Hunt hypes up UK’s future as ‘world’s next Silicon Valley’

Jeremy Hunt has talked up Britain’s prospects of changing into the “world’s subsequent Silicon Valley” in a summit with artistic industries leaders.

The Chancellor has mentioned the Prime Minister’s ambition for the UK to change into a “science and know-how superpower” is vital to the nation’s future.

Talking at a Treasury Join occasion in a collection of presidency enterprise conferences, Hunt advised artistic trade bosses “the largest alternative for the UK going ahead is to be the world’s subsequent Silicon Valley”.

“Now we have the substances to do one thing outstanding,” he mentioned.

‘Distinctive mixture’

“We don’t simply have the creativity, the entrepreneurs, the wonderful companies, however we’ve got the world’s second largest monetary sector to assist these companies develop and we’ve got one of many world’s most revered greater schooling sector’s to offer the analysis and improvement heft to take a seat behind it,” he continued.

“It’s a novel mixture, it’s the mix Silicon Valley itself had. However there aren’t very many different locations on this planet which have that mixture.”

And Hunt highlighted the necessity for artistic industries on the forefront of tech improvement, saying: “Know-how wants creativity and creativity wants know-how.

“All of your companies have been utterly remodeled by tech over the past decade however really the tech trade wants the creativity that’s the start line of all of your companies.”

‘Not there but’

Nonetheless, he harassed that the UK was nonetheless a way off reaching tech superpower standing.

“We’re not there by a really good distance however within the final 10 years we’ve got change into Europe’s largest tech centre, with the third largest sector on this planet after the US and China,” he mentioned. “[We’ve become] Europe’s largest life sciences sector, Europe’s second largest renewable sector and largest relating to offshore wind.”

His feedback come after Rishi Sunak and science, innovation and know-how secretary Michelle Donelan unveiled the Science and Know-how Framework in March.

Ministers need to cement the UK as a tech superpower by 2030 and have pledged £370m to spice up funding in innovation, convey international expertise to the UK and fund cutting-edge AI analysis.