This week we’ve put out a couple of Policy Updates on how the Budget announcements will impact entrepreneurs. So far we have looked at the Help to Grow Scheme and the Corporation Tax announcements. Next week we let you know about reforms to the via system and key consultations announced in the Budget. We’ll share more details in our Policy Update newsletter (sign up here), but I just wanted to alert you to three consultations that have piqued our interest and may be of interest to you. After all, we exist to ensure entrepreneurs have a greater voice in policy making.
In the last couple of years we’ve argued that the scope of the R&D Tax Credit should be expanded to cover data and cloud computing (Dom Hallas from Coadec explains why in our joint Startup Manifesto). Rather surprisingly, former Prime Minister Theresa May bemoaned in Parliament this week that there have already been a number of reviews but little in the way of action. I hope and expect this will be one last push. The Government is keen to hear from firms that undertake R&D, or might consider doing so in future. You can read the full consultation here.
There’s also a Call for Evidence into the Enterprise Management Incentive, which we’re a big supporter of. But we think it needs to be more generous as other countries have copied – and improved upon – our scheme. A consultation was also announced to look at how the UK can get more pension fund investment into VCs, which is something I’ve written about before and features heavily in our Unlocking Growth Report with the Enterprise Trust.
Let Sam Dumitriu know if you are planning to respond to any of these consultations (or any others). We will be doing so and it might be more efficient for us to coordinate things, or run a virtual roundtable if we get enough interest in any of them. We recently did this with the help of our Research Adviser Dr Chris Haley and our Advisers Giovanna Forte and Mark Neild on the Green Paper on transforming public procurement, which worked really well.
If you want to see the government’s open consultations, you can do so at Gov.uk here. It’s a little unwieldy, so it might be easier just to sign up to our ad hoc Policy Updates.
It's life, Jim
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has outlined its 10 Tech Priorities. Number 6 on the list is “unleashing the transformational power of tech and AI”.
It reads: “Artificial intelligence has the potential to fundamentally transform our lives. The UK already has a strategic advantage in this new frontier, and our upcoming National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which we will publish later this year, will help us build on our world-class research and innovation base. We will also work to solidify our global leadership in the development of quantum computing and other transformative tech.”
Next week we will release a briefing paper written by Séb Krier, former Head of Regulation at the Office for AI, on how we make sure the UK continues to punch above its weight when it comes to AI. I’ll write about it here next week, but as with previous reports, just let me know if you want me to send you a copy on the morning of its release.
You may also want to check out Stanford’s comprehensive and fascinating AI index, and if you have an ongoing interest in AI and aren’t already signed up for it, you should check out Matt Clifford’s Thoughts In Between newsletter, which is great at unpicking the policy challenges around AI – and much else besides.
Works in progress
For the intellectually curious, I would wholeheartedly recommend checking out the Works in Progress Oxford Union conference tomorrow.
The first is a conversation between the CEO of the Royal Statistical Society (and our Research Adviser) Stian Westlake and Dr Rachel Laudan – author of the award-winning book: Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History. There is also a conversation between the economist Dr Tyler Cowen and Patrick Collison, the founder CEO of Stripe, as well as between the cognitive psychologist, linguist, and popular science author Dr Steven Pinker and the psychologist Dr Stuart Ritchie. Find out more here.
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