The government recently announced funding to help the growth of small businesses within the country. The new Business Basics Fund aims to support the earning power of small businesses by paving the way for them to adopt tried and tested technology to unlock the massive untapped benefit within our economy.
Minister for Small Business, Andrew Griffiths announced the £8 million fund on 26 June, introducing it as a cash injection to boost the performance and productivity of small businesses in England.
Modern Industrial Strategy
The government’s Industrial Strategy initiative is all about boosting productivity across the nation and increasing earning power for workers. The new Business Basics Fund (BBF) will be run by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), along with Innovate UK. Together they aim to help trade organisations, businesses, public sector organisations and charities to support small businesses in utilising proven management techniques and technologies.
When the projects are underway, the government plans to work with leading experts in specific sectors to evaluate the progress and effectiveness of each one in terms of boosting productivity. They will then use this information to improve future policies.
The Industrial Strategy is designed to focus on what the government calls the ‘five foundations of productivity’:
- Ideas
- People
- Infrastructure
- Business environment
- Place
Boosting UK’s economy
Research from the Confederation of British Industry (CI) shows that encouraging businesses to use leading management practices, innovative technology and the appropriate business support services (for example, mobile tech, cloud computing and e-buying) could boost the UK economy by £100 billion. It’s also thought that it could result in a 5% reduction in income inequality across the UK.
Mr Griffiths said: “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, with more than 1,000 new businesses starting up every day. It is vital that we support them to grow through our modern Industrial Strategy.”
Innovative support
The BBF intends to use innovative ways of supporting small businesses in using management practices and technology. The idea is to give the leaders of small businesses the tools, knowledge and information they need to continue to improve and thrive.
To compete globally, UK businesses must improve their productivity across the board. That’s the message from Matthew Fell, CBI UK Chief Policy Director. He said: “Low uptake of the nuts and bolts technologies of today is a key feature of the productivity puzzle that can, and must, be tackled.”
Tech adoption
The uptake of business technology in the UK is near to the EU average, but way behind those right up front. Stats show that we’re ten years behind Denmark in taking on new business technology.
It’s hoped that the Industrial Strategy will build a bridge and nudge UK businesses towards a forward-thinking strategy in terms of technological integration. The fund is the latest in a long line of measures introduced by the government to improve the UK’s business productivity.
The measures include the Business Productivity Review, which was launched last month and will remain open until 6 July 2018. The government want businesses, workers and others to contribute ideas.
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