Less is more as tech start-ups take flight for other countries - Ismail Mulla

Standing adjacent to this is the growing number of bootcamps that enable either businesses themselves to retrain people or for go-getters themselves to pick up vital tech skills.

However, all of this could be for nothing.

Yorkshire is all too familiar with the concept of the brain drain. London has long sucked out a lot of talent from the region.

But the House of Lords committee report suggesting that the UK risks becoming an “incubator economy”, where technology start-ups develop before selling or moving abroad should be a major concern for a Government that claims to be driven by economic growth.

You simply cannot grow the economy if the unicorn businesses of tomorrow are going to upsticks and move abroad.

The Lords committee warns that tech firms are facing significant barriers preventing them from scaling up. These include limited access to capital compared to other countries, challenges in recruiting tech talent that is in high demand and business and investment culture that can be too risk averse.

Many of these issues are not new, they have been burbling under the surface for some time. But other countries are obviously recognising this and taking advantage by throwing open their doors to innovative firms that originate in the UK.

There is a lot to be said about the committee’s recommendations. It calls on the Government to “do better by doing less”. For example, instead of launching more shiny new schemes to aid businesses, they would be better served by streamlining and consolidating existing new schemes.

It also calls for an industrial strategy that provides “coherent, cross-sector vision” for supporting technology scale-ups in driving economic growth, unlocking domestic growth capital and fostering a culture where company founders are incentivised to stay in the UK to grow their businesses.

As it stands, all we have as a nation is warm words for those who are going to be creating jobs of tomorrow.

The Prime Minister has talked up the importance of placing Britain at the forefront of the AI revolution.

The Government has a role to play, particularly in building the data infrastructure that is going to be needed in the future.

Whenever the government seems to get involved, does it ever improve the situation? The feeling is generally no.

Yorkshire should be at the forefront of the tech revolution and investing in infrastructure here should be a matter of priority.

Baroness Stowell, chair of the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee, says, “The UK has some great advantages when it comes to AI and creative tech; a strong university sector undertaking ground-breaking research and generating commercial spin-outs, and a proud tradition of world-leading creative industries.

“These sectors have the potential to deliver the fast-paced economic growth the Government wants to achieve.”

The region’s tech companies certainly tick these boxes and offer plenty more upsides.

Creative industries is a stand out sector for Britain and one that we should rightly be proud of.

However, as this House of Lords report shows, the creative industries sector’s potential could also be hampered by a lack of longer-term commitments and an increased commercial focus.

There is also the very real need to address how we can supplement the tech talent that we have with that from overseas.

Technology by its very nature does not operate in sovereign silos but rather requires skills and expertise to come together.

I remember a few years ago, speaking to a video games developer who had a few key staff members facing uncertain futures post-Brexit.

If a visa process needs to be streamlined and it is used to bring in genuine top tier talent then no one should be arguing against it.

Bureaucracy is the enemy of business and as such an enemy of economic growth. Less really is more in tech.