Government’s new digital strategy is a step in the right direction
From the outside, the Portuguese ministry of finance looks exactly how you’d expect: boring. There’s literally nothing of interest — the anonymous grey building is so dull you almost find yourself falling asleep as you walk by.
But if you ignore the main entrance, and instead slip into the basement via a side door, things suddenly get more exciting. You were expecting civil servants and dusty filing cabinets, but instead you’re surrounded by entrepreneurs dashing around, and arcade games lining the walls.
What’s going on? Improbably, there’s a start-up hub in the bowels of the finance ministry — created by Portugal’s buccaneering secretary of state for industry João Vasconcelos, who is leading his country’s ambitions to become a top destination for entrepreneurship and technology.
He’s certainly going about it the right way — starting by adopting the best policies from the UK.
This is a smart move, because for several years Britain has been way out in front in Europe for being the best place to start and grow a business — especially a tech company. This is the result of deliberate policies, like generous tax breaks for angel investment, Entrepreneur Visas and initiatives like our world-leading open data agenda.
But if you look at the manifesto of the Portuguese government, you’ll find many of these same ideas, modelled on the successful British approach.
In other words, Portugal is playing catch up, and fast. They’re not the only ones. To take just a few examples, America has launched its own Government Digital Service, based on ours, while both France and Germany have created their equivalents of our Tech City initiative. This means our competitive advantage is being eroded, and countries like Portugal are actually surpassing us in some areas, like its streamlined immigration procedures for computer scientists.
This matters. Not just because so many jobs depend on fast-growing start-ups — but also as corporations today invest in places where they’re close to the best young companies. That’s how we were able to get Google, Amazon, Airbnb and others to build teams in east London’s Tech City, and why it’s vital we keep nurturing the next generation of new businesses in the capital.
If we want global tech companies to continue investing in the UK, we have to pull ahead of the pack again. This will be even more important when we leave the EU, as we won’t just be competing with other European nations, but with the rest of the world too.
“If we want global tech companies to continue investing in the UK, we have to pull ahead of the pack again. This will be even more important when we leave the EU, as we won’t just be competing with other European nations, but with the rest of the world too.”
Unfortunately, we risk heading in the wrong direction. If the Treasury presses on with its catastrophic business rates hike, it will hobble start-ups across London, while our heinously bureaucratic immigration rules are a nightmare for small businesses trying to recruit global talent.
But it’s not all bad news. The Government will soon be publishing its long-awaited digital strategy — a bold plan that pushes in the right direction on key issues like AI, broadband and skills. This is exactly the kind of positive programme we need — and hopefully a harbinger of more to come.
The stakes could not be higher. We’re in an entrepreneurial arms race, a fight to stay ahead when it comes to the jobs and industries of the future.
If Britain is going to make a success of Brexit, this is a race we can’t afford to lose.
By Rohan Silva
Originally published at www.standard.co.uk on February 20, 2017.
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