Management Toolkit

Story: The UK's real missing skill: Imagination

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While I can see why your article sees lack of innovation as the primary lack of IT skills in the UK, this is a syptom rather than a cause. In an environment where almost all IT technology training is based on a proprietary set of software, notably Microsoft, it is not surprising that there is little innovation, but a further and more damning cause is the sheer lack of investment for those who do attempt to think out of the box. Having been intimately involved in a software startup company and watching it apply unsuccessfully for funding for the best part of ten years because the investors didn't understand the lack of Microsoft focus, I see no way for innovation to get to market. In the US where VC is still actually available there are still opportunities for inspirational entrepreneurs, but in the UK Capital is NOT venture capital it is only ever low risk investment, and government does not help by making grants and other financial implements too difficult to attain. So it is not lack of innovation, but lack of available finance that is the root cause of the problem.

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