The 5 foundations of the Governmentâs new industrial strategy

The 5 foundations of the Government’s new industrial strategy are:

• Ideas
• People
• Infrastructure
• Business environment
• Places

Or in the Government’s own words:

• Ideas: the world’s most innovative economy
• People: good jobs and greater earning power for all
• Infrastructure: a major upgrade to the UK’s infrastructure
• Business Environment: the best place to start and grow a business
• Places: prosperous communities across the UK

But what do they mean for the creative industries?

A key policy under the people foundation is an additional £406 million investment in maths, digital and technical education, helping to address the shortage of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills.

Marketing and advertising currently attracts a lot of talent from around the world, especially people skilled in data science and related subjects. However, the Government have identified that by better training young people in the UK, they can plug part of the gap. This, in turn, should make it easier for marketing firms to recruit talented people they need.

Another is in ecommerce, an area in which the UK is a world leader, but which relies on quality digital infrastructure.

Digital revenue will represent a 22.6% share of total retail sales in the UK by 2020, according to forecasts from market research company eMarketer.

£176 million will be invested in the roll out of 5G and another £200 million available for local communities and full-fibre internet connections. A boon for the UK’s ever growing ecommerce market.

One of the proposed policies offers an opportunity to marketing and advertising to show its potential. The UK’s productivity problem is well known and successive governments have failed to improve it.

As a result of this poor performance, the Government will be reviewing what can be done to help SME’s and improve productivity. What can be done? Marketing and advertising. Not nearly enough SME’s effectively market and their products and services. More can be done to promote the benefits of marketing to SME’s. The DMA will drive this agenda when speaking with government departments.

You can read about the 5 foundations of the industrial strategy here.