The Department of Trade and
Industry is out of date and out of touch with the economy, according to a
report by independent think-tank Demos.
The report describes the department
as “an ineffective 1970s conglomerate with little synergy or purpose” and called
for a comprehensive scheme of restructuring to bring it up to date.
The report’s authors are critical of
the proposed review of the department announced by the treasury last month
which they predict is likely to be unproductive exercise in shuffling chairs.
Instead, the report calls for a far
more radical shake-up, with the DTI being broken up into individual agencies
designed to encourage entrepreneurs.
It claims that in its present form
the department is poorly adapted to the demands of an innovation-driven,
knowledge-based economy.
The report calls on the government
to develop public policy, which promotes the conditions for successful
entrepreneurship rather than providing incentives for lone entrepreneurs.
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Surfing the Long Wave is co-authored
by Charles Leadbeater, a long-term advisor to the DTI and Kate Oakley.
By Robert De La Poer
