Commenting on the news that the UK Government plans to publish an industrial strategy white paper later today, Professor Nigel Driffield said:

"While one can debate the merits or otherwise of an industrial strategy, and whether it is a return to 'picking winners' that has been tried in the past, it is good to see that the government has recognised that a modern industrial strategy needs to be focused on people and places.

"As recent discussions around productivity have highlighted, the solution to the issues that the UK economy faces are not be found in ever greater concentrations of activity in London and the South East, but focusing on the barriers to growth in regions. This means building supply chain resilience, and fostering greater collaboration in knowledge transfer and development at local levels, and focusing on the barriers to the commercialisation of innovation.

"Places know and understand the issues local to them, from skills, to transport infrastructure and innovation. The set of metro mayors, along with initiatives such as northern powerhouse and midlands engine, must be further empowered and resourced to remove bottlenecks on productivity, and to develop frameworks to support small business, linking to large inward investors, and indeed outward investors, encouraging further internationalisation and innovation."

• Click here to read Professor Driffield's recent briefing paper on inward investment after Brexit, part of the Warwick Brexit Briefings on Employment series.

27 November 2017

Contact:

Sheila Kiggins,

Media Relations Manager, Social Science

+44 (0) 7876 218166

+44 (0) 2476 150 423

s.kiggins@warwick.ac.uk