It gives me great pleasure to be here today to officially open the Business Innovation Centre here at Binley Business Park. I am sure that today I will see that much progress has been made since my earlier visit last year.
Centres like this, and the dynamic growing businesses that locate in them are an important element in the development of the knowledge-based clusters which increasingly form the basis of our economy.
ROLE & VALUE OF SCIENCE PARKS
The Government believes that science parks such as Warwick Science Parks have a significant role to play in the exploitation of the results of scientific research and in facilitating the growth of businesses established to exploit that research. The Government is committed to developing a knowledge-driven economy in the UK, and we must continually develop new businesses and industries using new technologies and knowledge. Science parks play a key role in achieving this aim by helping to exploit the knowledge and technology contained in a university or research organisation.
THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY - WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
It has been nearly two years since we produced the Competitiveness White Paper "Our Competitive Future - Building the Knowledge Driven Economy." The analysis we set out in that document is proving correct, and UK industry is moving rapidly into new knowledge-intensive industries and products. Biotechnology, opto-electronics, mobile telephony as well as aerospace and pharmaceuticals. But Government and Industry in other countries are also moving fast, and that is why we will shortly be producing a new White Paper to help British industry move even faster into knowledge economy, and also to study and map clusters across the UK.
We are living through a period of massive industrial change. New technology such as genomics, ITC and new materials, is creating new markets, and revolutionising those that already exist. Globalisation is exposing industries to new competition. It creates opportunities for some, but also threatens UK jobs if we do not respond.
Government cannot and should not resist these changes -successful economies and societies are those that are flexible and creative and can adapt to the demands of rapid change.But Government does have a responsibility to help communities and individuals manage change so that the effects are not traumatic or so disruptive to hold back economic growth.
The Government is committed to creating the right environment for success and to enable innovation and enterprise to flourish. We can now build on strong foundations, which we have put in place since 1997. Inflation and unemployment are at a 25-year low. The public finances are strong. Employment is at record levels. Economic stability has contributed to an increase in business investment and R and D.
But we must do more. We must attack weaknesses in our workforce skills, we must improve the access of start-ups to venture capital, we must provide more incubators for high-tech businesses and we must develop better links between universities and industry. At the same time we must create opportunities for communities and regions hit by restructuring in traditional industries and encourage the emerging and fast growing sectors of the future.
That is why we are putting £50m a year into Regional Innovation Funds and have put substantial funds into HEROBIC and its successor the Higher Education Innovation Fund to increase knowledge transfer and the setting up of incubators.
Success in both manufacturing and services is vital. A strong manufacturing sector is important for employment and even more so for trade. We have many manufacturing businesses which lead the world, are innovative and use leading edge techniques. But we need more such companies. The same applies in the service sector.
Our vision is for a United Kingdom in which opportunities can be seized in all communities and regions and by all parts of society. That means a tax system which gives incentives to all, an educational system which gives educational opportunities to everyone and a regional policy which gives employment opportunities to all who want to work.
THE CRUCIAL ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES
In the knowledge economy universities have a key role to play. In the globalised economy, capital is mobile, technology can migrate quickly, and goods can be made cheaply in low cost countries and shipped to developed markets. Britain cannot compete simply on low labour costs, the supply of raw materials, or land. Now, more than ever before, business must seek competitive advantage by exploiting capabilities which its competitors cannot easily match or imitate. These distinctive capabilities must be knowledge, skills, and creativity. Capabilities which help generate high productivity business process, and high value goods and services. Our ability to compete successfully as a nation depends on our ability to create an economy that is genuinely knowledge-driven.
That is why universities must be at the heart of our productive capacity. They are powerful drivers of technological and other changes. They have become central to local and regional economic development. They foster people with knowledge and skills. They generate new knowledge and import it from diverse sources. And they apply knowledge in a range of different environments. They are the seed-bed for new industries, products and services, and they are at the hub of the business networks and industrial clusters of the knowledge economy.
That is why it is so important that dynamic, growing businesses like those in the Centre here develop and maintain strong links with academia. The potential for links with the local universities of Warwick and Coventry, and those further afield, should be harnessed. I know that the staff of the Centre, which of course forms part of the overall University of Warwick Science Park network, will do everything they can to help the growing tenant businesses to get the most out of such links.
CONCLUSION
Let me leave you with a clear message: The knowledge economy is here today. In Britain we have a great tradition of scientific excellence, creativity and innovation, the key building blocks of the knowledge economy. We must use them effectively at all levels. Universities, science parks, incubators and Business Innovation Centres therefore have a key part to play in turning our outstanding record of discovery into products and processes which will help us to build a healthier, safer society, a cleaner environment and a dynamic knowledge economy for the 21st century.
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