Britain can become one of the world's top tech economies - if it takes the risks

It's time to change the subject. A programme of mass deportations and leaving the European Convention on Human Rights is not going to deliver either growth or prosperity.

- Will Hutton

Nor is Britain condemned to be on a path of irredeemable economic decline. Rather we possess one of the greatest centres of entrepreneurial scientific and tech talent in the world. Over the past 20 years, had we got our act together, Britain could have built the most powerful tech sector in Europe, rivalling even the US and China proportionally. The task now which must be the priority of Sir Keir Starmer's newly established Growth Board - is to make sure the same mistake is not repeated in the next two decades.

Consider this: two-fifths of Europe's fastest-growing tech companies, with revenue ranging between $25m and $1bn, are British. From this pool of 770 companies - which ranges from satellites, semiconductors and fintech to AI-driven drug discovery and green technologies - the great companies of tomorrow will emerge, with all that means for jobs, wealth, tax and national morale. If Britain can create a better ecosystem of financial, business and public support, that prize is within our grasp.

Take Cambridge University. Not only have its alumni created more startups per capita than any other European university (Oxford, Imperial, University College London and Manchester are all in the top eight) it is only narrowly beaten by California's Bay Area in the creation of tech enterprises valued at a billion dollars, so-called unicorns, per head.

Foreign buyers see Cambridge and our other top universities as a happy hunting ground for an extraordinary array of fantastic young companies. Indeed as many as 65% of our academic spinouts are bought by overseas investors. As Stephen Welton, chair of the British Business Bank, observes, Britain is in danger of becoming an economy that incubates companies for others.