INNOVATION
Quarter . This will accommodate new outposts for the Victoria and Albert Museum , Sadler ’ s Wells and the London College of Fashion . The creative collision of technology and the arts will , we anticipate , prove inspirational for all concerned .
Teamwork and collaboration The UK has a proud track record in innovation . Over the past few years in particular the country has developed a thriving start-up scene . Last year 608,100 new businesses were launched , an increase of five percent on 2014 . The UK ’ s digital economy created jobs at 2.8 times the speed of the rest of the economy between 2011 and 2014 . Yet despite this , many of the UK ’ s biggest tech success stories have been concentrated in a few areas , such as fintech and ecommerce . To ensure we remain successful , we need to develop the next fintech sector for the UK ’ s economy . This is where we believe the focus on the converging sectors of sport , health and fashion – what we call “ lifetech ” – comes in .
To boost our lifetech sector , start-ups and corporates need to collaborate more closely . Both have strengths that can add value to the other . Corporates are hungry for cutting-edge thinking and new talent , but they often struggle to replicate innovation consistently across their organisations or create tangible , impactful outputs from their innovation programmes . Meanwhile start-ups often have great ideas but lack the funding , expertise , structures and scale to make the most of them . They can benefit from the sales teams , investment capital and international footprint of larger businesses . The reality is that start-ups are often sceptical , even suspicious , about working with corporates – long sales cycles , opaque decisionmaking and pace of change has hurt many a small business . But by bringing these two groups together in a focussed innovation process , and brokering useful relationships between them , we can create an inspiring environment where new thinking is embraced , and accelerate the spread of game-changing ideas that will make us proud of our Olympic legacy all over again .
26 December 2016