"After much anticipation, businesses will now have digested the government’s Modern
Industrial Strategy. There have been a few, according to an IPPR estimate, about 11,
‘economic’ strategies in the past 13 years, so it is vital that this new strategy really makes
the impact on growth the country desperately needs and that business is recognised as
its essential catalyst.

And the electorate is watching, not what we say, but what we all do to achieve the
Strategy’s ambitions and realise the country’s true potential with all that means for our
businesses and, most importantly, our people.

That importance of action goes equally for the work of Business Boards and the Business
Board Network, which have an established pedigree anchored in local public private
partnerships over the past decade.

We have redefined the relationship of local business in the context of devolution
ambitions, helped forge new relationships between public and private sector, including
with the Business Representative Organisations like the Chambers of Commerce, CBI
and the FSB, and, most importantly, given a collective local voice to local business, even
more critical now following the government’s English Devolution Bill.

But that collective voice of local business is not just a wishful desire/claim. It is an
established principle, anchored in the government’s English Devolution Accountability
Framework. It clearly states that “all institutions with devolved powers must also have a
strong, independent, and diverse local business voice.” And that all institutions with
devolved powers “should embed a strong, independent, and diverse local business voice
into their decision-making processes”, playing “an active role in partnerships.” Our
Business Boards are the embodiment of that local business voice in the decision making
process.

All that being said, as business leaders we want our colleagues to value our involvement,
not because that is what the rules say, but because they recognise the impact that
business has on the achievement of local ambition.

And as we mark one year as the Network brand, we are laser focussed on realising the
aims and ambitions of the Strategy, as the Secretary of State for Business and Trade,
Jonathan Reynolds, set out in his letter to me recently – namely, “to create a more
connected, high skilled and resilient economy where every… place and business has the
chance to flourish….and deliver for every part of the UK” We couldn’t agree more.
Business Boards and their Business Board Network are here to help implement that
vision, and that of the Small Business Strategy.

Our approach is indeed “to create a more connected, high skilled economy where every place can flourish” - we are champions of place, we know place better than most, it’s where we are founded and our roots lie. No one knows it as well as our Business Boards, particularly with Local Industrial Strategies and the economic evidence bases that underpin them, which can lay the foundations to develop the frontier technologies of the Modern Industrial Strategy. Working together they are a formidable force for achievement.

The Network supports Business Boards as they deliver their Local Growth Plans, as
referenced in the English Devolution Bill, that will help drive forward the eight priority
sectors (IS-8) the strategy identifies, and develop the ‘frontier technologies’ that underpin
it, like quantum computing and AI.

Every one of the sectors identified is a core area of many of our Business Boards – for
example in AI we are working with the cross party think tank, Policy Connect, AI Skills
Partnership and other Business Boards on developing a new AI Skills Partnership Pilot for
individuals and businesses to ultimately ensure that regions across the country can close
the yawning AI skills gap and exploit this rapidly developing technology more effectively.
We’ll be launching the initiative at an event later this year…..stay tuned to our social
media and website platforms.

Although the Industrial Strategy rightly recognises the importance of large companies,
the bulk of this country relies very much on small and medium businesses, often firms
you may not have heard of but are in fact at the forefront of many of the new frontier
technologies that will drive the Strategy – and just the type of representation that’s on our
Business Boards.

And that’s a key element of our focus, supporting SMEs , not just through our Business
Boards, but also through our critical Growth Hub network, utilised by millions of small
businesses to get help and advice, and which will form the vital local access points that
will support the government’s new Business Growth Service.

Not only are our Growth Hubs run and led by business people, but our Business Boards
also represent a unique cross-section of regional business leaders. Across our Boards
we have SMEs sat alongside leaders from the likes of Sellafield, BAE Systems, Arup
Group, Landsec, EDF Energy, ABN Amro, Aldi, BP, and Pinewood Studios, to name a few.

It’s the Business Board Network that binds all of this together – and it’s unique. The only
single communications channel for government that talks to locally appointed business
leaders, and business boards in one easy shot, complementing the work of our
colleagues in the BCC, CBI, FSB and so many others. We represent business boards
across all regional geographies and all local government models, not just the Mayoral
Combined Authorities.

So a massive asset for all who engage with us. We have Business Boards in just about
every region of England – giving us the commitment of over a 1,000 influential business
leaders - bringing the business voice to local decision making and making the Modern
Industrial Strategy happen locally.

Having helped establish Business Boards within and outside local democratic bodies, we
are going from strength to strength building on that name and our pedigree, and
bolstering the Growth Hub network in lock step with our Business Board members to
ensure that our network is taking the action needed to realise the Modern Industrial
Strategy, and finally deliver on local growth."