An annual shortfall of 50,000 graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects in the UK could lead to the country’s low-carbon economy missing out on £6.7bn in annual growth by 2023, a new report suggests.
Commissioned by Shell Springboard, the report also underlines issues with infrastructure to support spin-outs, entrepreneurial attitude, and access to finance. While the UK is said to be twice as efficient in spinning out low-carbon firms than peers in the US, the US consistently outperforms the UK in growing the firms into viable businesses, and that rates of entrepreneurial activity are double across the Atlantic compared to UK efforts.
The report, Engineering Growth: Enabling World-Class Entrepreneurship in the Low-Carbon Economy, suggests the UK government provide additional financial incentives and stronger academic pathways to encourage more students to pick STEM subjects, and also highlights that only 10% of engineering students receive entrepreneurship training compared to 60% of business students. It also calls for policy stability to attract big business and to spur innovation in supporting the low-carbon economy.
Erkko Autio, professor at Imperial College London and who led the research, said: “In order to successfully transition to a truly low-carbon economy, innovation is needed across all areas of industry, society and economic life. This research shows that we not only need new technologies but also new business models and new entrepreneurial attitudes.”
