Letters Urge Brown to Broaden UK Innovation Policy Beyond £145 Billion Creative Sector
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Oct 14
Letters Urge Brown to Broaden UK Innovation Policy Beyond £145 Billion Creative Sector
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 14
Summary
Two letters challenged Gordon Brown’s innovation agenda as too narrow, arguing it favors lone inventors and conventional tech models while overlooking creative industries and public-good companies.
Jenny Haigh said that omission ignores a £145 billion creative sector growing at four times the national rate, with nearly two-thirds of creative micro-firms conducting R&D in the past three years.
She added that University of the Arts London produces the UK’s most student startups, including ventures working on biodegradable plastics, food-waste fermentation and supply-chain decarbonisation.
Kate Fleming argued current policy also blocks community-interest companies from support, saying UK Research and Innovation, Innovate UK partnerships, ARIA and tax schemes are structured around research bodies, lone inventors or uncapped shareholder returns.
The letters cast the dispute as a broader question over whether Labour’s innovation policy should reward public-interest ownership and creativity, not just Silicon Valley-style scale and founder-led gains.