commonwealth

is that worse than the Swan School of Economics?

Budawang

Not sure he went to school.

Zen10

asprilla

I'm also interested in the answer to this question.

Like everyone on here, I want the UK and Australian economies to grow and their citizens to prosper.

I think that the UK needs to invest heavily in science and technology..and crucially, education. It needs to be on the forefront of breakthroughs and new ideas, new ways of doing things better. Particularly new technological innovations and new ways of doing business on the internet.

Lets think less about austerity measures, and more about spending now to ensure that the UK are in a position to seize new opportunities.

I believe Australia needs to follow suit, but luckily, we have natural resources here to rely on for the short to medium term.

commonwealth

it aint the lucky country for nothin.

Zen10

With Cambridge and so on they have a really good head start with this sort of thing and especially medical research - so great idea to capitalize on this in the future, but science funding has been slashed over the years. I wonder if agriculture tech could be something as well - agriculture is going to be a major, major thing in the future as population grows and more efficient tech is required to keep up with food production. UK could do this.

GarryP

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19236030

asprilla

I was watching a show on ABC last night, following a guy called Alan Dawson in the UK who has designed a new type of kit home. Here's the website:

http://www.adaptahaus.co.uk/


It was a little sad to see that the home was being designed in his factory, which several years ago had 55 employees. At the time of filming, they had only 6 employees and no other work in the pipeline apart from the build and construction of this house.

But at the same time it was quite heartening to see that this guy wasn't about to stand still and let his business fall away to nothing. Instead, he was changing with the times, trying to innovate. Trying to create a new business.

GarryP

It's not so much the funding for S&T (although that could be better), its the general climate and lack of support for all stages from the R&D to the successful product in the marketplace. There are just too many gaps, too many barriers, too little from the banks/VC side of the game.

And closed afterwards.

Creating something new is enough of a challenge, you shouldn't have to fight the system as well. Someone needs to cut the banks out of the process - they are one of the biggest problems.

Zen10

Banks have eaten up everything. If only they were properly regulated.

commonwealth

if banks were regulated the banks will leave the City and move to SG or HK or even euro countries.

Zen10

As they produce nothing but debt, so what?

Amazulu

I don't see why that is a bad thing - they will still do business in the UK.

Replace them with manufacturers.

GarryP

Stage 1 : If they hadn't been supported, the whole lot would have gone to the wall. Therefore all of them are now under state control. That includes UK arms of international banks, the lot.

Stage 2 : Arrest warrants and extradition requests for those guilty of fraud.

Stage 3 : Separation of the gambling bits from the true investment, from the workaday money handling. Strict requirements on what each has to do, and taxation of the gambling bits.

Stage 4 : All the BoE billions injected in the economy goes directly into the real economy, not the banks. If they want it, they have to work for it.

chris955

I havent heard that phrase for a long time.