The National Engineering Policy Centre (NEPC) along with Royal Academy of Engineering issued a paper focused on how to help decarbonise the economy, and create a national workforce planning strategy.
In fact, approximately 40 engineering organisations representing more than 450,000 UK engineers calls for long-term evidence-based infrastructure needs to be addressed, with individual regions being given the freedom to create infrastructure strategies.
It also recommends building world-class digital connectivity and infrastructure that is fast, secure and resilient enough for an advanced digital economy.
What is more, the “2020 Spending Review” highlights the following:
Education: Ensure long-term funding sustainability of high-cost, laboratory-based subjects in further and higher education. Boost the number of people completing higher technical qualifications and engineering apprenticeships, which have flatlined over the past five years.
Infrastructure: Incentivise offsite manufacturing for new projects and low-carbon retrofitting for existing buildings to improve efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.
Digital: Invest in broadband and 5G to support an advanced digital economy and expand the Made Smarter pilot to support small businesses across the UK to upskill, adopt digital technologies and create new supply chain opportunities.
Innovation: Make the UK more attractive for businesses to invest in R&D here through funding mechanisms and joint ventures between government and industry and increase Innovate UK’s budget and freedom on how they spend it.
Energy: Invest, at the scale needed to trigger transformational change, in low carbon heat technologies, carbon capture, usage and storage, low-carbon hydrogen production and nuclear generation capacity.
The actions we propose come from that practical perspective, and will enable the UK to make investment
decisions that create more jobs and prosperity across the nation; meeting future societal needs at pace and with greater efficiency, sustainability and resilience.
…the paper concluded.
Explore more herebelow
