Fundamental missing factor in the wealth creation cycle

IN a mere 20 years time to 2031, the UK and Europe (and the EU if it still exists) will be reaching the limits of despair when trying to capture any major future foothold in the global economic stakes. This will not be due to its people, but their governments with regard to their present and medium-term policies.

These policies are inherently based in the old thinking that by joining universities and business together we can achieve economic dynamism in the future. It forgets that there are three crucial elements to achieve this – the ideas phase, the research and development phase and the corporate commercialisation phase.

I say forget, as the primer of this most important energiser for economic wealth creation, the ideas phase, is not taken seriously. It is the most important and fundamental missing factor.

For without world-changing ideas first, the process cannot even begin. The British and European systems do not comprehend what the history of S&T tells us: that up to 75 per cent of all the inventions that have made the modern world what it is today did not emanate from within the confines of our universities or advanced corporate research centres of excellence, but in the minds of independent innovators, far removed from the final two innovation elements that constitute the innovation chain.

Indeed, the independent ideas element is more or less non-existent in UK and European economic policy.

This is unlike what is emerging in the Far East, where they are now starting to see that the ideas people are the most important commodity that a nation has. In 20 years time, therefore, with this lack of foresight and new thinking in Britain and Europe, we shall in reality just be hangers-on in the global economic stakes.

Therefore, for its own good, the United Kingdom and the European Union have to start thinking out of the box and give total prominence and resources to the initial ideas people. For if they do not we shall see in our own lifetime the inevitable collapse of living standards, the like of which we have never seen before and where our offspring will live to be totally subservient to the economic might and power of the East.

That is why it is so vitally important that we create now the innovative infrastructure throughout Europe for our ideas people to flourish and thereby equip our nations with the dynamic products and services that we shall dearly need.

When will the UK and the EU politicians realise this is the big question, for it has the most overriding repercussions and consequential economic effects that have ever been seen before for the 750 million-plus people of Europe?

From: D Wood, Thorntree Lane, Goole.

DON Burslam is incorrect when writing about the EU (Yorkshire Post, January 2). The new intake of Conservative MPs are nearly to a man all anti-EU and have never made a secret of the fact.

My MP Andrew Percy of Goole and Brigg being a typical example who, right from the very start, has never tried to hide his Eurosceptic views and credit to him. This is why so many of them were elected. This is known as democracy, to de-select them would be undemocratic, but of course this is the method of the EU and its supporters. While David Cameron and a few others may be of the misguided view that we need to be in this corrupt, unworkable foreign-controlled mess, a recent poll has shown that the overwhelming majority of grassroots Tories do not agree.

Sadly for Mr Burslam’s distorted view, this is an even bigger majority when taken overall. The fact of the matter is that at least 70 per cent of the population now know that the EU is a con and has done untold damage to our country, thus the desire to leave and govern ourselves.

The EU is dying on its feet; we need to be freed of its control and trade with the booming economies of China, India, Brazil and other emerging economies.

This is the way forward, this and building our own trains and aircraft instead of being told by the Germans that they have to build them for us.