By Natasha Lomas, 6 January 2009 11:27
NEWS
...attach long term conditions to companies gaining cash - such as a commitment to staying in the UK, and establish programmes for start-ups to share their knowledge with the community by taking on interns and building relationships with universities and schools.
After all, the total amount of investment Silicon Valley attracted in 2007, for instance, was a mere $10bn - so £17bn could make a major difference to the fortunes of UK start-ups.
4 - Encourage smarter working
A change in the law is already looming in April that will enable more UK workers to request the right to work flexibly but for the majority, flexible working is still the exception not the rule.
Nevertheless, the long term benefits of more flexible working are clear: a happier and more productive workforce, as well as one that is larger and more geographically dispersed.
And in tough economic times flexible working makes more sense than ever - it could help businesses to cut costs by enabling them to decentralise operations and reduce office space and expenditure.
To encourage more flexible working the government could offer grants to companies - to ensure they have the necessary tech infrastructure in place and the resources to manage a more dispersed workforce - and to employees to set up home offices.
5 - Think of the webby kids
Last year the PM pledged £300m to pay for broadband connections, software and computers for children in around one million homes in low income and jobless families.
Statistics from the Office for National Statistics show internet access at home can mean the difference between a child getting a grade A and grade D GCSE. But a significant proportion of kids don't have the luxury of a home connection - figures released by Ofcom last year found 24 per cent of UK homes with children do not have web access.
According to 2001 Census data around a third of UK households contain dependent children - or around eight million homes. Even after the government hooks up the targeted one million homes via its existing programme there will still be around a million more that remain unconnected. Why not spend a little more to close this digital divide once and for all and pledge a home PC to every school-age child? Presumably the cost of such a tech investment would be along the lines of another £300m - leaving plenty of cash still to spend.
An alternative or complementary tech investment in this area would be to offer all schools grants to provide each child with a laptop - so kids can be guaranteed access to hardware in the classroom as well as at home.
Comments
There are 8 comments. Join the discussion
1. Karen Challinor
he could use it to offset some of the debt he saddled us with, with his ill advised VAT rate cut
2. Chris Goodman
Perhaps he shou;d tell us where he intends to get this money from? By just printing it he is devaluing our currency, our savings and our standing as a nation. He is an economic failure - where is our gold reserve? Sold at giveaway prices!
3. misceng
Perhaps before pressing on with IT training the Government could ensure that those entering IT could read and write in proper English. This is an essential first step to ensure that the IT we get is really what is required as without good comprehension of the problem the product may not meet the need. Too often I see comments on silicon.com, CNet and ZDNet articles in which "Techies" make so many spelling mistakes and phrase things so badly that the comment lacks meaning.
4. Jeremy Perkins
Better still, he should use the first £1000 to buy a one-way ticket so somewhere (anywhere, as long as he never comes back), then we can get someone who understands business (and for that matter how human beings think and work) to run the economy ...
5. Alistair Thomas
It's a bit previous investing in telecoms infrastructure now, although later is obviously better than never.
3G licences. £23B wasn't it? If they'd had a vision then and traded the licenses against investment in UK infrastructure then, where would be be today? Not only would we have a world class infrastructure to support home working and education but all the tech industries would have had that the benefit of those facilities for many years. They might even have been world class exporters of technology and ideas by now instead of playing catch-up in a recession.
Let's hope that if they do invest now that when the benefits start to come in they reinvest and reinvest and never think to steal it back to waste on public sector bureaucracy. Investment in manufacturing and production is for life not just for Christmas.
6. Rober-t
The powers that be keep on pussy-footing around next gen brodband, while other nations like Japan are already miles ahead. 10 yrs from now Japan will be having a brilliant network, and the UK will still be crawling behing on copper. It's pathetic that I'm not even getting 0.5MBps on my line in surbaban Milton Keynes, a mere 3km from the exchange!
7. Chris Evans
Mmm 'curbside cabinets' an American spelling for a British story!
8. An Old Duffer
It'll stop ageism?
It's all very well putting people through training courses, but if companies and agencies won't give you a second look, possibly due to your age what's the point?
A bit of volunteering this year and perhaps another 2 certifications before I finally give up accruing 'industry standard' qualifications nobody wants.