A blueprint for success

The ESCO report outlines a strategy to grow the UK’s electronic systems industry to GBP 120 billion (up 55%) by 2020 and create an additional 150'000 highly-skilled jobs. The Leadership Forum comprises key leaders and will be expanded to include others across the sector. It will be chaired by Warren East, the outgoing CEO of ARM, and other founding members will be, Juergen Maier (Siemens), Sir Hossein Yassaie (Imagination Technologies), Keith Williams (Altran) and Indro Mukerjee (Plastic Logic). Warren East (Chairman) said: “There is huge opportunity for industry and government to work together on a modern industrial partnership strategy. UK based Electronic Systems companies will lead the world if we get this right, and at the same time drive economic growth in the UK.”

© ESCO Sample from the report

The Leadership Forum will work within the UK electronic systems community, with government, with academia and will build close ties with leadership groups from other industries in taking forward the ESCO Report’s blueprint for transforming the electronic systems sector in the UK. Key areas for early focus will be e-health, transport, smart energy. Juergen Maier commented “I am delighted to have been invited to join ESLF and I am particularly passionate about demonstrating how advanced automation enabled by electronic systems can become a strategic enabler enhancing the global competitiveness of the UK manufacturing sector.” Whilst UK manufacturing is clearly of major significance, opportunities do not stop there. Keith Williams commented “The UK has world-class businesses in different parts of the electronic systems ecosystem, whether related to silicon, software, systems or services. This Forum provides an opportunity to be more strategic, and accelerate UK industry applications of this technology which is powering trends such as the Internet of Things and Machine Driven Big Data applications.” Supply of advanced engineering skills is of course a major challenge we need to overcome. Indro Mukerjee said “Electronic systems and their associated engineering skills are a critical part of every major industrial sector in the UK today. We want to work closely with these sectors to ensure we are maximising supply chain development potential and attracting the brightest and best young people into our industry.” Whilst there is a national focus within the UK, there is also a clear realisation that this is an exports-based industry and we need to compete on a global scale. Sir Hossein Yassaie commented: ”It is essential that the UK does everything possible to strengthen its strategic position on the world stage, achieve scale and participate in every stage of the value chain. Through this Forum, we have a unique opportunity to work together to make a substantive and sustainable difference to the UK’s global competitiveness; I expect other key stakeholders to join us in this new Forum and help in playing a strong role in delivering its success.”