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The
UK is officially in another recession with the dreaded ‘double-dip’ and with
the economy bumping along the bottom, inevitably there is pessimism in the air.
However, at times like this, it is
important to take a step back and focus on the areas in which we excel. For the
UK it is innovation and in particular innovation around high-tech. The UK
thrives on its culture of innovation and on the practical creativity of its
graduates and engineers.
So, looking at where the UK is
particularly adept at innovation, points us to markets of opportunity for
growth. Global opportunities which demand high skills and technical
capabilities are present within the UK’s current economy.
This is the last in a series of 4 outlining those markets of opportunity and concludes with
Wireless, Manufacturing & Development, plus an introduction to the process
for absorptive capacity.
4.
ICT (INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
TECHNOLOGIES)
5 Key Predictions for
UK Wireless:
- Near-Field Communications to become mainstream which drives increased investment in infrastructure. Providing a lot more than just “payments” but being held back by current shortage of handsets.
- We feel ‘The Need For Speed’ leading to opportunities around UK 4G LTE especially as trials in remote areas rolled out i.e. Cornwall; East End of London. The 4G Spectrum Auction in 2012 will also provide additional demand but no planned handsets until 2013 will cause a bottleneck. Additionally HSPA will be rolled out in 2012 and beyond.
- Location-based networking becomes more than just a check-in. Retailers and brands finally get it and use new data to revolutionise marketing which in turn drives demand for devices and infrastructure.
- Privacy, security and all that stuff produce more regulation and with more compliance come the need for additional testing.
- Payments, wallets, coupons lead to demand surges for m-Wallet type devices. Again, more data for more coupons, vouchers etc but the power consumption must be kept low, thus again driving the need for more measurement precision.
5.
HIGH VALUE MANUFACTURING
Some key strategy moves include:
- UK re-positioning itself as home of high tech manufacturing for sophisticated product.
- UK advanced engineering having to get better products to market faster.
- Semiconductor electronic design complexity increasing and demanding high value competitive manufacturing in the UK.
Global manufacturing is a key provider of wealth and
employment, accounting for US$10tn of value added worldwide. The UK is the
seventh largest manufacturer in the world and has an industry worth £140bn –
representing 11% of GDP and around 50% of exports – employing three million
people. With the lowering of economic barriers to trade, the reduction in
transport costs and the enabling effect of communications technology,
manufacturing is highly competitive. Activity gravitates to the countries of
lowest overall cost, particularly where technical barriers are low (and
intellectual property can be safeguarded).
Manufacturing in high-cost economies such as the UK has
had to change radically to remain globally competitive. This has resulted in a
shift towards high-value, knowledge-intensive goods; a new emphasis on lifetime
service around a manufactured product; a change in the business model, in terms
of increasing specialisation and outsourcing of non-core activities; and a
change in ownership, with the creation of large, global players, some of which
are UK-owned. First technology and innovation centre in high value
manufacturing opened in 2011
UK Manufacturing
Market
UK manufacturing has achieved solid growth over the last
18 months. New product, process and service developments are core activities
for manufacturers, as are supporting a consistent focus on the customer and
efforts to capitalise on emerging growth sectors and cost reduction in the face
of soaring input costs.
Results are polarised with an increase in the number of
companies looking to spend greater than £500,000 on machine tools through 2012
but also an increase in the percentage of anticipating investment less than
£10,000.
No manufacturing company has reported an intention to
spend less on new product development. In new product development, the trend is to
bring back currently outsourced high technology activities and the likelihood
of manufacturing returning to the UK over the next 12 to 24 months has
increased.
- Customer satisfaction / retention
- Operational efficiencies / cost control
- Quality reputation
6.
DEVELOPMENT DEVELOP INNOVATION
The UK’s abilities to harness the potential of the
electron and the photon continues to bring dramatic changes to the way that
society conducts its everyday life from computers and smartphones through to
renewable energy generation. Electronic technologies are ubiquitous, and
society is becoming increasingly dependent on them to function. The UK is well
positioned to capitalise on these technologies. As of 2008, EPES manufacturing
employed more than 330,000 people in 14,000 UK businesses. This is a growth
industry.
Some of the challenges in the EPES sector include: the
prohibitive cost of product development and manufacturing (particularly for new
early-stage technologies); a fragmented supply chain; a general lack of
vertically integrated companies that can realise products with an internal
supply; a fiercely competitive global market.
New technologies offer the potential to create markets
and provide a leading edge for the UK economy. We aim to identify and evaluate
significant new technology-related business opportunities for the UK and, where
appropriate, turn them into robustly argued and coherent programmes.
Look out for future
information on ‘Absorptive Capacity’ of UK firms of Innovation. How do you
systematically search externally for new ideas and innovations that assist you
directly in bringing better product to market faster? More to come….
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Research and Business Coaching http://www.bbite.co.uk/intelligence.php
The views expressed
in this presentation are those interpreted by Bbite drawn from public declarations
accessed during research. Bbite reserves the right to reuse this material.