Industry body techUK says technology policies should be tested outside London and the South East before being expanded nationally – although its new report offers little detailed examination of the North itself.
No10 North should be empowered to coordinate technology and economic growth policies across combined authorities, mayoral authorities and devolved governments, according to a major new report from techUK.
The industry body makes the recommendation in Economy 2030: An Agenda for Tech-Enabled Growth, which sets out measures designed to revive productivity and accelerate economic growth before the end of the decade.
Its proposals include using UK regions as testbeds for new technology policies, supporting local industrial specialisms and preventing fragmented funding from leaving regional technology businesses without sufficient support.
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The report argues that responsibility for technology and growth policy is currently spread across national, regional and local government, making it harder for businesses to understand which organisations control particular forms of support.
It says: “One possible solution is to empower the new No10 North – which recently became responsible for economic growth – to coordinate technology and growth policies across combined authorities, mayoral authorities and devolved governments.”
A single digital platform could also be created to direct companies towards the appropriate national, regional or local business support.
However, despite arguing that all UK nations and regions should contribute to and benefit from technology-led growth, the report contains little detailed examination of the North itself.
Its three regional case studies focus on Wales, the West Midlands and Cambridge, examining their respective strengths in compound semiconductors, advanced manufacturing and mobility, and AI and life sciences. No Northern technology ecosystem is explored in comparable depth.
The recommendation involving No10 North is therefore one of the report’s few direct references to the North, with no detailed assessment of how its wider proposals could affect individual Northern technology clusters.
More broadly, techUK said greater devolution presented an opportunity to pilot technology policies in individual regions, evaluate their effectiveness and refine them before adapting successful programmes for other parts of the country.
The approach could reduce the cost and risk of national rollouts while accelerating the adoption of productivity-enhancing technology outside London and the South East.
But the report warned that transferring greater powers and funding away from Westminster would not automatically produce stronger economic growth.
It called for clearer coordination between different levels of government and cautioned against dividing public investment across multiple initiatives that provide insufficient support for technology companies attempting to scale.
The report also urged the Government to build policies around the existing strengths of regional economies and innovation clusters rather than taking a uniform national approach.
The proposals form part of a wider package developed by techUK with 11 partner organisations, including Be the Business, the CBI, the Royal Academy of Engineering and UK Private Capital.
Other recommendations include introducing carefully controlled incentives to help businesses adopt technology, aligning skills provision with the needs of employers and AI-enabled workplaces, accelerating electricity grid connections and unlocking more domestic institutional capital for venture and growth investment.
The report also calls for the Government to secure UK access to the EU’s proposed Tech Sovereignty Package and improve public-sector procurement so authorities can buy more effectively from innovative suppliers.
techUK argues that technology can support growth through the expansion of the sector itself, by improving productivity across other industries and by increasing the impact of government policies covering areas including skills, trade, data and infrastructure.
Antony Walker, deputy CEO at techUK, said: “Technology is uniquely placed to revive productivity and reignite economic growth in the UK. Recent evidence from the ONS shows that technology is already helping the British economy turn the corner. Today’s new report, Economy 2030, aims to capitalise on this progress and ensure that technology continues to drive the UK’s economic recovery. Drawing on perspectives from beyond the tech sector, the report sets clear recommendations to make the economy fit for the 2030s.”
