TheUK government is dueto publish its long awaited Digital Strategy later today, about a year later than originally slated. Existing delays having been compounded by the shock ofBrexit.
Drafts of the strategy framework seenby TechCrunch suggest itsscope and ambition vis-a-vis digital technologies has been pared back and repositionedvs earlier formulations of the plan,dating fromDecember 2015 and June 2016, as the government recalibrated to factor in last summers referendum votefor the UK to leave the European Union.
Since the earlier drafts were penned there has also of course been a change of leadership (and direction) at the top of government. And Prime Minister Theresa May appointed a new cabinet, including digital minister, Matt Hancock, who replaced Ed Vaizey.
The incoming digital strategy includes whats couched as a majora review of what AI means for the UK economy which was trailedto the press by the government at the weekend. As the FTreported then, the reviewwill be led by computer scientist Dame Wendy Hall and Jerome Pesenti, CEO of AI firmBenevolentAI, and willaim toidentify areas of opportunity and commercialization for the UKsgrowing AI research sector.
The government will alsobe committing 17.3M from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to fund research into robotics and AI at UK universities so, to be clear, thats existing funds being channeledinto AI projects (rather than new money being found).
The draft strategy notesthat one project, led by the University of Manchester, will develop robotics technologies capable of operating autonomously and effectively within hazardous environments such as nuclear facilities. Another, at Imperial College London, will aimto make major advances in the field of surgical micro-robotics.
But thedocument dedicates an awful lot of page space to detailing existingdigital policies. And while reannouncements are a favorite spin tactic of politicians, the overall result is a Digital Strategy that feels heavy on thestrategic filler. And heavily shaped by Brexit while stilllackingcoherence for dealing with the short-term and longer term uncertainty triggered by the vote to the leave the EU.
As one disappointed industry sourcewho we showed the draft to put it: If youre going to announce a digital strategy, and youre taking in public input, why not be bold? Perhaps because you dont have the ministerial resources to be bold when youre having to expend most of your governments energy managingBrexit.
Its the skills, stupid
Besides the government foregrounding artificial intelligence (via officialpress briefing) as a technology it viewsas promising for fueling future growthofthe UKs digital economy, the strategyputsmarkedemphasis on tackling digital inclusion in the coming years, via upskilling and reskilling.
Digital skills are the secondof the seven strands the strategyfocuses on, withdigital connectivity being the first a quite different structure vsthe June 2016 version of the document that we reviewed(which bundled skills and connectivity into a singledigital foundations section and expendedmore energy elsewhere, such asinvestigating the public sector potential of technologies like blockchain, andtalking upputting the UK at the heart of the European Digital Single Market; an impossibility now, given Brexit).
A portion of the final strategy details a numberof UK skillstraining partnerships, either new or which are being expanded, fromcompanies such asGoogle, HP, Cisco, IBM and BT. Google, for example, is pledging to launcha Summer of Skills program in coastal towns across the UK.
And ahead of the strategys official publication the government is briefing these partnershipsto pressas four million opportunities for learning being created to ensure no one is left behind by the digital divide.
On the Google program the draftsays: It will develop bespoke training programmes and bring Google experts to coach communities, tourist centres and hospitality businesses across the British coasts. This will accelerate digitisation and help boost tourism and growth in UK seaside towns. This new initiative is part of a wider digital skills programme from Google that has already trained over 150,000 people.
This again isdigital strategy and spin drivenby Brexit. The government has made it clear it will beprioritizing control of Britains borders in its negotiations with the EU, and confirmed the UKwill be leaving the Single Market, which means ending free movement of people from the EU. So UK businesses are faced with pressing questions abouthow they will sourceenough local talent quickly enoughin future when there arerestrictions on freedom of movement. The UK governments answerto those worriesappears tobe upskill for victory which might be a long-term skills fix, but wont plug any short term talentcliffs.
As we leave the European Union, it will be even more important to ensure that we continue to develop our home-grown talent, up-skill our workforce and develop the specialist digital skills needed to maintain our world leading digital sector, is all it has to say on that.
The focus on digital inclusion also looks to bea response to a widerframing ofthe Brexit vote as fueled by angerwithin certain segmentsof the population feeling left behind by globalization. (A sentiment that implicates technology as a contributing factor for asense ofexclusion caused by rapid change.) Tellingly,the strategy document is subtitled a world-leading digital economy for everyone (emphasis mine).
We must also enable people in every part of society irrespective of age, gender, physical ability, ethnicity, health conditions, or socio-economic status to access the opportunities of the internet, it further notes. If we dont do this, our citizens, businesses and public services cannot take full advantage of the transformational benefits of the digital revolution. And if we manage it, it will benefit society too.
In terms of specific skills measures, the strategy pledges free basic digital skills training for adults (actuallya reannouncement) with the government saying it intends to mirrorthe approach taken for adult literacy and numeracy training.
It also says it intends toestablish a newDigital Skills Partnership to bring together industry players and local stakeholders with a focus on plugging digitalskills gaps locally, which sounds equallylikea measure to tackle regional unemployment.
Another aimis to develop the role of libraries in improving digital inclusion to make them the go-to provider of digital access, training and support for local communities.
To boostSTEM skills to help the UK workforce gainwhat the governmentdubs specialist skills it says it will implement Nigel Shadbolts recommendations following his 2016 report which called for universities to do more to teach skills employers need. (A need that will clearly be all the more pressing with tighter restrictions on UK borders.)
Interestingly, a2015draft of the strategy whichwe saw shows the government was kicking aroundvariousideas forencouraging more digital talent to come intothe country at that time including creating new types of tech visas.
Among the ideas on thelong-list then, i.e. under PM David Cameron and minister Vaizey, were to:
- Offer e-residency for entrepreneurs offer some form of limited residency in the UK but require IP of business is vested in UK
- Offer Digital Corporate Citizenship to encourage companies to vest IP in UK
- Create a new class of exceptional talent visa for those with experience of scaling up tech companies
- Create a post-study Tech Visa for applicants with degrees in computing, ICT and management who set up a tech business
Later versions of the framework drop these ideas with the government now onlysaying it has asked the UKs Migration Advisory Committee to review whether the Tier 1 visa is appropriate to deliver significant economic benefits for the UK.
We recognise the importance which the technology sector attaches to being able to recruit highly skilled staff from the EU and around the world. As one part of this, we have asked the Migration Advisory Committee to consider whether the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) route is appropriate to deliver significant economic benefits for the UK, and will say more about our response to their recommendations soon, it writes, noting that digitalsector companies employ around 80,000 people from other European Union countries, out of the total 1.4 million people working in the UKsdigital sectors.
A further section of the document references ongoing concern about the future status of EU workers currently employed in the UK, without offering businesses any certainty on that front just reiterating a hope for early clarity during Brexit negotiations. But again, no certainty.
The two-year Brexit negotiations between the UK and the EU aredue to start by the end of next month, so for the foreseeable future governmentministers will be bound up with process ofdelivering Brexit. Which in turn means less time to devote todigital experiments to stay at the forefront of digital change, as one of the earlier digital strategy drafts putit.
We also recognise that digital businesses are concerned about the future status of their current staff who are EU nationals. Securing the status of, and providing certainty to, EU nationals already in the UK and to UK nationals in the EU is one of this Governments early priorities for the forthcoming negotiations, the government writesnow.
The original intention for the digital strategy was to look aheadfive years toguide the parliamentary agenda on the digital economy. Formulating the strategytook longer than billed, and even before the Brexit vote in June 2016 itsrelease had been delayed six-months after Vaizey opted to runa public consultation to widen the poolof ideas being considered.
Challenge us push us to do more, he wrote at the time.
Its unclear exactly why the strategy did notappear in early 2016 (a parliamentary committee was still wonderingthat inJuly). And perhaps if it had Mays government would have felt compelled toretain more of those challengingideas or be accused of seeking to U-turnon thedigital economy.
But, as things turned out, Vaizeysdelay overraninto the looming prospect of the Brexit vote at which pointthe government decidedit would wait until afterwards to publish. Clearly not expecting all its best laid plans tobe entirely derailed.
Since June, thewait for the strategy has stretched a further eight months – unsurprisingly, at this point, given the shock of Brexit and the change of leadership triggered by Camerons resignation.
And while the process of formulating any strategic policydocument islikely to involveplenty of blue-sky thinking thinking that never, ultimately, makes the cutas a bona fide policy pledge its nonetheless interesting to see how a verylong-list of digital ideas has beenwhittled down and reshuffled into this set ofseven strands.
Heres a condensed overviewof May/Hancocksdigital priority areas:
- Digital connectivity on this the government mainlyappears to be touting existing policies, such as auniversal service obligation for broadband(with a floor of 10Mbps connection);free wi-fi on trains; and1BN for fiber and 5G.The government also says it intends to ensure adverts for broadband accurately reflect the speeds and technology actually on offer for the majority of customers somethingVaizey had criticizedwhen in post
- Digital skills another section padded out with a lot of policyreannouncements, butwhich generally puts a lot ofemphasis on longer term digital upskilling of the local population, as noted above, includingflagging up corporate training partnerships
- Making the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a digital business this sectionreiterates thepreviously announced extra 4.7BN in R&D fundingfrom the Autumn Statement; on top of that theresthe AI review; and a commitment to put expert teams in UK embassiesin five developing countriestasked with driving UK economic growth by partnering British companies with innovative local start-ups. (This will be based on an existing UK Tech Hub in Israel, with the focus being on driving collaboration on R&D, skills, innovation and tech and forging a deeper, more strategic commercial and research relationship between countries yetdoing so remotely, on their soil.) Also here the government talks about wanting to balance regulation so its friendly to disruptive digital innovations yet also continues to protect the public. So theres noclarity on that. It also says it wants a flexible and dynamic IP regime. When it comes to commercializing research, it says its askingBEISs Chief Entrepreneurial Advisor, Professor Tim Dafforn, to lead a review to take stock of the support currently available to entrepreneurs. The review will examine the entire entrepreneurial journey, focusing on the motivations and opportunities for those embarking on business ventures, from education to business development and growth.
- Helping all British businesses to embrace digital this section includes another reannouncement from the Autumn Statement of 13M to create a private-sector led productivity council to encourageappropriate use of digital technologies. Otherwise the government says that it will work to focus existing initiatives, and plug gaps where there are specific challenges. And, for the manufacturing sector, Juergen Maier, CEO of Siemens UK, will lead a review of industrial digitalisation, dueto report findings in the summer. The report also touches on the concept of a common identity framework, with the government saying it willwork with industry/relevant stakeholders/interest groups on adopting open standards, especially for validating identity
- Making the UK the safest place in the world to be online a section that feels like a repackaging of the prior governments prioritizingof cyber security, with the strategyflagging up the role of the already establishedNational Cyber Security Centre, along witha reiteration of certain sections of the Digital Economy Bill (specifically those aimingto useage verification checksonline to tryto ensure children do not access adult content). Though a pledge to establisha national after-school program for the most talented students, cyber apprenticeships, and adult retraining maybe a newmeasure
- Maintaining the UK Government as the worlds leader in serving its citizens online this references the Government Transformation Strategy, which was published on February 9, and says the plan is to continue to develop single cross-government platform services working towards 25M GOV.UK Verify users by 2020 (plus some new services on other gov.uk platforms). Theres also a stated intent for government to consume commodity hardware or cloud based software instead of building something it dubs as needlessly government specific. So probably good news for Amazon, Google et al
- Unlocking the power of data and improving public confidence in its use here the governmentreconfirms the UK will be implementing the incoming new EU data protection regulation, the GDPR, by May 2018. Andtalks generally about wanting to encourage innovative uses of data while also providing robust protection for peoples privacy rights and the ability for userstoaccess their data. So again, its rather cake-and-eat it (apt givenBrexit).Itsays it will work with organisations such as the Open Data Institute to encourage use of APIs, flagging upwork having alreadystartedon developing an Open Banking API forUK consumers using banking services. It also underscores a shortage of data talent as having direct and serious economic implications so says addressing that shortfall is a strategic priority. (And on that it says it will work to implement key elements of the Analytic Britain report produced by Nesta and Universities UK.) On government data, it says it will appoint a new chief data officer to lead efforts to streamline data infrastructure. It also reiterates its intent, again via the Digital Economy Bill,to share data across organizationalboundaries within the public sectorto powerbetter targeted services and to tackle fraud. But theres no mention of the privacy controversy raging over these proposals with the only check onwhat could be very wide-ranging powers for the public sector to more closely track citizens via joined up data-sharing being the caveat: where appropriate
We asked UK entrepreneur, Tom Adeyoola, co-founder and CEO of London-based startup Metail to review the strategy draft, and hereshis first-takeresponse: I dont really see a strategy. Its very disappointing that it doesnt explicitly talk about the shock that is coming [i.e. Brexit] and how the government intends to counteract it. Thats what I want from a strategy: Here is what we are going to do to prevent brain drain. Here is what we are going to do to fill the gap from European money and here is how we are going to keep our research institutions great and prevent against the likes of Oxford thinking about setting up campuses abroad to enable and prevent lossof potential talent for research.
He dubbed Brexit the elephant in the report.
Some ofthe more blue-sky-y tech ideas that were being entertained on the strategy long-list in 2015, back when Brexit was but a twinkle in Camerons eye,which never made the cutand/or fell down the political cracks include: encouraging as much as a third of public transport to be on-demand by 2020 and driveless cars to make up 10 per cent of traffic; reducing peak hour congestion by use of smarter, sensor-based urban traffic control systems; launching a couple ofuniversal smart grids in UK towns; establishing a fully digitized courts system tosupport out-of-court settlements; building the first drone air traffic control system; and establishing a clear ethical framework or regulatory body for AI and synthetic biology.
And while the final strategydraft does mention the societal implications of AIas an area in need of careful consideration, there are yet again no concrete policy proposal at this point. Despite calls for the government to be exact that: proactive. But apparently its hard to be politically proactive on too many emerging technologies with the vast task of Brexit standing in your way.
Lastword: a note on diplomacy in the 2015 strategy draft suggests the government advocate for free movement of data inside EU. UK-EU diplomacy in 2017 is clearly going to cut from very different cloth.
