New body champions UK electrotechnical sector
A new organisation has been created to represent the interests of the UK’s electrotechnical, electronics and firmware sector. The ElecTech Council has its roots in the former Esco (Electronics Systems Community) and is backed by trade bodies including Gambica and Beama, and organisations including the IET and BSI.
One of the Council’s first initiatives has been to submit a response to government’s Industrial Strategy green paper, calling on the government to recognise the ElecTech industry as a dynamic and influential sector that is driving the UK’s productivity, prosperity and growth.
According to the Council, the “broad, but highly fragmented” sector includes more than 45,000 companies employing more than a million people, with combined revenues of around £100bn – almost 6% of the UK’s GDP.
“When discussing industrial strategies, industry sectors have mostly been thought of as vertical industry groups that have common interests based on a set of related products” says ElecTech Council CEO, Tony King-Smith. “We believe the government must recognise the tremendous value of also embracing horizontal sectors for the UK economy, based on industry groups where a set of related skills are the binding force.”
The ElecTech Council believes it faces a key challenge: the perception of “tech” held by the general public – and the government. “Most people believe the innovation in tech resides only in the software running on anything from computers in datacentres, to apps on their phones,” King-Smith suggests. “However, software needs hardware to run on – and that’s ElecTech.”
“The ElecTech Council looks forward to working closely with many of the vertical industry sector organisations and institutions,” he says, adding that the sector already has significant initiatives underway. “We need the government to come alongside us to ensure the UK is recognised as a world leader in ElecTech.”
