Support for Plan I

Nesta's Plan I sets out 12 recommendations to kick-start sustainable innovation-led growth, and move beyond the typical economic policy that has dominated in the UK for the last decade. Below are some of the comments in support of Plan I.

"Nesta's report shows the essential role that innovation has to play in economic recovery, and is required reading for policymakers. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the strengths and worrying weaknesses of the UK's innovation infrastructure, together with bold and affordable proposals for a better future."
Richard Lambert, former Director-General of the CBI and former Editor of the Financial Times

"Nesta's report, based on years of research, underlines the importance of innovation to our prospects for long-term, balanced growth."
Chuka Umunna, Shadow Business Secretary

"Nesta's Plan I contains recommendations that will resonate with many in Britain's 'real economy'.  Businesses have been dismayed by the absence of debate about a long-term growth plan, and by successive governments' lack of focus on investment spending. In particular, we welcome Nesta's support for a British business bank - which could be one of the pillars of long-term growth, providing sorely-needed capital to the new and fast-growing companies that will generate the jobs and profits of tomorrow."
Dr Adam Marshall, Director of Policy and External Affairs at the British Chambers of Commerce
 
"The UK needs to tear down the barriers to entrepreneurship and business growth. Plan I's recommendations to get more government procurement flowing to innovative businesses and to make it easier for them to hire the talent they need will help business growth and economic recovery. We need to be not just Start-Up Britain, but Scale-Up Britain too."
Sherry Coutu, Angel Investor

"Innovation is the essence of economic growth. It is vital not to let the demands of the short-term distract us from the long-term, strategic need to create an environment for innovation. This report is a superb guide to the whole range of complex issues that need to be addressed if the UK is to live up to the best of its historical record of innovation."
Diane Coyle, OBE

"Plan I's call to get kids in schools coding and doing real computer science will be good for Britain's games industry and good for economic growth."
Ian Livingstone, Life President of Eidos, co-author of Next Gen, founder of Games Workshop.

"The group have set out a compelling narrative on how policy could further support innovation. The only chance we have to recover from the recession is through action to support innovation.
Professor Birgitte Andersen, Director of the Big Innovation Centre

"The government should get behind its bold statements on innovation and act imaginatively, determinedly and at scale."
Will Hutton, Chair of the Big Innovation Centre

"Plan I: I could vote for that! Not just for UK but all of the EU."
Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission and EU Commissioner for Digital Agenda

"Genuine innovation in how we support employment and help more people into work is perhaps more needed than at any point for a generation - Nesta's Plan I brings forward some much needed fresh thinking on exactly these issues".
Gavin Kelly, Chief Executive, Resolution Foundation

"The jobs market is like any other market - it needs innovation to thrive and improve. Nesta highlights why we need innovation in the jobs market, both in how we create jobs and how we get the unemployed back into jobs. The jobs ideas in Plan I are examples of the thinking the government needs to be encouraging, specifically how we boost innovation to get young people back to work."
Dave Simmonds, Chief Executive, Centre for Economic & Social Inclusion

"A real supply-side growth strategy. Far more important than minor labour market deregulation."
Jonathan Portes, Director, National Institute for Economic and Social Research