"Let in skilled staff and back innovation with cash" - report

Monday 14 September 2015

Not enough talent, not enough knowledge and not enough support from the government – those are the key things holding back innovation in Jersey.

That’s the verdict of an in-depth report on innovation, which calls for the States to relax restrictions on qualified and skilled people coming to the Island.

The report also suggests that the Island should work to develop an intellectual property sector and that the States should ‘buy in’ to successful UK government innovation funding schemes so that Jersey companies can apply to them for support.

At a packed briefing on Friday afternoon, it was revealed that the two big problems were access to skilled staff from outside of the Island because of restrictions on licenses for immigrant workers, and the lack of government backing for innovation, research and development.

The report was written by Tera Allas, a member of Jersey’s panel of expert economic advisers who is a former Chief Economist at the UK Energy and Climate Change and Transport departments, and a former Director General of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

In her report, she writes that supporting more fresh ideas and innovation in the private sector should be a key aim for politicians over the next few years.

She said: “Jersey should aspire to be one of the easiest places in the world to set up, run and grow a business. This means rethinking migration and regulation, for example planning policy, radically streamlining application processes, benchmarking the government’s performance and setting ambitious targets for improvement.

“It also means building Jersey’s brand as a business-friendly jurisdiction, consistently communicating an openness to welcome new people, businesses and ideas and celebrating successful innovations.

“To complement its local innovation activities, Jersey should tap into initiatives that its businesses could benefit from in the UK and elsewhere, such as Silicon Valley. In some cases, this may mean gaining access (at cost) into innovation programmes run by Innovate UK; in others, building links with targeted private and public sector research initiatives, networks and collaborations.”