David Norton

Last week I attended an event at the House Of Lords to witness Micro Focus unveil their Technology Manifesto – “Making BrITain Great Again”. On the panel was Micro Focus CEO Stephen Kelly joined by the Rt Hon Lord Young of Graffham (Con), Lord Razzal CBE (Lib), Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab) and analyst Richard Holway.    

Each member of the panel gave a short speech as to why they felt the Technology Manifesto was important and why Britain needs such a cross party initiative. The official press release quotes all three Lords, I include a shortened version to give an idea of their introductory speeches.  

“We have an urgent need to reinforce the development and use of new technology across all sectors of our economy so as to increase our productivity and create more employment”.  Lord Young.

 “I am similarly pleased to be adding my sponsorship…””for generating the extra employment desperately needed by the UK,” Lord Harris 

“Britain needs to be at the forefront of technology. If we can improve our technology base we can be a world leader, I am joining this cross-party support for the Micro Focus Manifesto’s commitment to generating more high quality jobs, better products and increased innovation to sell overseas, and make Britain a world class industrial player,”  Lord Razzall. 

So what of the manifesto? It is not my intention go into great detail as it is available in full on-line. (See http://www.makingbritaingreat.co.uk/ )  At its core it covers five areas: 

1. Increase the supply of world-class technology talent in the UK
2. Harness the expertise and goodwill of successful leaders around the world to mentor leaders of UK-based emerging technology businesses
3. Radically change the tax incentives available to companies and individuals who want to invest in growing technology businesses in the UK
4. Implement specific fiscal incentives for UK-based tech companies seeking to accelerate world-leading R&D
5. Proactively encourage international technology companies to invest in a UK hub

The manifesto has a very clear goal – create jobs, to be specific 250,000 Technology jobs over the next 10 years. To put this in context it means an increase in the technology sector from its current level of 1.5 Million to 1.75 Million jobs, a 16.7% rise. However a manifesto by itself is meaningless; it must be supported by policy and ultimately action. Micro Focus hopes to have the manifesto adopted as policy by the major political parties in time for the next round of party conferences, hence the cross party panel support.  

Each of the five areas covered by the manifesto raise social, economic and technological issues that need to be addressed if the manifesto is to be taken seriously.  

CEO Stephen Kelly was up front about the current early state of the document so between now and September, Micro Focus working with Ernst & Young will consult with both academia and the industry to prepare a road-map including economic models. The fact that this launch event has received both mainstream and industry press coverage means the manifesto can not just fade away, if it fails is going to fail in a very public way, with blogs like “What ever happened to …..”. Although it is unlikely to hit Micro Focus’s revenue if it fails, it will hit their credibility. So I am willing to give Stephen Kelly the benefit of the doubt and say he sincere about the manifesto.  

So the manifesto achievable? First look at the five core messages of the manifesto; which political party would say no to these? They are framed in such a way that no one is going to say they are a bad idea in principle, more R&D – yes, tax incentives – yes, more talent – definitely. The political parties could adopt the “spirit” of the Technology Manifesto now just by spinning their current policies. So the time from now and until September is critical in defining a manifesto with bite, which calls for real political action not spin.  

Assuming Micro Focus and Ernst & Young can come up with the goods in September, what of the cross party sponsors? Can they push the message home? For the common man sitting in the Palace Of Westminster listing to three Lords does have a wow factor, but what about the people who decide party and government policy? They spend their days surrounded by Lord this and the Honorable that so it going to need more than a title. Gaining bipartisan support in the House of Commons will not be easy. Areas like tax incentives are very emotive, all the parties feel they do or could do it better than the others. The manifesto will have to walk a fine line between being too open, in which case it could be spun, and too specific, thereby possibly conflicting with party values.       

One key department that needs to buy into this is the Rt Hon. Lord Mandelson’s new brief – the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The BIS defines its brief on its web site as: “Investing in our future – Building a dynamic and competitive UK economy by: creating the conditions for business success; promoting innovation, enterprise and science; and giving everyone the skills and opportunities to succeed.” As discussed at the event the Technology Manifesto has similar goals to the BIS. 

Finally as a tax payer and someone who likes the idea of making Britain great (I had my Winston Churchill cufflinks on) I would like to see all the major parties’ support UK technology.  But I think Micro Focus are going to find it hard to get the parties to pay more than lip service to the manifesto, but that might just be me being cynical.   

I will keep you all posted and let see what happens in September.

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