“The only thing holding back my company is the lack of Engineers”.
That was the strongest message that I brought back from a briefing organised by
the Scottish Development Agency, where they presented the EU's Horison 2020
Space programme, offering Euro 1.7 Billion over 7 years for British &
European businesses to bid for. Why I had to go to Scotland to get this
information I will deal with later. It is the damage being done now to our
Education System that is more important.
Britain is a trading nation. We have translated our design
skills into products that have filled the retail outlets of the world. Our
expertise in delivering technological breakthroughs, that result in innovative
products has been the mainstay of our manufacturing, and wealth creating base.
We are not a nation that can rely on high volume, low quality, products.
British expertise is best when it delivers cutting edge advances, applying our
design and technological skill to produce the best. Low volume high quality
delivers great returns for UK PLC.
So why is this Government so opposed to developing
creativity in our education system? When Michael Gove announced his new English
Baccalaureate, presented as a new certificate of excellence in education, he
personally intervened to remove Design & Technology from its syllabus. How
is our economy to recover from the banking crisis without Designers producing
new products to sell to the world? How can we compete if Technology is
relegated to an 'also-ran' subject? These essential subjects were replaced by
Biblical Hebrew, Latin & Greek. I have no objection to classical languages
being offered, but can the Government explain how they can rebuild our
manufacturing base? Surely Mandarin, Japanese, Russian and Spanish will be
better suited to support trade with emerging industrial nations?
Once we could rely on our Local Education Authorities to
work with local businesses to identify the skills to get a job. However as the
Government seizes direct control of more and more of our schools, local say in
how they are run and what they teach is slipping away. The Academy Programme
means that over 50% of our schools are now directly controlled by faceless
bureaucrats in London, responsible to the Minister, and not locally elected
representatives.
As a contracting chartered engineer, (no I do not fix
washing machines), I have spent my whole career working for small businesses,
who have great ideas and want to translate them into products and economic
success. They need engineers, designers and technologists to help them deliver
success. They also need business support and money. I understand this need, I
have been there myself.
One of my most successful products was a simple device, a
light bulb that could be switched on and off by a text message. It may sound
trivial, but it was one of the first demonstrations of what is now a huge
industry, Machine to Machine communications over the mobile phone network. It
spawned one of the first vehicle alarm/immobilisations and recovery systems
that could operate throughout Europe, and is now owned by a major car
manufacturing company; a system that delivers near instant passenger
information at railway stations; and a safety system that monitors the
readiness of emergency lighting throughout the UK. I was able to get business
advice from my local Business Link office, and I secured 50% finance to
progress my ideas, by open competition for a locally administered business
development grant. All these local agencies have gone, swallowed up into
centrally administered quangos, run by London. How can a Whitehall civil
servant understand local business needs? The announcement that only 5% of the
Regional growth Funds has been spent in 2 years is evidence that the most
damaging decision taken by the Government was the abolition of the Regional
Development Agencies. A view almost echoed, and certainly strongly hinted, in
Michael Heseltine's recent critique of the Government's lack of an industrial
policy.
So why was I in Scotland? One of the EU's key roles is to
support the creation of multi-national collaborations to advance European expertise
in a range of industries. Currently known as Framework 7, this world leading
Science & Technology support programme will be relaunched as Horizon 2020
from 2014. Amongst its technological achievements are advances in science that
have resulted in Stem-Cell therapy now being deployed to treat spinal cord
injuries and blindness, advances in High Speed Internet, the display of stereoscopic and immersive audiovisual content, and supporting the
development of the GSM standard that has resulted in Europe leading the world
in mobile phone technology. Briefings about these sources of financial support
for business used to be held regularly by East Midlands Development Agency
(EMDA), but no more. EMDA also offered assistance to business to apply for
innovation grants, with special emphasis on small business – again all gone. It
may be possible to get some information about Horison 2020 if you are English,
and know who to ask in London. Fortunately, Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland's devolved administrations have not abandoned their local businesses.
They run seminars on obtaining EU funding, where business partnerships are
built. It was at one of the events in Scotland (either about the half the
audience were English refugees) that I heard the plea for more engineers.
This Government simply
does not understand the needs of Britain's wealth creating industries. Their
centralisation of power, and money, has resulted in an education system that is
fast becoming not fit for purpose, a withdrawal of professional and financial
support for private sector employment in the English Regions, and a total lack
of commitment to innovation and creativity.
Dr Eric Goodyer has been engaged in the design and
development of commercial instrumentation for measurement, automation and
control for 35 years. He runs his own design consultancy business, and lectures
part-time at an East Midlands University training the engineer's of tomorrow.
