet another tool at our disposal, where we could be more commercially minded. Our public data, for example, is largely behind closed doors and not open for business to utilise, that has to change.

The government is clearly making strides to establish the UK as a world-leading destination for high-growth firms but there is certainly more to be done. The CBI will bring forward recommendations to form a policy playbook this year and will work with government to adopt them.

In a General Election year, it’s critical that political parties seize opportunities to allow high-growth industries to flourish to ensure long-term,

sustainable growth.

Beckie Hart is CBI regional director for Yorkshire and Humber