Today's Letter IEDI presents recent UK industrial policy initiatives aimed at preparing its economy for the transformations associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The present study is part of a series of IEDI publications on the subject. Policy experiences to promote Industry 4.0 in other important industrial countries, including Brazil, can be found in Letters IEDI n. 797 of Jul 21, 2017; n. 803, Sep 01, 2017; n. 807, Sep 29, 2017; n. 820, Dec 11, 2017; n. 823, Dec 29, 2017; n. 827, Jan 26, 2018; n. 831, Feb 16, 2018 and n. 841 of Mar 29, 2018, among other works.

Unlike other developed economies such as Germany, the United States, France, Japan and South Korea, so far the United Kingdom has not adopted an explicit and integrated strategy to promote Industry 4.0. Still, some of the actions and measures implemented in the last decade do contribute, directly or indirectly, to such.

This is notably the case of the program Catapult Network of Technology and Innovation Centers, created to carry out cutting-edge research on emerging technologies and improve the interface between research institutes and industrial companies, in order to accelerate the transition from advanced research to the market, boosting the commercialization of innovations in key industries.

The plan to create the Catapult Centers for Technology and Innovation was announced in October 2010 by then Prime Minister David Cameron. With a budget of £ 439 million in the period 2011-2014/15, it represented a strategic investment to enable the UK to meet market needs in key areas and compete in tomorrow's global markets.

The choice of the Catapult technological areas of action was based on the country's science and research strengths, and on domestic business capacity to exploit technologies and invest in the potential of global markets to be explored. Currently, there are ten Catapults, covering areas ranging from high value added manufacturing to drug discovery, including offshore renewable energy, cell and gene therapies, satellite technologies, transport systems, digitalization, cities of the future, energy systems and compound semiconductors applications.

The High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult is the one most directly related to Industry 4.0 issues and is the most successful initiative of the Catapult Project. Constituted by seven already existing independent research centers, the HVM Catapult was the first to become operational in 2011. Its areas of research include automation technologies, digital systems applied to the industry, additive manufacturing, simulation and virtual/augmented reality, new materials, surface engineering, etc.

In parallel, the Industrial Strategy announced in 2013 has also helped prepare British industrial companies to cope with the increase in competition and seize the global market opportunities associated with the incorporation of new technologies, although the strategy did not target manufacturing exclusively.

The Industrial Strategy was built around five themes: strategic partnerships with key sectors of the UK economy, technologies, skills and competences, access of small businesses with growth potential to finance and public procurement. It had a budget of more than £ 2 billion, directed to create the development bank British Business Bank and, in partnership with the private sector, to fund initiatives such as: the creation of the Institute of Aerospace Technology, the Advanced Propulsion Center, and projects to develop skills in strategic sectors and technologies, among others.

With the victory of the conservative party in the 2015 elections, some industrial initiatives were discontinued or lost pace, while others, such as the Catapult Network project, which benefited from supra-party support, continued to rely on the new cabinet's strong support.

However, the approval of Britain's exit from the European Union (Brexit) has reinforced the need for the country to have a strong and technologically advanced manufacturing industry capable of competing globally for the market opportunities created by emerging new technologies. Thus, under the leadership of Theresa May, the government issued a Green Paper (an official consultation document) in January 2017 on a new industrial strategy, built around ten mutually reinforcing pillars:

  1.     Invest in science, research and innovation;
  2.     Develop skills and capacities;
  3.     Modernize the infrastructure;
  4.     Support to setting up businesses and helping them grow;
  5.     Make strategic use of government procurement;
  6.     Encourage trade and foreign direct investment;
  7.     Provide affordable energy and clean growth;
  8.     Cultivate the world's leading sectors and help new sectors flourish;
  9.     Boost growth across the whole country;
  10.   Create the right institutions to bring together sectors and locations.

After receiving contributions from more than 2,000 companies and organizations from all over the country, in November 2017 the UK government launched the final document of the New Industrial Strategy, setting ambitious goals and policy actions to leverage productivity, recognizing innovation as a central element for this.

To make the United Kingdom the most innovative economy in the world, the Industrial Strategy proposes to tackle, among others, the challenge of raising gross domestic R&D expenditure from 1.6% to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. To achieve this goal, it will be necessary to increase public and private R&D investment by up to £ 80 billion per year over the next ten years.

In this new strategy, sectoral partnerships, known as Sectoral Deals, continue to play a relevant role in identifying issues that companies see as priorities for the transformation of their sectors and that require government action. Some sectoral deals have already been signed (life sciences, construction, artificial intelligence and automotive sector) and others are under consideration, including the technology industry's proposal of manufacturing digitalization developed under the leadership of Professor Juergen Maier, Siemens's chief executive officer in the United Kingdom.

The draft document, named Made Smarter, emphasizes that a strong partnership between industry and government, focusing on leadership, the adoption of digital technologies and digital innovation, can make the UK a global leader in promoting the Fourth Industrial Revolution. To date, however, the UK government has not adopted a clear Industry 4.0 strategy and has not set up a national coordination body such as the Industry 4.0 Platform in Germany or the Alliance for the Industry of the Future in France.

The full text is available in Portuguese.