The Royal Academy of Engineering is launching an election manifesto outlining five measures the next government should take to boost the economy through engineering, manufacturing and innovation.
The manifesto is a call from all 38 UK professional engineering bodies and is based on an extensive consultation carried out among these bodies and their 450,000 members.
Engineering underpins every aspect of society and makes a major contribution to the UK’s economy.
Ahead of the general election on 8th June, the engineering community is calling on the next government to harness the full capacity, capability and potential of the UK’s engineering talent. The Royal Academy of Engineering has identified five key priorities that will enable the UK and its citizens to meet the challenges that society will face in the future.
These goals cannot be achieved in the life of a single parliamentary term: a consistent, long-term, whole-systems approach is needed to maximise the UK’s potential.
1. Define and clearly articulate a bold, global and ambitious vision for the UK
The next government must ensure that the UK is strongly positioned as an outward-looking trading nation and a top destination for inward investment and international talent via a modern industrial strategy. This will be critical if the UK is to exploit the opportunities and mitigate the risks associated with exiting the EU.
2. Focus the education and skills system on fully unlocking UK talent and potential
Talent and skills – increasingly, digital skills – are fundamental to the UK’s position as a world leading economy but this is threatened by a severe engineering skills shortage. As well as continuing to attract the best and brightest from around the world, it is vital that we take maximise our own home-grown talent by ensuring more diversity and inclusion. We need to ensure that vocational education and training is fully funded and as much a priority as higher education. It is also essential to upskill and fully equip people for rewarding careers in the industries of the future.
3. Support innovation
Government should set a target of 3% of GDP combined public and private R&D investment, and work with the private sector to formulate a roadmap to achieve this goal. Government also needs to demonstrate willingness to accept the risk of failure, or perceptions of it, in its support for innovation. Better collaboration between business and universities should be supported to reap benefits for the economy.
4. The benefits of engineering, in terms of economic growth and social advancement must be spread across the UK
Opportunities to improve living standards and increase productivity must be available across the whole of the UK. Local institutions – such as Local Enterprise Partnerships, Catapults and universities – need to attain consistent, national levels of excellence and their services must be promoted more widely to those who will benefit. We should build on existing successful initiatives and institutions and spread best practice and learning derived from them. Metrics must be developed that are sufficiently sensitive to local industries and demographics to monitor progress, identify areas that are not progressing as they should and target support accordingly.
5. Prioritise world class supporting infrastructure
Infrastructure, including energy and digital, is critical to the wellbeing of society and the performance of the economy. A clear, long-term strategy is needed for all infrastructure to provide industry with the confidence to invest for the future. Regional plans that understand local needs will need to be integrated with national strategies. All new infrastructure will need to support economic growth alongside resilience and environmental sustainability. Energy efficiency must be a key driver.
The manifesto can be viewed at: www.raeng.org.uk/engineeringmanifesto