Ministers unveil innovation plans

The government has set out how it plans to make the UK the "best place in the world" to run a business.

Launching the science and innovation white paper on Thursday, universities secretary John Denham said the government would help businesses compete in a global market.

The strategy will see skills academies introduced into every major sector of the economy, and an innovation fund will also be set up.

There will also be at least 1,000 "innovation vouchers" provided every year by 2011 to help small and medium-sized businesses develop new products or services.

Other measures include doubling the amount of knowledge transfer partnerships between businesses and universities and ministers said the Innovation Research Centre would create new markets for £150bn-worth of spending on goods and services every year.

Denham said: "We must make the UK the best place in the world to run an innovative business or public service, where innovation can flourish across every area of the economy.

"It is the British people who will create a world beating innovation nation and that is why we must unlock talent at all levels by investing in skills, research and the exploitation of knowledge.

"But we can achieve much more if we harness the power of government as the UK economy's biggest customer to create new markets and demand to benefit innovative businesses and people in Britain.

"Innovation will be the key to some of the biggest challenges facing our society, like global warming and sustainable development.

"We need to ensure that Britain contributes to the innovative solutions and that British business and the British people benefit from the new opportunities and prosperity they create."

The TUC said the paper presented "very positive ideas" which could improve Britain's competitiveness "in the age of globalisation".

General secretary Brendan Barber said: "The white paper quite rightly says we must become more productive, improve our skills base and increase the number of employers investing in training. "

"But we remain concerned at the shortfall of £80m in the budget of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, which has alarmed the physics community and could result in the loss of highly skilled scientists in UK laboratories," he added.