BQF Innovation

Today we had a summit meeting on Innovation between BQF members and senior officials from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills including Lord Drayson, the Minister of State for Science and Innovation.   It was a lively and interactive dialogue.  DIUS speakers included Christine Hewitt, Deputy Director of Innovation Delivery, Fergus Harradence, Deputy Director of Innovation Policy, and Jane Peters,  Deputy Director of the International Science and Innovation Unit.

Paul Sloane, Lord Paul Drayson, Christine Hewitt

The Minister did not act like a TV politician at all.  He was more like a CEO at an all hands meeting, reflecting his background as a successful entrepreneur.  He asked questions, listened attentively to replies and gave direct answers.

He explained that the UK approach to industrial policy has been much less directive than say the French approach but there is now a new policy of industrial activism.  Unfortunately ‘picking winners’ has become a toxic phrase but just as individuals have to make choices so do governments.  The downturn and the decline of Financial Services has led to a re-evaluation of the role of sectors such as high-tech manufacturing, defence, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, creative industries and clean energy.  The government wants to support those areas where we can be number 1 or number 2 in the world.

He pointed out that Britain does well in Science research but not so well in development and he asked the question, ‘ What is the government’s role in the commercialisation of Science?’

He revealed that when he had first joined the government he had been surprised that the Civil Service had plenty of talent but was not a meritocracy.  People are promoted for being good at policy or analysis rather than implementation.  He also told us the Ministers are prohibited by law from firing Civil Servants.  He raised the question, ‘How do you promote entrepreneurial actions and risk taking in the Civil Service?’

There was an animated Q&A session.  One of the best suggestions that came from the workshop session was for a Government Innovation Portal which pulled together all the knowledge management across departments and offered a sort of Wiki for sharing and communicating knowledge.

Feedback from delegates at the meeting was very positive.

Paul Sloane

Tags: BQF, DIUS, Drayson, government, Innovation, policy

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 4:03 pm and is filed under Innovation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.