Design innovation is what matters

In fact we are widely recognised for our inventive nature. We've always had good ideas and are generally recognised as being the source of at least half of the significant commercial initiatives of the 19th and 20th centuries. What makes the innovation challenge more pressing today is the growing competition facing the UK from countries with significantly lower labour costs and increasingly well-educated labour forces. And these economies are determined to engage us in a race to the top. It's a fact that technological innovation is fuelling economic growth in the 21st century with a surge of technology breakthroughs creating brand new industries. Clearly, entrepreneurial behaviour - a can-do attitude, the ability to spot opportunities and implement new ideas - is offering powerful benefits, not only for business itself, but for the country's economy as a whole. The UK is attracting an increasing number of international companies to do their research and development here. Hundreds of global companies have established R&D centres and are benefiting from new product research, design and development - not to mention a pool of skilled researchers, institutional support, a world-class science and engineering base, high-tech clusters and financial incentives. But with nine in ten of all business ideas coming from our own SMEs, we need to ensure all businesses have access to these people and networks. For many companies, having the good idea is, in many ways, the 'easy' part. Sourcing and putting together the necessary skills, expertise and resources to make it happen is invariably more of a challenge. With this in mind, a suite of DTI business support solutions are providing practical support to companies looking to make innovation, research and development an essential part of their growth strategy. Smaller UK businesses can benefit from a DTI Grant for Research and Development, designed to support the development of technologically innovative projects, while the Grant for Investigating an Innovative Idea provides reimbursed consultancy advice. The Government also supports businesses investing in new and emerging technologies and in 2004 it set up the Technology Strategy Board to help businesses bring such technology to market. The Strategy is supported by two Technology Programme products - Collaborative Research & Development and Knowledge Transfer Networks. Designed to help businesses work collaboratively with each other or with academic partners to develop technologies that will underpin products and services of the future, the Programme has spent nearly £100 million to date, awarding grants ranging from £30,000 to £2.2m to around 100 projects spread over 16 technology areas. The Programme's next Competition for Funding will be announced in November 2005. The Government's vision is that the UK should be a key hub in the global knowledge economy. One thing is clear: the successful adoption of innovation, technology and design is increasingly critical in highly competitive markets and whether introducing new technology, getting people to work in new ways or creating new products, it's only through innovating that businesses will go on creating value and keep the UK at the leading edge. For further information about The DTI's range of Business Support Solutions, including the Technology Programme, please see www.dti.gov.uk/bss