Rebooting Britain

This briefing asks what possibilities a digitally connected world offers the UK.

This briefing asks what possibilities a digitally connected world offers the UK.

Key messages

  • People are communicating and collaborating with each other, creating and innovating in new ways. However, this activity is being monitised almost exclusively in platforms elsewhere
  • This need not be the case. The UK is in a privileged position to create globally appealing digital media platforms and businesses
  • The right investment climate is needed to turn the UK’s creative and entrepreneurial potential into economic growth in this new digital arena
  • The public sector has difficult challenges to meet. It should learn from the practices of innovative start-ups
  • The public sector should also make efforts to be more transparent and open

In June 2009, the government published Digital Britain. It addressed the deployment of digital infrastructure, and the future shape of the UK broadcasting landscape in an increasingly digital world.

The digital bridges that the Digital Britain report sought to build are only part of the story. Just as important is the question of where these bridges will lead. Nesta's new collection of essays, Reboot Britain, addresses this question, asking what possibilities a digitally connected world offers the UK.

The message of Reboot Britain is straightforward: we need to make the most of our ever-improving digital infrastructure by galvanising the imagination and catalysing the initiatives of our many digital innovators.

The culture of the information age is being built from below right now, from the actions of individuals joining together to build businesses and communities that produce content and services, meeting places and support groups, civic initiatives and town-hall meetings. It is this mass participation that will form the greater part of the vitality and opportunity of Britain's digital future - Britain is being rebooted, and the government must adopt a new mind-set to support this collective effort.

Part of
Reboot Britain